When reflecting on 2016, Bellator heavyweight Cheick Kongo is happy that he was able to pick up two wins, but feels he might have been cutting it close with the manner in which he won.
Against Vinicius Queiroz in February, Kongo was able to come away with a split-decision victory. He followed that in September with a majority decision win over Tony Johnson. This comes after Kongo split bouts in 2015, losing to King Mo Lawal, but getting the nod over Alexander Volkov.
“It’s good to win, but also be on track,” Kongo told MMAWeekly.com. “It was a pretty exciting year, but also a scary year, because those guys were very good. Always when you fight great guys like this, it’s good for the record, (but) I will be better for the next one.”
Kongo doesn’t let himself get caught up too much about having such close decisions, but instead is pleased to have picked up the win.
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“I don’t question myself about this,” said Kongo. “For sure I see myself as the winner, but I didn’t question myself too much.”
On Saturday in San Jose, Calif., Kongo (25-10-2) will look to keep his winning streak alive when he takes on Oli Thompson (17-9) in a heavyweight main card bout at Bellator 172. The fight card is headlined by another heavyweight bout pitting Fedor Emelianenko against Matt Mitrione.
“What I have to do is be focused and be sharp,” Kongo said of facing Thompson. “I will do my best to (get a finish). Going to the judges sometimes it can make you angry because it wasn’t the way you wanted to fight. For that reason, I have to change something.”
Over 15 years into his MMA career, the 41-year-old Kongo still has a great desire to fight, and as long as he’s able to do well and pick up victories, he sees no end in sight.
“For sure, if I wasn’t passionate about what I was doing, I wouldn’t be there,” said Kongo. “There will be a day when I want to stop, but now I want to keep going, so I keep going.
“I always go fight by fight, because my goal is to always be somewhere to fight. I come to win.”
