This Saturday on NBC Sports, Rousimar Palhares, fights outside the UFC for the first time since 2007.
In his WSOF debut, the former top UFC middleweight-turned-welterweight, fights newly minted promotional champion, Steve Carl.
Carl boasts an impressive 21-3 record with the majority (nearly all) his wins coming by submission.
It’s the perfect scenario for the embattled Palhares, and he knows it.
In a recent interview with MMAFighting.com, Palhares touched on his opponents threat on the ground:
“Is he going to fight on the ground with me? I don’t know. But I hope he does [laughs].I don’t think he has anything else to do. His fights always end on the ground. It’s hard to say because I don’t know what he’s planning to do, but usually nobody wants to go to the ground against me. Let’s see if he’s going or not.”