Marcin Held signed for ACB last week after a four-fight stint in the UFC. The MMA Community was surprised by the move since Held had secured a victory in his last fight in the UFC against Nasrat Haqparast.
However, prior to this win, he suffered three back to back defeats in the promotion against Damir Hadzovic, Joe Lauzon, and Diego Sanchez respectively. Despite a forgettable record in the UFC, Held was hopeful of fighting at UFC London but UFC had other plans.
“I was hoping to take part in UFC London, maybe as a replacement. I tried to get into one fight and I hoped to replace one guy. I really wanted to perform at UFC London. My plan was to wait until that event, and if I don’t get a fight, then I just move on. There’s no need to wait and rust. I need to fight and I think it was a good decision.” He said during a recent interview with MMA Rocks.
How UFC encouraged him to sign with ACB
The Polish fighter then went on to explain how UFC encouraged him to sign with the ACB so that he can have an active year in 2018.
“I was looking for other opportunities for a while. UFC told me that I have to be ready and one day they will offer me a fight, but it’s possible that I would have to wait at least six months more. It’s tough to train whole the time and stay in shape for such a long time. I was considering various options and ACB offered the best conditions. In consultation with UFC, because we asked what UFC think about it, they told us that it would be a good idea to go there and bounce back.” He said.
Interestingly, Held chose ACB over other promotions like Bellator and KSW. Held already fought in Bellator before he joined UFC and according to him, ACB comes right after UFC.
“I didn’t consider KSW. I wanted to go to ACB, people always say UFC is the best and ACB is next. I was already fighting in Bellator, so I didn’t really want to go back there. I wanted to try something different. UFC is the best, ACB is next. I also thought about ONE Championship and other Russian organizations, but ACB was my goal.” He added.
The 26-year-old Held is 23-7 in his career and has a whopping 12 submission wins to his name.
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