Gegard Mousasi Doesn’t Care If He’s Considered the Best Middleweight in the Sport or Not

Gegard Mousasi has been a champion and a top contender for most of his career but being acknowledged as the best in the world isn’t something he seeks.

On Saturday night, Mousasi will engage in one of his most ambitious fights to date as he faces off in a champion versus champion clash against reigning Bellator welterweight king Rory MacDonald.

Mousasi won the Bellator middleweight title back in May with a dominant TKO against former champion Rafael Carvalho and he wasted no time pursuing the matchup with MacDonald.

Mousasi will walk into the fight off seven straight wins including several impressive performances in the UFC including victories over former champions Chris Weidman and Vitor Belfort.

A win over MacDonald would be another huge addition to his resume but Mousasi isn’t concerned with being called the best middleweight in the sport.

“I’m not chasing that title,” Mousasi told MMANytt on the Bellator 206 media conference call. “I really don’t care about that. All I care about is on the 29th I have to be the best middleweight and the 30th of September, somebody else can be the best middleweight.

“For me the goal is to be the best on the 29th.”

While he was in the UFC, Mousasi was constantly chasing a title shot against whoever was holding the middleweight championship at the time.

Towards the end of his previous contract with the UFC, Mousasi appeared to be close to that goal but he still never received the opportunity and ultimately signed with Bellator MMA during free agency.

Regardless of what happens against MacDonald on Saturday night, Mousasi can’t say for certain if anybody will rate him higher that current UFC champion Robert Whittaker and it’s definitely not costing him any sleep at night thinking about it.

“Obviously, it’s all about matchups,” Mousasi said. “If I would fight [Robert] Whittaker, I think a guy who has good skills of standup can defeat him.

“I don’t care about being the best or not. On the 29th, I need to be the best.”