After suffering back-to-back losses inside the Bellator cage, bantamweight Ricky Bandejas decided it was time to make a change.

The 27-year-old from New Jersey made the decision to switch camps ahead of his Bellator 225 bout with Ahmet Kayretli and says he’s ready to take his martial arts development to the next level.

Bandejas (11-3 MMA, 1-2 BMMA) kicked off his Bellator career with a bang when he knocked out James Gallagher at Bellator 204 last August, but he’s suffered back-to-back losses since then, losing on the scorecards to surging two-division contender Juan Archuleta at Bellator 214, then succumbing to a first-round rear-naked choke from Patrick Mix at Bellator 222.

The two losses gave Bandejas a moment’s pause, and when he assessed his situation, he realized that he needed more time on the mats, and that a switch in camps was the best way to achieve that.

“I think I need to train more,” he told MMA Junkie ahead of fight week in Connecticut. “Where I’ve been at I’ve been putting in less than five hours of training a week, and if you look at the guys I’m fighting and the level of competition, it’s insane to think that I ever got this far training five, four or sometimes even only three hours a week. That’s something nobody knows, and I don’t like to talk about it much, but it’s nobody’s fault but my own. It’s not an excuse, it’s just the way it is.”

It meant that Bandejas had to consider his next move, and that move has seen him leave behind his old gym at Nick Catone MMA in New Jersey to train at American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Fla. It’s a big change, but one he hopes will yield positive results.

“I guess it was my choice and the way my last schedule worked out at my old gym,” he said. “It was just something I had to deal with myself and go all-in and give it 100 percent. I’m training at ATT now, training with a bunch of killers – guys who have just started out as pros to elite-level guys. There’s a lot of guys to mix up with, so the names are endless. I’ve been living in the gym since my last fight. I’m doing a lot more now, you know. Just in one day alone, I’m putting in a few workouts or three hours or whatnot.

“It’s definitely a big move, moving to Florida. They have a lot of guys my size, and they’re one of the best teams in the world for coaching and everything. I figured I needed a change in my life, so I picked up and made the move.”

Bandejas is making a speedy turnaround after his loss to Mix in June, but that suits him just fine as he looks to get back into the win column and make inroads toward a top contender spot in Bellator’s 135-pound division.

“Absolutely, I’ve got two losses,” Bandejas explained. “The last fight was part of the game. These things happen in MMA, it might be a second or 15 minutes, so I feel like I didn’t really get to let lose or show my progress since the Archuleta fight. And, I love fighting. Win or lose, I still would have been looking to get a quick turnaround.”

Bandejas returns against Kayretli (8-3 MMA, 0-1 BMMA), a name who is already familiar to him after they came close to facing each other on the regional scene earlier in their careers.

“I think he’s tough,” Bandejas said. “He’s a very good stand-up fighter. We were due to cross paths on the regional scene with Cage Fury Fighting Championships, but he would always turn down the fight. I think we match up good. I just think I’m a little more talented and a little better in every aspect than he is. I think he’s one dimensional.”

Bandejas hopes an impressive win in Bridgeport will catapult him back towards the division’s top names where, eventually, he would like to avenge one of his two recent losses against a man who is in red-hot form.

“I think I’ve got a good two or three wins to get up there,” he admitted. “Two impressive wins would definitely put me in the mix, maybe then I can redeem one of my losses. I know the division’s not too deep.

“(Juan) Archuleta’s just fought. The other guy who I think is really tough is Eduardo (Dantas), and look what he did to him. He mixes things up real good, and he’s a tough fighter. I’m excited to see how well he does in the featherweight tournament seeing as we did so well with him. It’ll be interesting to see how he does up there.”

Bandejas went the distance with Archuleta in his loss to “The Spaniard” in January, and he said when the time is right he would love to get back into the cage with his former foe and attempt to even the score after a competitive fight the first time around.

“I’m not targeting anybody next, but if I could pick, I would love to get that Archuleta fight back,” Bandejas admitted. “But he’s in the tournament and on a killer streak, while I’m on a two-fight losing streak, so I understand that matchup doesn’t make sense right away. But if I got to pick, he would definitely be the guy.”

So, with his ideal matchup likely to be a couple of fights down the line, at best, Bandejas knows he’ll have to find alternative opposition if he gets the win on Saturday night. And one option that appeals to him is a potential rematch with Irish star James Gallagher.

Bandejas famously knocked out “The Strabanimal” on his Bellator debut and, while he made clear he has no desire to chase a fight with a man he has already beaten decisively, he admitted that he’d be happy to renew acquaintances with the outspoken Irish star if Bellator presented him with that matchup.

“I think that would be awesome,” Bandejas said. “It’s not something I’m looking or asking for – the guy already has an air about himself. But if Bellator wanted to put that fight together and make it happen, and if the fans wanted to see it, I’m down to fight. I’m down to do anything.

“I don’t like to get political when it comes to fights. A lot of people won’t fight certain people because they’re new, or because of their form. Me, I just like fighting, so if that’s the guy, that’s the guy.”

But before any thoughts can turn to his next test, Bandejas has to deal with Kayretli, who is looking to snag the first win of his Bellator career. And the New Jersey native says he has addressed the problem that dogged him in his recent matchups and will be coming out fast and aggressive from the opening bell.

“I’ve had a problem starting slow, but this fight I will not be starting slow,” he stated. “I’ll be coming out and getting after it and getting the finish. I really believe I will finish this guy.”