At just 22 years old, former UFC bantamweight and one-time WEC combatant Nick Pace had achieved many fighters’ lifelong goal of competing in the upper-echelon of mixed martial arts promotions only to have it slip through his grasp. Now, at 26, he’s ready to step into the kickboxing ring as the first step towards reclaiming his former glory in MMA. Undefeated at 5-0 when he made his WEC debut, Pace met a then-unheralded fighter by the name of Demetrious Johnson at WEC 51 in September 2010. The New Yorker lost that fight to the future UFC flyweight champion in a bout he took as a late replacement. “Going into that fight they called me with like five or six weeks and I took it,” Pace told MMAWeekly.com. “When they call you, you just have to take it. I was 5-0 as a pro (before that) and I really think I went in a little too early. But, I mean, what are you gonna do – not go in?” Pace lost the bout with “Mighty Mouse,” and would make his UFC debut months later in a winning effort over Will Campuzano at The Ultimate Fighter 12 Finale . Despite the win over Campuzano, the Brooklyn-born newcomer showed his first signs of immaturity as a professional fighter when he missed weight for the fight and was subsequently fined a percentage of his purse. Pace went on to have two more fights in the world’s premier fighting organization; both unanimous decision defeats against MMA veterans Miguel Torres and Ivan Menjivar, respectively. The loss to Torres came on the heels of him once again failing to make weight, and it undoubtedly played a factor in the young scrapper being released from the company
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Nick Pace’s MMA Comeback Begins with His Pro Kickboxing Debut at Glory 9 – MMA Weekly