The announcement of a meeting of knockout artists at Bellator London, Galore Bofando and Richard Kiely, was met by much enthusiasm last week, but the self proclaimed “Face of Bellator”, Kiely, is confident that he can manage to avoid the spectacular spinning techniques of Bofando when they clash on June 22.

In appearance on Eurobash, Kiely heralded Bofando— who he referred to as “Galore Buffoon” throughout the interview—as “the second-best striker in Bellator”, but forecast that a knockout to “The Paranormal” would end their contest.

“This is going to steal the show,” Kiely told Eurobash. “To be fair to Galore Buffoon, I have him up there as the second-best striker in Bellator [after me], ahead of Michael ‘V**ina’ Page and Pauline Daley. It’s going to be a cracking fight, unfortunately he is going to get knocked out as well. It is going to memorable, it is going to explosive, but it is going to end in a knockout, mark my words. Galore Buffoon will end up with his face on the canvas.”

Both decorated champions in their respective striking disciplines, Kiely noted how he believes that the spinning techniques of Bofando are only intimidating to fighters who have little experience in the striking arts. He insisted that Bofando would be punished if he attempts to land any acrobatic attacks on him.

“Everyone he fights doesn’t have a handle on how he fights, but I do. He throws a lot of spinning sh*t, as Nate Diaz would say. It’s hit and hope, whereas mine are calculated; I set things up. If he throws any of that sh*t at me I’m going to punch him right through his chest. He’s going to know. Don’t be surprised if the exact same thing happens to him that happens to every single fighter; he’s going to feel the first jab and then suddenly this world class striker will turn into a grappler,” he explained.

“I’m just as fast as him,” Kiely continued. “Granted, he does look spectacular to the untrained eye, but if he tries that with me I’m going to punch him right down the center, right to the throat. And we’re going to see how he deals with someone who can do exactly the same things as him. I don’t need to throw all that spinning sh*t in fights; once is enough. He can throw all that kind of stuff at people who are intimidated by it, but that doesn’t faze me, I’ve seen it for years. He’s going to get timed off that and then he’s going to look very, very foolish.”

Most MMA observers will remember Bofando from his bizarre knockout of Kiely’s SBG stable mate Charlie Ward at UFC Glasgow. Kiely referred to Bofando’s sole UFC win as a “fluke” when the topic was broached.

Have you ever seen or HEARD a KO like this? Galore Bofando finishes Charlie Ward with a crazy slam! #UFCGlasgow https://t.co/rILLjFHv27 — FOX Sports: UFC (@UFCONFOX) July 16, 2017

“It wasn’t a counter to a throw, it was a shrug off in panic. It just so happened to be a fluke that paid off for him. He went around claiming it like he’s some kind of grappler extraordinaire,” said Kiely.

“He’s all attribute based. He’s an explosive guy absolutely, he just tries to throw it all out there in the hopes that he doesn’t get caught with anything himself. He caught Charlie awkwardly and Charlie landed on his head, that’s what happened. You heard the sound off that, it would’ve happened to anyone.”

If all goes according to plan for Kiely, he expects to become a prominent fixture on Bellator’s American event.

“If Bellator have any cop on, as soon as I knock out Galore Buffoon they’re going to book me into the big name, big money fights on big American cards. It’s as simple as that. They need me because people watch me whether they like me or not. Whether they’re looking to see me get knocked out or they want to see me knocking someone out, I bring eyes inside the cage and outside the cage.”

Check out the latest episode of Eurobash. The Richard Kiely interview begins at 1:02:00.