PFL champion Lance Palmer happy to take the Eddie Alvarez path in his MMA career

LAS VEGAS – For most fighters, the goal is simple: Get into either the UFC and Bellator, then fight your way to a title. But Lance Palmer has chosen to do things a little differently.

Palmer (22-3) is taking the road less traveled and is about to enter his third straight season of action in the PFL, where he is a two-time featherweight champion.

For a man who was tipped to go right to the top early in his career, it was a leap of faith for Palmer to go a different route with his career. But he said he’s happy he did and cites one of the sport’s most respected active fighters as inspiration for his journey.

“Kind of my goal from the start when I first signed for World Series of Fighting was (to) take a different path,” he told MMA Junkie at a media day for Dominance MMA this past Saturday in Las Vegas. “It was the Eddie Alvarez path, in a way. Your legacy will come. You’ll eventually get the big fights, you’ll eventually get all the belts. That’s my goal at some point. Right now, I’m paving my own way and making my own path, and it’s worked for me. This path – it’s mine. It’s not something that everybody else can do. So I’m glad to be here and I’m glad to be in the position that I’m in.”

Alvarez built his career up fighting all over the world before capturing titles in Bellator and the UFC. Now he’s fighting in Asia for ONE Championship as part of a lucrative contract as he attempts to capture a clean sweep of major international titles. Palmer isn’t as far through his own MMA journey, but with two tournament wins under his belt, and two $1 million checks in the bank, things are going pretty well so far.

His third season with the PFL looks set to be his toughest yet, and that’s exactly how Palmer likes it. Previously, he found himself facing fighters who were virtual unknowns outside of the hardcore MMA community. But now, with the PFL looking to bolster its roster with more established talent, Palmer is relishing the opportunity to take on more recognizable names in the not-too-distant future.

“I know they’re bringing more guys in, and tougher competition, and that’s the goal – that’s what I want,” he said. “I don’t want to have to prove myself by saying I’m beating tough guys. I want the guys to speak for themselves. So the tougher guys that they bring, the better it is for me, and the better the competition.

“It’s been a struggle for me through some of my career to have to try to build fights because people don’t know who I’m fighting, and that’s a lot of the problem that I’ve had. Even though I’m fighting tough competition, people don’t really know who they are, or they haven’t built a name for themself yet, so it’s been tough as far as that goes. But the PFL’s doing a good job of bringing new guys in every year who are tougher and built somewhat of a name, so it should get easier to kind of build each fight as we go along.”

Palmer’s next assignment comes against undefeated Jason Soares (14-0) in the PFL’s first regular-season event of 2020 on May 21. The two-time champion said that after taking a welcome two-month break from competitive action to refresh and relax away from the cage, he’s ready for the fray once again.

“If it wasn’t for the couple-month break, there probably wouldn’t be that much of an itch to get back in there,” he said. “Having five fights in seven months is hard on your body and hard on your mind, so it’s good to have January and February to kind of just relax. I went to Hawaii with my wife after the New Year and kind of relaxed at home. I don’t train at home – I train in New Jersey. So it’s nice to be able to be home and relax and live a normal life for a couple of months. Now I’m ready to get back in there.”