Lance Palmer Plans To Finish Alexandre Almeida

In an interview with MMA Junkie, Lance Palmer (10-2) said he plans to finish Alexandre Almeida (18-5) when they fight at WSOF 32 tomorrow night. It happens at the Xfinity Arena in Everett, Washington. Here are highlights:

On beating Jared Downing in 2013: “When I won the RFA belt, it was a hard-fought decision against a guy who wasn’t really well known. But he took Patricio ‘Pitbull’ the distance in Bellator. That was a good win for me then, but the Lance Palmer now would’ve finished that guy in the early rounds.”

On his training at Team Alpha Male: “It’s awesome to see that, but I haven’t competed against any guys in the UFC, so that’s the real gauge,” he said. “These guys in the gym, it’s cool. The gym is the gym, though. It’s not a real fight. You hear it all the time, that guys did well with this guy in the gym – but that can happen all the time. I do gauge how well I’m doing. We have a 155er in the UFC now in Josh Emmett, a 145er in Andre Fili, a 145er in Darren Elkins, a bunch of other guys that come out and train. Every day, I can measure what I can do.”

On finishing the fight: “For me, finishing the fight will close the doors on this whole Almeida deal. Winning the fight would be great as long as it’s a dominant win. But if I feel like I’m winning the rounds dominantly, I feel like the finish will open itself up. When I won the belt in 2014 against Rick Glenn, in the first round, I picked up momentum. In the second round, I picked up even more momentum and almost got the finish on my feet with a TKO. The third round is when I broke him down and got him on the ground and got the submission. As long as I push the pace like I did in that fight and do my thing, I’ll be able to get the finish.”