Bellator 72's Karl Amoussou wants to live up to 'Psycho' nickname against Bryan Baker

MMA might not be huge in France the way it is in other European countries, but maybe Karl Amoussou has a plan to do something about that.

Amoussou (15-4-2 MMA, 3-1 BFC) meets Bryan Baker (18-3 MMA, 8-2 BFC) Friday night in the finals of Bellator's Season 6 welterweight tournament. The winner moves on to a shot at 170-pound champion Ben Askren.

The 170-pound tourney finals are part of Bellator 72, which takes place at the USF Sun Dome in Tampa, Fla. The main card airs on MTV2; prelims stream on Spike.com. The entire card also can be viewed on MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com).

"Many people are following it from France," Amoussou on Friday told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio). "Many of the local newspapers are talking about it and following it, so that's pretty cool. MMA is growing in France."

Amoussou recently dropped from middleweight to welterweight. He said his natural weight is 185 pounds, making him a light middleweight.

In the Season 6 tournament, the Frenchman took out Chris Lozano with a first-round rear-naked choke in March, then needed a split decision to get past David Rickels in the semifinals in May.

But against Baker, though he's a slight underdog, Amoussou believes he'll live up to his "Psycho" nickname.

"You will have a psycho in the cage all the time – I can't fight against what I am," Amoussou said. "I'll bring it like that every time, so you can expect a big war."

Amoussou said he doesn't think he got too far inside his opponent's head at Thursday's weigh-ins, but believes he's got the edge against Baker when the cage door closes.

"He's a complete athlete, a well-rounded fighter," Amoussou said. "He's good. But I think I'm better in every part if the game. We'll see tonight, but I think I'm ready to beat him.

"He looks confident. I didn't try to make a big psychological war yesterday. I'm confident, but I know he trained – it's the tournament finals. I think I'm more ready than him, and I'm sure he feels the same. You never know before a fight. But I'm more than ready, and I'm at my best level now."

http://mmajunkie.com/news/29800/bellator-72s-karl-amoussou-wants-to-live-up-to-psycho-nickname-against-bryan-baker.mma