When Strikeforce ended at the beginning of 2013, Pat Healy entered the UFC riding a six fight winning streak and had won nine of his previous ten fights.
Unfortunately for the lightweight fighter out of Oregon, he would be unable to capture a win in the premier mixed martial arts promotion as he went 0-4, 1NC in five fights and he was released from his contract.
At this time, Healy (30-20, 1NC) realized that he needed to change things up in his training and he ended up working with current top UFC lightweight contender Donald Cerrone in New Mexico. During his appearance on The MMA Report Live, Healy explained the move to train with Cerrone and how he will continue to work with the lightweight and his coaching staff.
“I think I will go there pretty much every fight now,” Healy said. “It’s a real good fit and I have kind of been feeling that I needed to change it up a little bit. With Cerrone, you are getting one of the best lightweights in the world. He has some great coaches around him as too. Obviously, losing four straight in the UFC and losing my job there was a piece of it. I think I got a little off focused on what I needed to do in my training to be successful. I guess I needed some fresh eyes looking on me and it really works out well with Cerrone.”
Healy ended up taking a fight against Bellator veteran Ricardo Tirloni in Argentina last month. He would end up scoring a split decision victory and it was his first win since defeating Kurt Holobaugh at the beginning of 2013. He was extremely happy to get the victory but he did something in the fight that he had not been doing, in fight adjustments.
“I think it was a big fight for me because I never adjust on my feet to what the other guy is doing,” he said. “This is the first time I did adjust. He was landing a lot of strikes on the inside. He hurt me to the body very early, like a minute into the fight with a knee so I had to adjust. I had to not clinch with him and stay on the outside and I was landing kicks and punches from the outside. When I did shoot for takedowns, I shot hard and fast and did not want to get caught in the middle. To me, that was a big win because I tend to never adjust on my feet. I will just keep pouring in and I need to fight smarter and I think that was a good first step.”
What changed from his last fight in the UFC to the Tirloni fight? Healy credits Cerrone’s kickboxing coach for working with him and putting kicks into his offense.
“Donald has a great kick boxing coach Henry [Smith] and was working a lot to identify my strengths were from working with me. It was all about the jab and low kicks, which I ended up using in the fight a great deal. I usually never kick in my fights so I think it was a good step in the right direction in my career.”
After the victory over Tirloni, it was announced that Healy had signed a multi-fight deal with Titan FC and he is expected to make his debut in March. Just like other fighters have said, a big reason for signing with the promotion was due to the Zuffa out clause since his goal is to get back to the UFC.
“My number one goal is to get back to the UFC,” Healy said. “Having the fight with Jim Miller being taken away and losing four, I really want to erase that from peoples memory. Show that I can really fight the best in the world. Them having that clause was absolutely crucial to me signing. I really like what Titan does with that.”