Danny Sabatello says he hates Leandro Higo, plans to “torture” him at Bellator 282: “I want him to have scars on his face for the rest of his life”

By Cole Shelton - June 22, 2022

Danny Sabatello is excited to fight and punish Leandro Higo at Bellator 282 on Friday.

Danny Sabatello

Sabatello and Higo are set to meet in the quarter-finals of the bantamweight grand prix in an intriguing matchup. When the bracket was set up, Sabatello was pleased he would get the chance to face Higo as he says he truly dislikes him due to the fact he has missed weight multiple times.

“I’m so f*****g pumped. I don’t really like this guy, I haven’t really liked him for a while, I have actually hated him for a few years,” Sabatello said on Just Scrap Radio on BJPENN.com. “This is a guy that misses weight constantly and that’s a really big pet peeve of mine. It’s a big problem in MMA, everyone says we have a weight cutting issue, I think we have a bitch issue, he’s going to say he’s going to make weight and he never ends up making it and that’s a problem in my book. I’m just pumped to get in there and beat the s**t out of him, finally.”

Once Sabatello beat Jornel Lugo and this fight was set, he began studying Higo and he doesn’t see a path for the Brazilian to win unless he catches him. However, he doubts that will be the case as he knows he’s better everywhere than him.

“He’s going to try and catch me, he has that bulls**t guillotine he tries in about every fight. I know he will try a few times for it,” Sabatello said. “He’s going to want me to slip up whether it’s maybe on the feet with my hands down or he tries some spinning bulls**t and tries to knock me out and gets me lucky. I think he realizes I’m better than him and if it goes the distance there is no way he wins a decision. I’m just better than him and will get the decision, I do think he will try and catch me.”

With Danny Sabatello being confident he’s better everywhere than Leandro Higo, and the fact he dislikes him, he plans to torture the Brazilian. The goal for Sabatello is to punish Higo with vicious ground and pound that leaves scars on his face for the rest of his life.

“The fight will go wherever I want it to go and I see this 50 percent on the feet and 50 percent on the ground. I’m going to knock his head off on the feet and we are also going to go to the ground and I will have to my pressure and slice him open with my elbows. I want him to have scars on his face for the rest of his life after this fight, but that’s just because I don’t like him. As long as I fight smart this guy has no chance…

“I want to torture him. The bottom line is I like fighting, a lot of these fighters say they want this first-round finish and the fight didn’t really get going,” Sabatello later added. “I want to be in there for a long time, beating the s**t out of him, showing off my skills on the feet and on the ground and I want to remember this fight. I have goals going into every fight and that’s to torture them and make them remember they fought Danny Sabatello. I don’t want this quick finish, I want to finish him but in the later rounds, I want to have some fun first.”

If Sabatello does that, he will face Raufeon Stots for the interim title in the semifinals next time out.

Do you think Danny Sabatello will beat Leandro Higo at Bellator 282?