Clay
Collard believes Bellator
MMA fighters might have some difficulty adjusting to the
frequency of the
Professional Fighters League season format.
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Collard (24-12) is ready to start his fourth
Professional Fighters League season in the lightweight category
against former Bellator lightweight champ Patricky
Freire (25-12) at
PFL 2 on April 12. Having fought in various promotions around
the world, including the
Ultimate Fighting Championship, Collard notes that it is the
frequency of PFL fights that Bellator talent might find difficult
to keep up with.
The PFL regular season, followed by playoffs and championships and
additional pay-per-view cards has fighters competing more
frequently on an average than other promotions. According to
Collard, fighters who cut a lot of weight will find it difficult to
fight three or four times a year.
“I feel like a lot of these guys aren’t going to be used to the
amount of fights,” Collard said. “Most of these guys are fighting
once, twice a year, so I think that’s going to take a toll later in
the season… I’ve saw a couple guys walking around here that are
quite large for 155 and to maintain that weight and stay at that
weight all year long is a little tougher than once or twice a
year.”
Collard lost the PFL 2023 lightweight championship via unanimous
decision against Olivier
Aubin-Mercier, who won it all for the second time. Collard then
suffered a Round 1 submission loss to former Bellator featherweight
champ A.J.
McKee on the
PFL vs. Bellator Champs card in February. Having dropped
consecutive bouts against elite wrestlers, Collard claims to have
amped up his ground game.
“I’ve been focusing a lot on my grappling lately. I feel like if I
were to have any holes or weaknesses in my game, that’s where it
would be at. So I’ve been putting a lot of work in on the ground,”
said the 31-year-old. “You know, after my last two losses, both of
those came from guys that were really, good on the ground. So I’ve
been focusing on my groundwork, my submission grappling, my
wrestling and ain’t nobody going to stand on the feet with me.”