Bryce Meredith ‘stoked to be in this new world’ at Bellator 293

Bryce Meredith thinks he may possibly be reduce out for this MMA point.

Meredith, a 3-time Division-I All-American wrestler and the 2018 Large 12 Conference champion at 141 pounds at the University of Wyoming, is 3 fights into his MMA profession with a trio of bouts beneath theLFA banner.

Friday, Meredith (three- MMA, – BMMA) will make his promotional debut at Bellator 293 in a bantamweight bout against Brandon Carrillo (1- MMA, – BMMA). The chance to be on a larger stage is a single he’s been considering about for a when.

“It feels wonderful,” Meredith not too long ago told MMA Junkie. “I really feel like I’ve been dreaming about this stuff for rather some time, and even as a young boy in wrestling, you generally dream about producing it your way up.

“(It is a) massive promotion, the MMA planet, and getting a superior time carrying out that. The wrestling planet took more than for a when, and now that we had been accomplished with that, I’m stoked to be in this new planet. It is been a lot of entertaining.”

Meredith will turn 28 at the finish of subsequent month. Primarily based at the MMA Lab in Phoenix, he has no shortage of teammates who can assist him get prepared for how issues operate on a larger stage.

They also may possibly be in a position to assist preserve him grounded in the early going. When Meredith knew for certain he wanted to transition to MMA and knew the time was correct, he also discovered he’d have to have to turn out to be multi-dimensional. But a single point he was quite certain of is that the nature of the beast in the sport may possibly be correct up his alley.

“I hit this tipping point exactly where I was like, ‘Dude, this is what I want to do,’” Meredith mentioned. “This is a lot more attractive to me and my character, anyway – the fighting and the chaos and the media and all this stuff. It is generally been so entertaining to me. I’ve generally loved that aspect of wrestling, but in wrestling you only get a tiny bit of it.

“You’ve got to go back a couple of measures. You have type of got to consume sh*t and understand and do all this stuff. I assume perhaps that is what it is. It is like getting patience and understanding. You have got to do your time in MMA, particularly at 135, exactly where everybody’s super created in each and every aspect of MMA.”

But in terms of joining the ranks of the “super created,” he thinks he picked a superior location to start out at the MMA Lab in Phoenix.

“I lucked out,” he mentioned. “I came to the MMA Lab, where currently we have 4 guys on the group that are on the UFC roster. … I was truly, truly fortunate that I stepped in and I saw what the highest level is. Even with Sean (O’Malley) – he’s the No. 1 contender in the planet correct now (for the UFC bantamweight title0. So I got to understand really immediately you are going to have to understand a lot of new sh*t simply because these guys are truly superior and truly skilled everywhere.”

It is been a fantastic start out for Meredith so far with 3 fights and 3 stoppages. He picked up a 1st-round TKO in his pro debut in 2021, then followed it up with yet another knockout in April 2022. This previous September, he added a submission win to his resume.

In February, he signed with Bellator, a promotion with a reputation for plucking elite collegiate wrestlers to create them up in the MMA planet. And once again, that is exactly where his coaching at the MMA Lab comes in so immediately into his pro profession.

“I know exactly where I stand against the ideal dudes in the planet, and I can confidently say that I’m on the correct path and I’m excited to see exactly where I’m going,” Meredith mentioned. “There’s no doubt in my thoughts …Until you in fact beat somebody that is truly superior or you compete and practice with individuals that are truly superior, it truly puts it in viewpoint.

“One side of the coin, they are greater than you assume they are. And these individuals are difficult and they will whoop your ass. But the other side of the coin, they’re not as superior as you assume they are, and they’re just guys and they’re not that powerful. They’re not that speedy. They’re not that superior. Each these are correct. I assume that is type of how we have to appear at it.”

Meredith’s promotional debut is aspect of the Bellator 293 prelims Friday at Pechanga Resort Casino in Temecula, Calif. The primary card airs on Showtime following prelims on MMA Junkie.

For a lot more on the card, pay a visit to MMA Junkie’s occasion hub for Bellator 293.