Palmer, Schulte’s Motivations for PFL Repeats
Featherweight Lance Palmer and lightweight Nathan Schulte don’t feel complacent as both attempt to become the first repeat champions in Professional Fighters League (PFL) history.
For the second year in a row, the championship finals of the PFL’s six weight classes will all take place on December 31 in New York City at The Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden. The winners will each take home $1 million.
Obviously, no one in the world would turn away a second $1 million prize. And each man’s motivation for winning again is about the future — but in different ways.
For Palmer, who defeated Steven Siler in last year’s featherweight final, the money he has won so far through PFL, and the money he plans to win in the coming days, will help lead towards a better living for him and his future family.
“It cements more of a secure retirement,” Palmer said. “A secure college fund set up for my future kids. It’s a lot of things. $1 million is a lot of money, but it doesn’t go as far as a lot of people think. This second million would definitely mean a lot to me from a family perspective and a future perspective.”
Schulte, who defeated Rashid Magomedov in last year’s lightweight final, has been looking into investing his money to help secure his own future.
“I’ve been learning how to invest my money and allocate it into stocks,” said Schulte. “I’ve been working with really top-notch people who have been able to help me have my money work for me. So that’s what I’ve done with the bulk of last year and what I intend on doing with this year’s earnings, as well.”
Palmer is a longtime veteran of the PFL, having competed exclusively for the promotion since joining in December 2013 — back when the PFL was the World Series of Fighting. Having stuck with the PFL/WSOF and not competing for a bigger promotion like the UFC or Bellator, Palmer, who won the featherweight title twice in the WSOF days and considered one of the best 145-pounders outside the UFC, says doing things others rarely or never do is his success as a fighter.
“It’s always been to do things people haven’t done yet,” Palmer said. “In PFL, there hasn’t been a [repeat]. I was the first 145-pound champ in PFL, and I’m going to try to be the first two-time champ in PFL history. I’m just trying to cement myself and make more firsts. I want to be the one to do these firsts in this organization.”
Meanwhile, for Schulte, another tournament title would further be a validation of his religious practice.
“I just always knew all I needed was an opportunity,” Schulte said. “I’m a man of God and I’ve had faith God was going to open these doors for me. The moment is this opportunity. It came to life. I knew that I was ready, it was just a matter of someone granting me this chance.”
Palmer meets Alex Gilpin in the 2019 featherweight finals after his original opponent Daniel Pineda failed a drug test. Schulte, meanwhile, battles Loik Radzhabov in the lightweight finals.
Original Story: MMAJunkie