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Jack Cartwright wants to build on his momentum in the Professional Fighters League.
The former Cage Warriors Fighting Championship titleholder will do battle with Allan Begosso at a 140-pound catchweight in the featured PFL Pittsburgh prelim on Saturday at the UPMC Events Center. Cartwright has prepared himself for long-term success, and seeing fellow countrymen like Brendan Loughnane excel inside the PFL only spurs his motivation. He liked what he saw from the company in his promotional debut, as he bested Caolan Loughran by unanimous decision at PFL Champions Series 3 on Oct. 3 in the United Arab Emirates.
“It was really good, and I really enjoyed it,” Cartwright told Sherdog.com. “It was really nice, as you can imagine. Everything was professionally run. Everyone treated me really nice. I hit the ground running, the event was fight after fight and then, obviously, the fight went my way, so I was happy with that. Dubai was also very nice, as well. I couldn’t have asked for anything better, except I wish I got the stoppage.”
Cartwright has taken the road less traveled, with stops in several different organizations along the way. He believes he has found a home in the PFL.
“It’s typical of my life in sport, if I’m being honest,” Cartwright said. “I’ve always been involved in combat sports, always been grinding through. I’ve had my ups and downs in my MMA career, but now, I’m really looking forward to getting on a roll and spending the next half of my career over here putting in a big stint, taking out big names [and] putting on exciting fights and big performances while making a run for the title in this division. I think I’m more than capable of doing that. They’ve got these rankings out, and I think that I’m just as good or better than every single one of them. I’m looking forward to going out there and proving it every single time.”
Sleepless nights
Cartwright did not have an opportunity to compete in a million-dollar PFL tournament, so the company’s decision to move away from the format was somewhat bittersweet for the 31-year-old Englishman.
“It’s a double-edged sword, if I’m being completely honest—exciting in the fact that there’s a landscape with a clear path of who I can face and beat to climb up towards getting a title shot,” he said. “Downside is not having an opportunity to win the tournament money. A little bittersweet considering I love that tournament format. It would’ve been nice. Like I said, I wouldn’t be fighting if I didn’t think that I could beat these guys. There’s no part of me that doesn’t think that if you chuck me in there with Taylor Lapilus, I won’t beat him. That’s why we turn up on fight night [and] put on a pair of gloves. We think that we are the best guys in the world.”
While his career has not been perfect, Cartwright sports an outstanding 13-2 record. He has never been finished in 15 professional appearances. MMA has taught him to overcome adversity.
“It’s a refusal to give in and to accept the failures that you have,” he said. “Everyone’s going to fail in life—your favorite sports team, [for instance], but that doesn’t mean it makes them a crap team. You’ve got to shake off the losses and come back, play or fight again and play your skin off the next time, and that’s the type of person I am. I’ve been in there, I’ve lost before and I still have sleepless nights about those losses. All that does is fuel you. You’ve just got to channel it and push it into the next performance. That’s what I’m going to continue to do. I’ll just take all the lessons with the losses and all the wins with the positivity, and that’s why I get up in the morning.”
This article first appeared at Recent News on Sherdog.com
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