PFL’s Justin Willis Looking Forward to Fresh Start in Professional Fighters League

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“Big Pretty” feels there has been some miscommunication on some level.

On May 6, Justin Willis (8-2) will make his return after more than a two-year hiatus. He will join former Ultimate Fighting Championship titleholder Fabricio Werdum, 2019’s Professional Fighters League champion Ali Isaev, Mohammed Usman and many others as part of the PFL 2021 Season heavyweight roster. In his most recent fight, he lost the first decision of his career to Curtis Blaydes at UFC Fight Night 148.

“I think pre-preparation,” he answered when asked by Sherdog what went wrong for that fight. “I made a lot of mistakes as I went there, and I didn’t think it was going to be a complete wrestling match, and that’s what it turned out to be. I just didn’t have the partners at that time, I didn’t have the resources because I was going through other stuff in my life. I’m just so happy to be where I am right now with the camp that I’m with now because now I can prepare the way I need to prepare.”

After that fight, he was released from his UFC contract and removed from the official UFC rankings list without explanation. The decision came out of the blue since Willis gathered a record of four wins and one defeat under the Nevada-based promotion’s banner.

“I speak about a lot of things I think a lot of people don’t want to hear,” he stated. “When you speak the way I speak about people who look like me, and everything is run by people who mostly don’t look like me, a lot of things I talk about, I feel as though a lot of people take it as hate. A lot of people don’t understand or don’t want to understand. The easiest thing is to label a lot of things I talk about as ‘hate’ instead of what it really is.”