Rodolfo Bellato Thanked Referee Jacob Montalvo Following Victorious UFC Debut

While Rodolfo Bellato’s comeback victory over Ihor Potieria at UFC on ESPN 52 earned him a $50,000 bonus, 2023 didn’t start out so well for the Brazilian light heavyweight.

"If someone told me in February that 2023 would be the best year of my life, I would think it was some kind of [joke]. After all, I had lost to [Vitor] Petrino in September 2022 and my dream of going to UFC looked far away,” Bellato told Sherdog.com.

After a pair of victories under the Legacy Fighting Alliance banner earlier this year, Bellato got a second chance on Dana White’s Contender Series this past October. This time, he earned a UFC contract after scoring a technical knockout victory against Murtaza Talha Ali.

“A few weeks later, the UFC invited me to debut against Potieria, a guy who knocked out [Mauricio Rua] and had twice as many fights as I did. I knew it would be a war, but I decided that the only way he was going to beat me was to knock me out,” Bellato said.

Bellato acknowledged that referee Jacob Montalvo played a significant role in his victory by allowing him to recover when Potieria had him on the brink of defeat.

“The first thing I did when the fight was over was thank Mr. Jacob Montalvo,” Bellato said. “He did a great job looking in my eyes the entire time and allowing me to recover, turn the fight and get the bonus in my UFC debut.”

Bellato spent more than a month training with Glover Teixeira and Alex Pereira in Connecticut ahead of his UFC debut. After that experience, Bellato disagrees with Alistair Overeem’s recent assertion that “Poatan” will not be a long-reigning champion.

“He [Overeem] said that other fighters of the division will find holes in his game,” Bellato said. “The fact is that he faced the toughest guys of both divisions, former champions, and they were not able to find [them]. What I can say is that ‘Poatan’ is such a badass. The guy is a master in using distance, and [he] punches and kicks really hard.

“But he is also such a great person who takes care of his sparring [partners]. He knows how to train without hurting anyone. Also, he helps you all the time to improve your skills. Spending this time with him and Glover was such a wonderful experience that I intend to repeat in my next camp.”

Bellato is in no hurry to choose his next opponent in the UFC’s light heavyweight division.

"I'm just arriving,” he said. “I’m aware that I need a couple of more wins before I start to call out ranked guys, but one guy I really want to fight in the future is Vitor Petrino, who is responsible for the only two losses on my career. I really hope we can make that trilogy in the future with the winner getting close to the title.”