Bart Palaszewski’s Rapid Fire KO
Bart Palaszewski couldn’t have asked for a better UFC debut. He kept working the jab to keep Tyson Griffin at bay and kept the fight standing in the process. Then when he had his chance, he capitalized with a killer finish that earned him “Knockout of the Night” honors, and a cool $75K to boot.
He knocked out Griffin and may have knocked him out of the UFC, too.
BARTIMUS OUT OF UFC 130
May 20, 2011 by Matt
Matt Erickson reports at MMA Fighting that Bart Palaszewski has withdrawn from his UFC 130 bout due to injury. Palaszewski was initially scheduled to face Cody McKenzie, but McKenxie backed out a few weeks ago with his own injury.
Gleison Tibau was the replacement for McKenzie, and now Rafaello “Tractor” Oliveira will step in to fight Tibau.
While Tibau is a BJJ Black belt, he loves to stand and bang. Which is why it’s a shame this fight is off, because Bart and Tibau had “Fight of the Night” potential. But that bout, and Bartimus debut in the UFC will have to wait.
Maybe the McKenzie/Palaszewski fight will be on again as soon as both fighters recover from injury.
BART PALASZEWSKI VS. CODY MCKENZIE AT UFC 130
April 11, 2011 by Matt
Team Curran’s Bart Palaszewski has been added to the already stacked card for UFC 130. Bartimus will get to battle TUF fan favorite Cody McKenzie in his first official UFC fight.
McKenzie had his winning streak (and guillotine streak) ended by Yves Edwards at UFC Fight For the Troops 2, but was awarded a Fight of the Night bonus. Bartimus dropped a split to decision to Kamal Shalorus at the last WEC event. That snapped his 4-fight win streak.
This could be Palaszewski’s only chance to secure a spot on the UFC roster. The UFC is seemingly culling fighters at a faster rate, and this is especially of true of the over-populated lightweight division. Back to back losses could signal an end to a hoped for UFC run.
McKenzie will have reach and height advantages on Palaszewski, but Bart shouldn’t have any problems getting inside on him and doing damage. McKenzie is a sloppy striker that wings punches with very little technique. A seasoned vet like Palaszewski should be able to get in and out with McKenzie. Palaszewski is also a BJJ Black Belt, and I would be shocked if McKenzie pulls off his patented guillotine.
Overall I just really like this matchup for Bart and think it’s his fight to win. Here’s our interview with Bart from earlier this year, where he talked about his slow starts and what the future holds.
BARTIMUS SIGNS WITH HEADRUSH
Ray Flores was in Vegas for UFC 126 over the weekend and he caught up with Team Curran’s Bart Palaszewski, who recently signed with Headrush.
MORE MMA UNDIES: BARTIMUS AND FELICE HERRIG
February 4, 2011 by Matt
So apparently frolicking around in the snow in just underwear is a favorite pastime of MMA fighters. After a blizzard that bombarded the Midwest a few days ago, UFC heavyweight Pat Barry went out in his undies to enjoy the snow.
A little bit closer to Chicago, 2 of Team Curran’s finest thought it would be fun to go out and do likewise. Bart Palaszewski and Felice Herrig took to the outdoors in their drawers.
Bart looks like he’s in some major pain. If you missed it, check out our interview with Bartimus, as well as LJ Tabano’s chat with Jeff Curran.
More wackiness available at Suckerpunch’s Facebook page.
VIDEO: PALASZEWSKI “MAKE IT HAPPEN, ME AND FLORIAN”
January 25, 2011 by searstapper
Bart Palaszewski holds nothing back, both in the cage nor his words outside of it. As he waits for his next fight, Bartimus makes a wish to the matchmaker gods for a future tussle with popular UFC lightweight and ESPN: MMA Live analyst Kenny Florian.
PALASZEWSKI, DOWNES, WINELAND FIGHTING IN LAST EVER WEC EVENT
December 15, 2010 by Matt
The Chicago area will be well represented at WEC 53 in Arizona on Thursday night — the last ever WEC event before the full absorption of the WEC into the UFC. Here’s a preview of the three local fighters that will do battle.
Team Curran’s Bart Palaszewski vs. Kamal Shalorus
Bartimus has been dominating recently and enters the bout with Shalorus on a 4-fight win streak. He’s coming off an impressive performance when he was on the televised card at WEC 50 against Zach Micklewright. In the 2nd round, Bart rocked Micklewright with a barrage of punches, landed a vicious body kick and then finished him with a right hook. Before that he submitted Karen Darebedyan at WEC 47, beat title contender Anthony Pettis by split decision at WEC 45 and TKO’d Tyler Combs at XFO 32
Although the lightweight division is packed with the merger, a win against Shalorus surely gets Bart a solid opponent in his first official UFC fight. He already told us he would like to fight Kenny Florian, but maybe he’d like to avenge a loss he suffered at the hands of another local fighter all the way back at XFO 6: Clay Guida. Wouldn’t that be something?
