Karl Albrektsson Opens Up on Depression, Fan Backlash Following His Last Fight

The past few months have been rough for Karl Albrektsson, who had to deal not only with a difficult loss, but the sadly customary pile-on from so-called fans afterward.

It wasn't a great night for Albrektsson (13-4, 2-2 Bellator) when he took on Karl Moore at Bellator 285 in September. After putting on a good performance in the opening frame, “King” was forced to tap due to a face crank in the second period. The loss came when Albrektsson was already in a tough spot in his life. Apparently, the people who were most angry about his loss were anonymous snipers on social media, who didn’t pass up the opportunity to attack him with offensive and homophobic slurs. While talking with Sherdog, the 29-year-old Swede confessed he dealt with depression following the Moore loss and the people’s reaction to that, stating that he found help in his mental coach and his team. Now, Albrektsson feels ready to test himself once more in the Bellator MMA cage as he takes on Grant Neal at Bellator 290.

“I feel like I was embarrassed. I was chained. Then, you check your phone, and you get 100 messages that you are a clown, you’re a fa***t. It doesn't help. I was already beating myself up, and then it was like everything… that's why I talked to my mental coach. It was like therapy for me. It turned my life upside down.”

(00:00) Intro
(00:13) Shaving his head
(00:41) Losing to Moore
(01:44) Dealing with depression
(02:40) Being insulted by fans
(03:12) Training with Marthin Hamlet
(04:10) Expecting a dog fight
(04:58) His holiday season
(05:30) Aiming to finish Neal
(05:59) Picking Ryan Bader vs. Fedor Emelianenko
(06:51) Planning to get in title contention this year
(07:17) Outro