Palmer has earned his spot in the PFL featherweight final on Dec. 31 on the strength of an undefeated regular season and playoff run. His most notable win came in the semifinals against Andre Harrison, a man who had defeated him in a prior meeting. The pair fought in the final 145-pound title fight under the WSOF banner, with Harrison winning by unanimous decision. The loss was a difficult pill to swallow since Palmer broke his left hand in the opening frame and was compromised throughout the fight.
“I pushed through five rounds, and I didn’t take anything away from him,” Palmer said. “I congratulated him and his team on beating me and taking the belt. I had no problem accepting that loss, but I knew it wasn’t me [at] 100 percent.”
Palmer’s desire for revenge would intensify after comments made by Harrison.
“I heard a couple of things in the media, that the fight wouldn’t have been any different if my hand wasn’t broke,” he said. “I think that they as a team -- his coaches and himself -- dismissed the fact that I broke my hand in the first round, and that changed a lot of the grappling that was involved in that first fight. In a way, it took away almost all of the grappling ability I have, and he may have thought [a rematch] was an easy fight.”
As the two entered the cage for the semis at PFL 8, Palmer had one goal: “Go out there and beat this guy definitively so that nobody could say that I squeaked by or did whatever and barely won.”
After a competitive first five minutes, he did just that, showcasing his All-American wrestling throughout the second and third rounds.
“I dominated him on top for two rounds. He had zero chance of escaping. No matter what he did in that fight, it didn’t matter. I made that fight go my way,” Palmer said. “I consider that a dominant win.”
The 30-year-old will step into the cage at Madison Square Garden on a five-fight winning streak on Dec. 31. The first of his five straight victories came in November 2017, when he beat Steven Silver -- the same man he will be facing on New Year’s Eve for a shot at the PFL featherweight championship and a $1 million prize.
Siler’s route to the featherweight final was not without some controversy. He gained a 34-second submission win at PFL 4 after referee Dan Miragliotta called an end to the bout before Alexandre Almeida tapped. They met again in the semifinals, and it too ended in odd fashion, as Almeida landed an upkick to Siler’s face while he was legally grounded.
“I definitely think he had some luck,” Palmer said, “but I think everybody had to have a little luck to get to the finals.”
The four-time NCAA Division I All-American compared the playoffs to the wrestling tournaments in which he took part for several years.
“Some of those weight classes, if you wrestled that tournament three weekends in a row, you could have three different champions,” Palmer said. “I kind of look at it like that. There’s got to be some luck involved. There’s got to be some things that go your way.”
Siler attributes his run to the final to a move to Factory X in Colorado. Palmer has taken note of his opponent’s improvements.
“I believe that [Siler is] better than he was last year because he changed teams and is learning again,” Palmer said. “I believe I’m better than I was last year, [too], because I changed teams also.”
After seven years as a member of Team Alpha Male, Palmer switched gyms and joined Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas eight months ago.
“I’ve just had a lot of fun this year,” Palmer said. “I’ve felt refreshed and rejuvenated as a fighter and a person.”
Something changed for Palmer in his relationship with the gym. Although he holds no ill will toward his former team, there just seemed to be a lack of loyalty from his perspective.
“Obviously loyalty to a team and people is one thing, but it’s got to go both ways,” Palmer said. “If the team isn’t being loyal to you, if they’re not helping you improve, there’s no reason to stay there to your demise.”
Palmer does not view Xtreme Couture as a superior gym to Team Alpha Male. It represents a different experience, and at this point in his career, different was good. The contrasts in sparring partners, coaches and ideologies have given him a renewed vigor for the sport.
“I think it’s given me the ability to relearn a little bit, go back to the drawing board and do things a little differently,” Palmer said. “I feel like a younger fighter than I was when I left Team Alpha Male. To me, that’s scary, because I felt like I was already at such a high level when I left there.”
The former Resurrection Fighting Alliance and WSOF featherweight titleholder does not see merely getting to the PFL final as an accomplishment.
“Being a finalist doesn’t mean as much as being the champ of the first season. To me it really doesn’t mean anything until I finish the job,” Palmer said.
Finishing the job would mean performing at a high level as he wins a million dollars and adds one more trophy to the case.
“When it comes to this final fight, it’s more of winning this belt and putting another belt in my belt case and being the best I can be,” Palmer said.
Although being crowned champion at the end of the season would be a notable achievement to “The Party” -- especially financially -- in his view, it would not be his most memorable.
“Being in the NCAA finals, being a four-time All-American in wrestling, being a Big Ten champion and beating one of the guys I had trouble beating my entire college career at the Big Ten finals … I don’t think anything will ever beat that,” Palmer said. “Unless I win maybe a UFC title or something like that.”
The Ohio State University alum greatly values his wrestling career. The sport was a passion he held before MMA, and he expects to still be involved after his time in the cage comes to an end.
“Honestly, my wrestling career is something I cherish a lot, and I don’t think anything will surpass that, no matter how much money I make,” Palmer said.
Harrison considered himself “the best [featherweight] on the planet.” Now that Palmer has defeated him, would doing so and winning a PFL championship make him the best?
“I’ve felt that I’ve been the best featherweight for a long time,” Palmer said. “I just haven’t had the opportunity to show it against who the media considers the Top-5 or Top-10 featherweights in the world.”