Duneland Vale Tudo/New Breed Jiu Jitsu’s Eddie Wineland vs. Ken Stone
Duneland Vale Tudo and New Breed Jiu Jitsu’s Eddie Wineland will be a part of two pieces of WEC history after Thursday night. He was the WEC’s first Bantamweight Champion and he will have fought on the last ever WEC card. He’ll get WEC first-timer Ken Stone in the prelims. Wineland injured his shoulder and has to pull out of his fight with Damacio Page, but he told NWI.com’s Matt Erickson that he’s doing great.
“The shoulder is feeling really good, really strong,” Wineland said. “I was really only set back about a week and a half, but three weeks out from a fight could have been devastating — especially against a guy of Damacio Page’s stature.”
Wineland has won 3 straight and 5 of his last 6. He’s also extremely eager to get back into contention for the Bantamweight title.
Roufusport’s Dan “Danny Boy” Downes vs. Tiequan Zhang
Duke Roufus-trained Dan “Danny Boy” Downes was born and raised in the Mount Greenwood neighborhood and is an honors grad of St. Ignatius High School and Marquette University. He fights out of Milwaukee and the Duke Roufus camp. In his debut at WEC 49, you might say that Downes was thrown to the wolves. He was fighting Chris Horodecki in his hometown and he took the fight on short notice. He gets a different kind of wolf this time.
Downes will be battling China’s Tiequan “The Mongolian Wolf” Zhang at WEC 53, with the fight televised all across China. Zhang is unbeaten in 17 fights, including a first-round submission win over current UFC fighter Pablo Garza in his WEC debut back in September. The China Top Team fighter is the first from mainland China to fight in the WEC. A win over Zhang will be huge for Downes. This time he has had a full camp and his father told Chicago’s MMA that Danny says he is in the best shape of his career.
Watch WEC 53 live on Versus at 8pm central.
BART PALASZEWSKI TALKS UFC
October 28, 2010 by Matt
There are plenty of local fighters currently fighting for the WEC that will get to do battle in the Octagon and the UFC come 2011. One of them is Team Curran’s Bart Palaszewski.
Chicago’s MMA asked Bartimus about the big news and if there is anyone in particular he would like to fight in the UFC.
“That’s a good one. I think a fight with Florian would be fun. Also…who’s another good stand up guy? Anyone who’s willing to sit and trade with me, haha. Any one like that or any of top 5 guys. I was gunning for the WEC belt now I’m gunning for the UFC gold!!! I just want exciting fights– that’s all — none of the lay and pray BS.”
That shouldn’t be a problem, since Bart always seems to make his fights exciting. He’s currently rolling with a 4-fight win streak and will battle Kamal Shalorus at WEC 53.
He’s coming off an impressive performance when he was on the televised card at WEC 50 against Zach Micklewright. In the 2nd round, Bart rocked him with a flurry of punches up against the cage, landed a vicious body kick and then finished him with a right hook at :31.
The picture to the left is one Bart posted to Facebook recently, two weeks before he started his training camp. He already looks like he’s in shape and ready to rock against Shalorus. Shalorus is definitely game and has an amazing wrestling base. But Bart has more speed and much better striking. It should make for a very exciting match.
Palaszewski is also a BJJ black belt under Jeff Curran, and showed off his skills with a 1st round armbar sub against Karen Darebedyan at WEC 47.
BART PALASZEWSKI VS. KAMAL SHALORUS MOVED TO WEC 53
September 15, 2010 by Matt
Bart Palaszewski has been on quite a streak in the WEC, but he’ll have to wait just a bit longer for his next fight. His fight with Kamal Shalorus is still a go, but instead of WEC 52 it will now happen at WEC 53.
Shalorus has re-injured the hand that he hurt against former WEC lightweight champion Jamie Varner, so Palaszewski will meet Shalorus at WEC 53 on December 16 instead.
Palaszewski was on the televised card at WEC 50 and looked amazing in his battle with Zach Micklewright. Bartimus was trading with the taller, Miletich fighter, but started winning most of the exchanges toward the end of the 1st round. In the 2nd round, Bart rocked him with a flurry of punches up against the cage, landed a vicious body kick and then finished him with a right hook at :31. Bart is now 4-2 in the WEC with 4 straight wins.
LAMAS, PALASZEWSKI WIN AT WEC 50
They took different paths, but local fighters Ricardo “The Bully” Lamas and Bart Palaszewski both won at WEC 50.
Palaszewski was on the televised card and looked amazing in his battle with Zach Micklewright. Bartimus was trading with the taller, Miletich fighter, but started winning most of the exchanges toward the end of the 1st round. In the 2nd round, Bart rocked him with a flurry of punches up against the cage, landed a vicious body kick and then finished him with a right hook at :31. Bart is now 4-2 in the WEC with 4 straight wins.
Top Notch fighter Ricardo Lamas needed all 3 rounds, but won a unanimous decision over Dave Jansen. Lamas had several sub catches in the fight and won 29-28 on all the judges cards. The picture above tells how much of a war this was, as does this photo of Lamas’ shorts after the fight.
Lamas improved to 9-1 with the win, his 3rd straight. He is now 4-1 in the WEC, his only loss coming to Danny Castillo at WEC 42.
photos h/t: MMA Weekly and Bloody Elbow
