Bart Palaszewski has a new mission following his loss to Kamal Shalorus at WEC 53. He wants to show the UFC why they kept him around for at least another fight.
The former IFL and WEC lightweight got the news officially this week that he would receive another shot with Zuffa, only this time it would be in the UFC Octagon. It’s been a long week for several fighters facing the cut line, but Palaszewski won’t be one of them.
Palaszewski spoke exclusively to MMAWeekly.com about the news that he’s going to be making the move to the UFC, and the workload ahead of him.
“I was happy obviously, but I thought that I was going anyway. That excitement was already going since we found out about the merger, so I was kind of already excited about it,” Palaszewski said.
“I don’t know if I was worried (about getting cut) I mean I had a game plan set in my mind of what I was going to need to do. At worst I thought they would ask me to get a fight outside the Zuffa organization, and maybe come back, like they had me do after my two losses. I was staying really positive and it worked out well.”
The positive attitude paid off because now he has at least one more shot to prove to the UFC brass why they kept him around. Palaszewski isn’t sure when he’ll return to action, but he definitely wants to make his next fight more exciting than his last.
He also had a few parting shots for his last opponent concerning their fight as well.
“Some stand-up guys maybe or at least some guys that aren’t afraid of standing with me,” Palaszewski answered when asked whom he wanted to fight next. “Kamal got punched a couple times and he automatically turned into a wrestler. I think he shot in on me more than he shot in on all the guys in all of his fights. He had a couple takedowns and like I always say you want a boring fight put me with a wrestler, he’s just going to sit on top of me.
I thought Kamal had a little bit more balls to stand with me, and he said he was going to smash me and doing all that (expletive) and he ends up in a wrestling game and try to dry hump me to a victory. He did a great job of not losing a fight.”
So beyond his next fight it sounds like the Team Curran and Alienware MMA fighter would be happy to get another chance at Shalorus as well. Whoever the next opponent is for Palaszewski, he’s ready to go whenever the UFC comes calling.
“Obviously I want to go out there and I don’t know if it’s prove myself to the UFC crowd, but definitely show them that I’m here now. I want to show the big bosses that they made the right choice by keeping me,” said Palaszewski.
“If you want a good fight and you like fighting, give me a call. I’m not the guy that’s going to try to get on top of you and whisper sweet nothing’s in your ear. I’m definitely going to try to be on my feet and try to beat your head off your shoulders.”