Julien Williams Heads to Russia, Planning a Busier Career with M-1 Global

As busy as he’s wanted to be over the last couple of years, for one reason or another welterweight prospect Julien “J-Smoove” Williams hasn’t been able to get in the amount of fights he’s wanted.

Averaging just one fight a year, Williams has a theory to why he’s not had much fight time, even though he’s been extremely busy in training.

“I’ve been active the whole time; I just couldn’t find fights,” said Williams. “I’d been turned a lot, guys weren’t accepting fights against me, but I stayed constant and worked on my boxing and stuff like that.

“I feel like guys are taking easy fights so they can get into the UFC. I can’t blame them for doing that, but nobody’s willing to risk tough fights before they get there.”

In his one fight last year, Williams showed how he’s evolving as a fighter with a first round submission over Kenny Moss at Bellator 94.

“Kenny is really aggressive and is a good wrestler, so I worked on a lot of wrestling heading into that fight,” said Williams. “I went in and actually took Kenny down in that fight. From that point I knew that I had evolved my game to where I was not a one-dimensional guy anymore.”

While Williams (4-1) wasn’t able to catch on with Bellator, he was able to get a look from M-1 Global, where he’ll be making his debut for the promotion on their April 4 show in Orenburg, Russia against undefeated prospect Rasul Abdulaev (3-0).

“The guy I’m fighting is definitely better than any other wrestler or grappler I’ve faced,” said Williams of Abdulaev. “His wrestling is non-stop and comes at you like a bullet.

“He’s very good transition-wise, so I’ve been working on not necessarily defending the takedown, but being active and coming off the break and punching during the transition to get back on my feet.”

Williams told MMAWeekly.com that he hopes his time in M-1 Global will finally allow him to be as busy as he’s always wanted to be.

“I’ve been really trying to stay active, and M-1 said I would stay active as long as I keep winning, so I’m looking forward to fighting for them multiple times this year,” he said.

“I’ve never been out of the country before, so I’m looking forward to fighting in front of the Russian fans.”

(Photo courtesy of Bellator MMA)