Marcin Held Says The UFC Encouraged Him To Sign For ACB To ‘Bounce Back’
The MMA community learned late last week that Polish lightweight Marcin Held had left the UFC and had signed for ACB.
Given Held was coming off the back of his first win in the organisation at UFC Gdansk last year, many were surprised by the Polish fighter’s release and signing for the Russian promotion.
Speaking to Magdalena Dubert of MMARocks.pl this weekend, Held explained that being overlooked for a spot on last nights UFC London fight card led him to look elsewhere.
“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,” Held said.
“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.”
Held went on to reveal that his signing for ACB wasn’t done in isolation from the UFC. The Pole discussed his next steps with UFC and he ultimately decided to look outside the organization so he could have a more active year.
“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.”
Having fought in Bellator already for over 5 years, going back wasn’t an option. Surprisingly, Held also didn’t consider singing for KSW, the largest promotion in his native land of Poland.
“I didn’t consider KSW,” Held said. “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 organisations, but ACB was my goal.”
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