Adam Cella (7-8 MMA, 5-3 SFC) will finally get an opportunity to rinse his mouth of a poor taste that’s been there since March. The taste? A disqualification loss to Coltin Cole (4-5 MMA, 2-1 SFC) at Shamrock FC 286. The mouthwash? A rematch at Shamrock FC 301 on Saturday.
Less than 20 seconds into the fight, Cole shot for a takedown on Cella, who landed a couple of elbows to the back of Cole’s head. Cella then continued to land a swarm of shots until Cole covered up. The referee’s decision did not go Cella’s way: instead of a TKO win, he was handed a disqualification loss.
“The first couple of elbows could be called back of the head, and I’d be the first to tell you that,” Cella told MMASucka. “The referee said to change your strike angles. That’s what I did. I started throwing some hammer-fists. I started throwing more elbows 9-3 and I was making sure I was getting the side of his head. When the referee stopped it, he said he stopped the fight for the illegal strikes before. There was a 10 second period of fight action before that of me changing my strikes and him readjusting and going in for another shot.”
Cella vs. Cole I (Shamrock FC)
“The last fight was a bullshit call, in my opinion,” Cella said.
While Cole enters this fight with the upper-hand in the win column, Cella said he doesn’t see this fight as potential revenge.
“I just see it as a type of, ‘this is what was supposed to happen the first time,’ fight,” Cella said.
Cella said he enters the rematch with even more confidence than he did the first fight. In fact, his confidence is at an all-time high. He attributes that to his skills, strength and conditioning all having improved. That’s not all. He said Cole’s actions in the first fight all contribute to his confidence.
“[My confidence] is a little bit higher knowing he will quit or break if I push him to that level and he’ll bow out,” he said. “I think he quit and did a little bit of acting. Everything happened so fast, but if you watch his past fights, he bellied down and covered up and waited for the ref to stop. He’s done that in a few fights before. Afterwards, he acted super distraught. If the doctor asks if you’re fine, tell him you’re fine if you think you can continue.”
Cole hasn’t fought since his win over Cella. Cella has gone 1-1 since that bout, and threw a monkey off his back in his most recent fight. The loss to Cole came in the midst of a six-fight losing streak. He finally snapped it in his last bout against Eddie Larrea in December at Shamrock FC 300.
“I thought, ‘I’ve gotta snap out of this. I’m way better than what I’m showing,'” Cella said of his past losing streak. He said he feels relieved, and “doesn’t want to go back there.”
A win over Cole would grant Cella another type of streak; a winning one. It would also allow him to get back to being .500. The middleweight is pretty sure that will be the case in the rematch, and has predicted a quick submission if the fight hits the floor.
