Devin Powell Intends to Impress Dana White, Who is Looking for a Fight

For his World Series of Fighting debut in June, lightweight prospect Devin Powell would have liked things to have got a bit more like his previous seven fights, but it wasn’t the case.

Fighting against a promotional veteran in Tommy Marcellino, Powell felt he faced a bit more of an uphill challenge. Combine that with problems getting his whole team with him for the fight, and he’s just happy to have come out with a split-decision victory.

“I was going into a little bit of hostile territory there with it being (Marcellino’s) fourth fight, I think, in WSOF, and he had the crowd behind him,” Powell said to MMAWeekly.com.

“Everything kind of got screwed up getting ready for the fight itself, so I was a little distracted. It’s not really an excuse, I still got my hand raised at the end of the day, and for this next one I’ll be able to do a little bit more of the stuff I’d like to do in the fight.”

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Powell was also not able to move up to the main card as he would have liked. Still, he got some much needed exposure and he’s thrilled to have gotten that.

“There were some fights that fell out, so I thought I’d get thrown on, but the main event went long, so I didn’t get the main card kind of appearance I was hoping for, but it was still really cool to get broadcast worldwide for one of the biggest leagues in the world,” he said.

Just under two months after his win in WSOF, Powell (7-1) returns to New England Fights to take on Jon Lemke (5-5) in a main card 160-pound bout in Bangor, Maine, on Friday night.

“I think that Lemke is a good boxer with decent kicks, but I’ll have a good height advantage on him,” said Powell. “He likes to move forward, throw straights, but has a pretty good left hook. He’s always moving, but a lot of times he’s moving forward really fast.

“He’s not much of a grappler. It’s just not something he’s really done in his fights. I know he can defend the takedown pretty well. He’s good keeping you off him, but he doesn’t like being on the mat too much.”

As part of UFC president Dana White’s “Lookin’ for a Fight” series, Powell has a golden opportunity to showcase his skills in front of people who can have a major impact on his career on Aug. 5. It’s a chance Powell doesn’t want to have slip by him, and intends to make the most of.

“With a win in this fight, I’ll be sitting pretty at 8-1,” Powell said. “And if I get a finish, that’ll be my third knockout or submission win on my record, and will give me five finishes (overall).”

“I think it’s kind of all or nothing for me right now. I won’t say I won’t fight again if I don’t get (signed to the UFC), but I’ll have to make some huge adjustments if I have to go back another step. I’m all in on this fight to take it to the next level, keep pushing forward, but I’m not looking to have anything but big fights from this point on.”

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