Veteran lightweight ready to make his mark
The seeds for Pat Healy’s fight career were planted at fourteen years old, when he and twin brother Ryan were growing up in Salem, Oregon.
A neighborhood friend was into the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He’d been learning muay thai and needed sparring partners, and the Healy brothers decided that it sounded like fun. They didn’t know anything about muay thai or any other facet of mixed martial arts, but they did it anyway.
They were the only ones dumb enough to volunteer, and it was evident when the neighborhood friend knocked out Ryan with a head kick during his first sparring session.
This kind of disastrous result would dissuade most kids from ever attempting something like this again, but the Healy boys were different. They were instantly hooked on a fledgling sport that was struggling to gain acceptance in the United States.
“We used to rent all of the old UFC’s at Hollywood Video on VHS,” Healy says. “We never lost our love for it.”
The boys continued watching UFC tapes and practicing. Oregon was a hot bed for amateur fighting, and Team Quest regularly ran a series of amateur events. They signed up while still in high school, and just like in the old neighborhood days, Ryan was the first to get in the ring. Unlike the old days, however, Ryan won his first amateur fight.
Pat and Ryan continued training and fighting wherever they could. It felt natural. They moved to the midwest, to Reno and a score of other places, always looking to perfect their craft. They eventually settled in back home at the place it all started, with Dan Henderson and Chael Sonnen and countless other great wrestlers at Team Quest.
Pat started making a name for himself in the old World Extreme Cagefighting promotion, back before Zuffa swooped in and purchased the promotion almost solely for the rights to Urijah Faber’s contract. He made his debut at WEC 15, losing a split decision to future UFC star Chris Lytle.
Those WEC days at Tachi Palace in Lemoore, California provide some of the fondest memories of Healy’s career.
“That is still one of my all time favorite places to fight. It used to be the craziest crowds. They had a big Native American crowd and the natives would fight. They would come out doing war dances. The fans were all so rowdy,” Healy recalls.”It was the beginning. I remember seeing the Tapout guys peddling stuff out of their fan. It was one of the coolest places to fight. It was an amazing experience.”
Healy fought wherever he could, against the best competition he could find. He beat future UFC superstars Dan Hardy, Paul Daley and Carlos Condit on indie shows around the country. He’s now in the number two mixed martial arts promotion in the world, but the old days on the fighting circuit hold a special place in his heart.
“It was fun. There was such camaraderie. Everyone was still trying to make it. Money wasn’t very good, but it was just fun to see everybody come together and how far it has evolved since then.”
Despite holding wins over future UFC contenders, Healy believes his last fight was the one that put him on the map. He defeated Lyle Beerbohm at a Strikeforce Challengers show in February, and the win was especially gratifying. Beerbohm and Healy have a bit of history together, and Pat says he was glad to be the guy that derailed the Beerbohm hype train.
“He’s not well-liked by people in the organization because of his attitude. He’s super cocky and said a ton of negative stuff about me. And he’s a local guy from up in Washington. So it was really satisfying getting that done. I couldn’t take having to see him around at the littler shows, where he walks around like he’s the king. I wouldn’t have been able to go to any shows or support my teammates if I had lost.”
Team Quest teammate Chael Sonnen is the master of pre-fight trash talk, a manipulator who has proven to be just as skilled in building interest in a fight as he is in the actual cage. I ask Healy if he thinks Beerbohm was taking a page from Sonnen’s playbook, but he says that’s not the case.
“I think it’s who he is. Even after the fight, which I clearly won, he still goes around telling people that Strikeforce said he won the fight,” he says. “Every time I hear him give an interview he has a different take on the fight. One time he was dehydrated. I’ve heard every excuse out of that dude’s mouth.”
Soon after Healy defeated Beerbohm, Zuffa swooped in and purchased the company, establishing themselves as the only important brand in big-name mixed martial arts. The sale meant plenty to Healy, who says he had plenty of troubles with the guys who ran the old company.
“Oh man, I feel weird even calling it Strikeforce anymore. It’s completely different. You could never get a clear answer from anybody. Who was the matchmaker? Who had power? Who was calling the shots? You never knew who to talk to. It was so disorganized. You wouldn’t fight for six months, and then they would tell you three weeks out that you had a fight. I have contacts for everybody now. They gave me a sheet where I can look up anybody I want to talk to. We’ve had constant contact with Sean Shelby. He let me know at the fighter summit that I would either be fighting July 30 or August 12. He kept us updated from there on out. It doesn’t even feel like the same company.”
Healy suplexes Bryan Travers
The sale also gave Healy access to a health insurance plan announced by the company a few months ago. It was a landmark event, the first time a major MMA promotion has provided injury and accident coverage for the fighters on its roster. It gave Healy peace of mind, but it was far more important to a close family member.
“It means a ton to me, but I think it means even more to my mother. That’s one of the things she’s all about, that I needed health insurance. What would happen if I had a serious injury? It’s such peace of mind. You do see guys dropping out of fights right now, but it’s a lot better than a guy having to take a fight while injured because he can’t afford to pay for whatever work he needs done and then pretend that the injury happened during the fight. We can all sleep easy at night and really focus on our training and not have that in the back of our minds.”
Fighter injuries have come sharply into focus over the past two weeks, ever since Healy’s teammate Dan Henderson beat Fedor Emelianenko. Referee Herb Dean has been under fire from a hardcore minority who believes that he stopped the fight too early, that he didn’t give the legend enough respect or time to recover from a vicious Henderson uppercut.
Healy agrees.
“I would have liked to see it go on a little bit longer, but I think Fedor was in serious trouble. And Dan is a great finisher. I don’t think the fight would have gone on much longer, but he did kind of have Dan on the skids right before that, so I wish they would have let one or two more punches come down. It would have put everybody’s mind at ease and let him go completely out.”
It’s hard for an average citizen to understand the inner workings of a fighter’s mind. It takes an extraordinary amount of courage to even undertake the rigors and pains of a training camp, much less stepping in the cage for a fight. But Healy says he’d rather take a few needless punches than see controversy envelop the finish of a fight.
“That’s our sport. We don’t have standing eight counts. It’s not like the fight is stopped when it hits the ground. You have to be willing to take those extra shots. We’ve seen some incredible things. Look at Pat Barry and Cheick Kongo, or Frankie Edgar against Gray Maynard. I never would have thought Edgar could have come back into that fight after the first round. You have to be willing to take those extra shots. If you wind up completely unconscious, that’s just the way it is.”
Healy faces Eric Wisely at Strikeforce Challengers 18 on Friday night in Las Vegas. Wisely owns victories over Matt Veach and Hermes Franca, but the entirety of his career has been spent fighting on the indie circuit. In the old days, this would be a problem for an opponent attempting to scout him, but the modern internet has made Healy’s job much easier.
“He has a ton of footage on YouTube after fighting on those smaller shows for a long time. I feel like I really know him well and know his style. He tends to be well-rounded but not glaringly good in any one area. It’s a good style matchup for me because he has some holes that I’m going to be able to exploit and really take it to him on Friday.”
Healy hopes a win will catapult him back into the lightweight limelight. He’s already made one UFC appearance and believes he has what it takes to compete with the best in his division, but he realizes that he can’t just beat Wisely by decision. He must dominate the fight and believes that doing so could give him a chance to finally earn a firm position in the promotion that he used to watch on VHS, back in the neighborhood in Salem.
“I need to prove myself again with the new company and Zuffa. I feel like it’s a fresh start. Once I rattle off some wins, I’m really going to be able to jump right to the top at 155,” Healy says.
“I’d really like to break into that top ten and show people how legit I am.”