Former Team Alpha Male wrestling coach Lance Palmer is looking to reclaim his featherweight crown at the World Series of Fighting 32 after dropping the strap to Marcos Alexandre Campos de Almeida back in December of 2015. Lance Palmer spoke with Bloody Elbow ahead of his co-main event rematch and explained how stepping back as a coach will give him more time to focus on himself as he looks to take back his title from Capitao Almeida. WSOF 32 will be taking place from the Xfinity Arena in Everett, Washington and will air live on NBC Sports Network on July 30, 2016.
Interview: Former WSOF Featherweight Champion Lance Palmer WSOF 32 **AUDIO ONLY**
When asked about his position as Team Alpha Male's wrestling coach, Lance Palmer had this to say:
"No, Danny Castillo is coaching at Alpha Male now. Since he retired from fighting he's been able to take over and give me more time to myself for my training camp. Just be able to train and focus on myself. I still help out when I'm in the gym. I still put in my two cents and give some of my knowledge to the guys when it's available. It's good for me to be able to focus on my training. I love coaching on the team and things like that but during fight camp it gets a little tough to be in the gym coaching other guys when you're trying to focus on your own fight."
Lance Palmer details his distractions leading into his first match with Almeida at WSOF 26:
"I didn't do some things right. I didn't rest like I should have the weekend before. I was cornering three people at the UFC event the weekend before that in Vegas. It took kind of a toll on me mentally and physically. Just little things like that. I didn't think of that at the time. I'm a team player. I cornered three teammates because I wanted to not because I had to. Went into fight week thinking I was going to do what I always do. I don't really weigh too heavily on it but when I got to fight week my body didn't feel right. Everything felt in slow motion and that's how I felt in the fight. You can see it. That wasn't the Lance Palmer that went out there and had three finishes... Everybody saw that."
Palmer explained that his weight cut was a non-factor in him losing his title to Capitao:
"Not at all. It was all the lead up to the fight the week before. Just not giving my body time to heal and the proper rest. That was all it was. Leading up to the fight, everything was the same with the weight cut. My weight cut was great. I felt fine. But like I said, at the beginning of the week I wasn't fresh. I didn't feel fresh and knew it was going to be an uphill battle going into the fight from the beginning of the week. There's nothing you can do about it when it gets to that point. You just have to push through it. I pushed through the fight and tried to push myself through the fight to get the decision. You can never rely on judges to get the win so you got to go out and get the finish."
Lance Palmer claims there isn't much need for a different game plan in his rematch against Alexandre Almeida:
"A lot of the things that we went in to the last fight with just didn't happen because my body wasn't reacting with my brain. I felt like everything was in slow motion like I said. We're going to bring a lot of things back from the last fight that we didn't get to see in the last fight. Adding to that and working off of things that happened in the last fight. Positions where I could have finished the fight and just didn't have that instinct because my body was just not there... To still feel like I won that fight with a half of tank of gas, I'm not going to be surprised when I finish him in the first round with a full tank of gas."
Before you watch the rematch, here is the WSOF 26 championship clash between Palmer and Almeida:
Watch Lance Palmer strive to recapture his featherweight title as he takes on Alexandre Almeida in the co-main event at WSOF 32 on July 30, 2016. Stay tuned to Bloody Elbow for full event coverage including, previews, results, highlights, and more! Video of this interview can be seen at the top of the page.
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