After all, if you're going to make your Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) debut, you might as well make it in style.
Former World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) veteran Bart Palaszewski is finally making his Octagon debut after nearly a year on the sidelines, dropping to featherweight to challenge the always-dangerous Tyson Griffin at the UFC 137: "St. Pierre vs. Diaz" event on Oct. 29 in Las Vegas, Nevada.
"Bartimus," who saw his four-fight win streak snapped in a split decision loss to Kamal Shalorus last December, was set to debut with the promotion back in May but suffered an injury that has kept him on the sidelines until now.
So how does he see his fight against Griffin, also a former lightweight, unfolding in "Sin City?"
"I wish I would of got a true featherweight for my first fight there but fighting a top 155-pounder works for me," Palaszewski told Budda Sport. "I'm glad I'm fighting someone with a name instead of a true 145'er with no name. I think that our styles match up great because we both look to stand but are also great on the ground. That usually makes for an exciting fight ... his wrestling is good but, I've been working on my wrestling hard because it sucked. So, really I want to see how my progress is going. He's a good person to test it on if it even comes to it. Whether I have to make us stand or if he chooses to stand with me he's getting KO'd!"
Griffin is back at 145-pounds after a lightweight run concluded with three consecutive losses to Evan Dunham, Takanori Gomi and Nik Lentz, respectively.
That's not exactly a who's-who of the division, although two of the bouts were closely contested fights that could have gone either way. Of course, "almost" only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades, so it was down to featherweight for the former top contender.
He made his re-debut in the division a successful one when he bested Manny Gamburyan at UFC on Versus 4 in yet another razor-thin decision.
Is this his last hurrah inside the cage? Or his second coming?
Who takes home the win in this featherweight war on Oct. 29?
Get the latest gear
