Roman Faraldo Reflects on Jorge Masvidal-Style Finish at Bellator 252

He couldn’t have come up with a better gift for Jorge Masvidal’s birthday.

Roman Faraldo’s debut in Bellator MMA couldn’t have gone any smoother. Faraldo (4-0, 1-0 Bellator) erupted on the big stage by putting away Pat Casey with an impressive flying knee at the 2:30 mark of the second stanza of their 155-pound encounter at Bellator 252. While talking with Sherdog, the 27-year old fighter from Tallahassee, Florida, went back to those moments, breaking down the strategy that led to the highlight-reel finish.

“That was the game plan,” he said. “I have to give a lot of credit to my coaches. My striking coach Paulino Hernandez has probably been the biggest influence in my game as of lately. And that was just the game plan. We knew Pat Casey was a heavy-handed guy. He liked to chuck the leather, but we also knew he liked to duck the head. We were staying up the middle, we made a prediction previously that it would either be a jump-in straight kick, that karate-style crane kick, or the flying knee coming up that middle. That was going to catch him. That was always game planed. We just knew we had to wear him down a little bit, touch him up, break him down, and when the opportunity presented itself, go ahead and let it go.”

The comparison between Faraldo’s flying knee and the one landed by Ultimate Fighting Championship 170-pound contender Jorge Masvidal in dropping Ben Askren came pretty naturally in the minds of many fans.

“What’s funny is that me and Jorge have, our striking coach Paulino Hernandez, that’s his striking coach as well, that’s whom I train under,” Faraldo added. “Same training, same knee. Ironically, it was really cool, for it was Nov. 12, and it was Jorge’s birthday. I got to knock this dude out like Jorge on his birthday. It was my birthday gift to him.”

Faraldo is now scheduled to meet Trevor Gudde in the preliminary card of the upcoming Bellator 255 event, which will go down on April 2.