Andre Petroski is hoping to prove he is the best grappler in the middleweight division at UFC 281.
Petroski is set to face Wellington Turman on the prelims of the stacked card at Madison Square Garden. After Petroski’s first-round submission win over Nick Maximov, he wasn’t sure what would be next but he wanted to fight at MSG. In order to get this fight, he had to make sacrifices. His coaches left for Abu Dhabi to corner Sean Brady, but that didn’t stop Petroski’s training.
“I pushed to get on this card, I sacrificed a lot to get on this card,” Petroski said on Just Scrap Radio on BJPENN.com. “Fighting at MSG is something I’ve always dreamed of. I’m really excited about having the opportunity to perform there.”
Although he got his wish of fighting at MSG, Petroski was a bit surprised to be fighting Wellington Turman. Yet, he is excited for the matchup as he wants to submit the BJJ black belt to further prove he’s the best grappler.
“Kind of. It makes sense though. He’s Pereira’s teammate and obviously, they want him on the same card, his gym is driving distance from Madison Square Garden,” Petroski said. “I don’t know, I’m excited about it. I think I’m better than him in every aspect and it still does something for what I’m trying to do. If I go out and do what I know I’m capable of doing, it proves my point even more. I’ve been saying I’m the best grappler in this division, I’ve been continuing to prove it, and going out and submitting another Brazilian black belt further proves my point.”
Not only does Petroski expect to submit Turman, which would be the first submission loss for the Brazilian, but he is confident he will also have success on the feet. The Philly native believes he will hurt Turman on the feet and then get ahold of his neck.
“I think I clip him at some point on the feet. Then, when he’s hurt I’ll grab his neck and submit him,” Petroski said.
If Petroski does get his hand raised he hopes he can re-negotiate his contract to get more pay. Petroski is still on his Ultimate Fighter deal which was six fights. With that, he hopes if he goes 4-0 with four finishes he can get a new deal.
“My goal is to get a new contract. I need to win this fight first and foremost and get a finish and go into these negotiations at 4-0 with four finishes,” Petroski said.
Should Andre Petroski get the stoppage win and a new contract he also has his eyes set on Bo Nickal. The two were supposed to grapple each other. However, according to Petroski, Nickal turned him down twice, so now Petroski is hoping to fight him.
“I certainly didn’t like how he was talking all the shit about how there is no one in the division that has 10 percent of his wrestling,” Petroski explained. “Yet, he has turned me down twice for Fury. He keeps saying he’s the best but he keeps turning down matchups with me… To be honest, I didn’t think he would ever fight me. So, I thought it would be fairer to give him a grappling match. That is what we tried for. But, now that he is running his mouth in MMA, it’s like well you are in my division, you are talking shit, you are in the UFC, might as well fight me.”
Do you think Andre Petroski will finish Wellington Turman at UFC 281?