Bart Palaszewski — Ready to Get it Rolling

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© Marc Wickert
www.knucklepit.com
2006

Silverbacks' lightweight fighter, Bart Palaszewski, is busy preparing for celebrations at the time of this interview.

"I'm putting up a tent at my buddy's house; we have a big party tomorrow night – the night before Thanksgiving. It's the biggest party night in the US, I guess. And we're having a big bash," says Palaszewski.

"I'm actually in Illinois where my family live, just under three hours away from Bettendorf. I usually take a week or two off, depending on how my fight schedule is, and I'm going back to Bettendorf next week."

Bart's original gym is at Crystal Lakes, Illinois, and he still does a lot of technical work there with his boxing coach, Dr. Doug Mango. So, despite being away from Team Miletich, Bart is still able to train, and says he picks up the pace about four or five weeks before a fight.

Born in Warsaw, Poland, Palaszewski's family moved to Wonder Lake, Illinois when Bart was thirteen. Some years later he took up jiu jitsu, which eventually led to his current career in Mixed Martial Arts.

"Jeff 'Big Frog' Curran was doing jiu jitsu and Muay Thai at his gym and I was training there for about six months when he had his first MMA show. I never knew Mixed Martial Arts existed, and I went to the show just to support the gym. I fell in love with MMA, and started bugging Jeff to get me a fight. He put a lot of work into making me a fighter. Two and a half years later, he got me a fight, and I haven't stopped since then."

With the IFL World Team Championship Finals fast approaching on December 29, Bart will be entering the meet knowing he has been victorious in his last 10 fights. And this well-rounded athlete, who has won an equal number of fights by striking as he has by submission, says he does prefer the toe-to-toe victories to the ground submissions.

"At heart I'm obviously a jiu jitsu guy because that's where I started, and the gym is known for it's grappling. But since I picked up a boxing coach, I've been doing a lot of boxing and I just fell in love with it. However it depends on where the fight goes: I would rather be on my feet, as I like to make it exciting for the crowd, but if it goes to the ground, I'm not a slouch – I'll grapple."

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Article written by Marc Wickert

Marc Wickert is one of the world's most respected martial arts journalists.

For years his articles have been published in America, Europe, Australasia, and on the acclaimed knucklepit.com website.

Having interviewed some of the most elite combatants of the No-Holds-Barred inner sanctum, and a hybrid fight system's instructor in his own right, Marc Wickert is also author of the now-famous self-defense manual Knucklepit.com - The Book.