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Tuesday, Dec 09, 2014

WSOF 16: Lance Palmer Didn’t “Expect” Title Shot, But Says Latest Win Earned Him Golden Opportunity

Lance Palmer (photo via Twitter / @LancePalmer)

By Kelsey Mowatt

Lance Palmer came up short in his first attempt to secure World Series of Fighting’s featherweight title, but approximately one year later, the fighter has the opportunity to add another belt to Team Alpha Male’s collection.

On December 7th last year, Georgi Karakhanyan tapped out Palmer with a third round, guillotine choke to become the WSOF’s first, 145 pound champ. But, following Palmer’s first round, victory over Nick Lobosco in June, he’s been booked to fight the man who ended Karakhanyan’s reign, Rick Glenn.

“I don’t know,” Palmer said on a recent episode of Full Contact Fighter Radio, when asked if he was expecting to get another shot at the title, following his win over Lobosco. “Before that fight, I was just going into that fight looking to dominate, put on a good performance and finish the fight. I wasn’t really looking ahead too much. Everytime I fight, I look only at that fight which is coming up, and only focus on that opponent.”

“So, I didn’t really think about it until after my fight was over, when I had already won, and finished Nick Lobosco in the first round.” furthered Palmer, who will fight Glenn at WSOF 16 this Saturday in Sacramento, California. “Then I had some time to relax before Rick and Georgi fought, so it didn’t really come to mind.”

Following the win, Palmer (8-1) says he was told by WSOF senior executive vice president Ali Abdel-Aziz that he would be facing Glenn (15-2-1) next, who stopped Karakhanyan at WSOF 10.

“It was cool, because I felt like I earned the title shot by putting on a good performance and finishing the fight, against a guy who was undefeated at that time,” the 26 year-old Palmer said. “It’s something I didn’t expect. I don’t expect anything. I feel like I had earned the shot, not really that I had been given the shot.”

The decorated wrestler wasn’t expecting another crack at the title, but Palmer says he wasn’t shocked either, since he did the promotion a favor when he faced Karakhanyan at WSOF 7. Karakhanyan was originally scheduled to fight Glenn for the promotion’s inaugural featherweight title, but the latter was forced to withdraw due to injury.

“I wasn’t surprised, because I feel like I’ve put in a lot of hard work, and the first time I fought for the title for World Series it was on like three weeks notice,” Palmer noted. “I was doing well in the fight anyways, and when you’re fighting the top guys in your division, in any organization, short notice is tough because there’s a lot of strategy that goes into bigger fights like that. So, I’m glad that they gave me the opportunity to fight Georgi, but when it comes down to it, it’s a lot better when you have a full fight camp to prepare for somebody.”

Palmer has had plenty of time to prepare for Glenn, who is heading into the fight armed with a 13 fight, undefeated streak. Since joining WSOF, the Roufusport fighter has also defeated Alexandre Pimentel and Artur Rofi.

“Without giving away too much game plan, or anything, he’s definitely known for being a striker, that’s for sure, but I know who he works with on his wrestling and his jiu-jitsu, so I know he has the right people around him,” Palmer noted about Glenn. “I’m sure that every fight he’s getting better and better…at this level, even if a guy’s know as a striker, that doesn’t mean their other game is not polished.”

WSOF 16 will be hosted by Sacramento’s McClellan Conference Center and the main card will be broadcast on the NBC Sports Network.

posted by FCF Staff @ 8:00 am
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