Back in August of 2025, Tom Pagliarulo made his PFL debut in Atlantic City, and he did so with authority. Inside of one round, he landed a devastating knee to the body of Matt Turnbull and got the finish. While he had a hint that he might get called to fight for the Contender Series, he knew that could be a long way away. With the possibility of a short notice fight on the table as well, he got right to work.
Not only have these last twelve months been tough with training, but it has included a huge life change as well.
“It’s been a grind, man. On top of that, I just moved across the country from Massachusetts to Colorado. I came out here for a month in January with my wife. I definitely liked it here. Trained the whole time. We signed a lease while we were here,” Pagliarulo explained. “She flew back, had to get things wrapped up at home. I went back with her, then came back out a week later just to stay ready and keep training.”
Although working with the crew at the New England Cartel got him to where he is today, he felt it was time to make a change. It’s helped him both find more and less comfort.
“I’ve been doing this for like 10 years now. Sometimes a change of scenery is just good for the brain, good for the body. Sometimes back home, the consistency of guys in the room – we had great training partners, I had great coaches, I love my coaches back home – but sometimes the numbers would run slim,” he said. “And that was a scary thing to see when I’m at this point in my career knowing I could be fighting in the UFC very soon. I want to just be a little more confident in what I have in the room.”
And there are no hard feelings from his crew back in Massachusetts. In fact, they encouraged him to give it a try and support him through his new environment.
“I just came out here to try. My coaches encouraged it. They’re like, ‘man, like we think you maybe need to go somewhere else to reach the goals that I want to reach’,” Pagliarulo shared. “Could I have done this back home? Sure. But I just think I needed a new fire maybe and just a bigger push from guys like Cory [Sandhagen] and [Justin] Gaethje and all the talent that’s just out here. Just coming out here and feeling refreshed, you know? New minds, new process, new culture.”
Now with the work finally coming to a head, he’s got his chance to earn a UFC contract. That will come against Ananias Mulumba, and Pagliarulo feels like he’s got the edge.
“I’m 10-2 with eight knockouts, so a knockout sounds pretty good. I’d say if I had to gamble on myself, I’d probably say a knockout, right? I think Dana likes that. That’s kind of how you get contracts in these things,” he said. My goal is just going there and fight this guy disciplined for 15 minutes and when I’ve done that in the past knockouts come. That’s my plan, to knock this kid out on August 11th.”
You can catch that bout as part of Week 1 of Dana White’s Contender Series. The card airs this Tuesday at 7pm EST on Paramount+.
