WSOF’s Lance Palmer Believes Latest Victory Showcased New Heights in Evolution as a Fighter
By Kelsey Mowatt
Although Lance Palmer needed less than one round to defend World Series of Fighting’s featherweight title last month, the wrestler’s evolution as a fighter was on full display.
Palmer took on well travelled vet and accomplished striker Chris Horodecki at WSOF 21, and during the bout, “The Party” utilized all the elements of MMA to score the win. After standing with Horodecki during the fight’s opening moments, Palmer took the fight down and starting attacking with submissions. Horodecki managed to work his way back to his feet, before Palmer shot in once again, and worked his way into a fight ending, neck crank.
“Yeah, I think so,” Palmer said in a recent episode of Full Contact Fighter Radio, when asked if the performance marked a new standard, in terms of his development as a fighter. “I mean going into the fight I felt that I’m better, even though he’s known as a kickboxer, I feel that mine’s better. Obviously on the ground I felt that I was way superior to him on the ground as well, in wrestling and my jiu-jitsu.”
“So, I went out, showed a little bit of striking and and was able to get the takedown,” Palmer furthered. “Was able to control him and was able to show a little bit of my scrambling abilities too on top. So, it was good. For the short amount of time the fight was, I did show a bunch of my techniques that I’ve improved on.”
With the win, the 27 year-old fighter moved his record to 10-1, and took another step away from his 2013 loss to Georgi Karakhanyan.
“I always say in each interview that I want to get better in each fight, be able to show more each fight, so, I feel that I did that even though it was a short fight.”
Palmer’s transition into MMA was accompanied by a considerable amount of buzz, due to the fact he’s a four time, All-American wrestler. Like many of his Team Alpha Male teammates have also discovered, this wrestling background can play out in various ways during a fight.
“Yeah, I think it does to a certain extent,” said Palmer, when asked if he believes his wrestling opens up more opportunities for his striking, since opponents are concerned about the takedown. “But, sometimes it slows things down because guys are afraid to come in and throw; they’re afraid to get close because they’re afraid of getting taken down.”
“So, I think that’s a lot of the reason Chris wasn’t attacking at all, or throwing any punches to cause damage. He was just kind of throwing stuff out there, throwing combos out there and I landed a nice left hand and hit him in the chest, and after that he was afraid to get close. He kind of felt my power and also he knew I could take him down. I think with a lot of guys they’re afraid to get close to me, so that’s the only thing that keeps it from having a lot of action on the feet.”
WSOF 21 took place in Edmonton, Alberta. Palmer has not been booked for his next title defense.