UFC light heavyweight Pat Walsh could walk to his next fight if the UFC grants his wish.
A Stoughton, Massachusetts, native, Walsh grew up approximately 15 miles from Boston and the TD Garden Arena, home to Jan. 18’s UFC Fight Night: McGregor vs. Siver event. He could literally walk to the arena from his gym, Victory Combat Academy, and he’d cherish the opportunity if the UFC brass proposes it.
“The UFC’s come twice to Boston and I went both times and I was obsessed,” Walsh told Bleacher Report. “I couldn’t imagine being in a better position than standing in the TD Garden in the cage fighting for the UFC in front of my family and friends and everyone else that wouldn’t normally be able to come out and travel to see me somewhere else.
“That show, that event, that high-caliber venue, everything coming to where I grew up, that would just mean the world to me.”
Currently 5-1 as a professional mixed martial artist, Walsh made a name for himself during Season 19 of the UFC’s hit reality show The Ultimate Fighter. While he ultimately did not win the season and the six-figure contract, Walsh ground down cast mate and early-season favorite to beat Dan Spohn via unanimous decision July 6 at the season’s finale show in Las Vegas.
This win and this moment, Walsh said, was unforgettable, sensational and downright wonderful.
“Fighting for the UFC at the Mandalay Bay in Vegas, it’s euphoric,” Walsh said. “You can’t really explain it. I probably would never have been able to imagine what kind of feeling it was. The best way to describe it is achieving your dreams.”
Now, Walsh hopes to build on that momentum and to showcase his skills for the hometown crowd in Boston. While he has used his strong grappling base to great effect thus far in his MMA career, he’s constantly evolving, constantly growing and he feels he will show exponential leaps in talent every time he steps foot inside the historic UFC Octagon.
This chance to develop his skill set and to get violent with very few rules in place takes him back to his high school wrestling days, and it gives him a similar feeling of achievement, motivating him to push harder and to accomplish more as a fighter.
“In my first fight, I went against a really good boxer, and I broke my nose, but I was able to take him down and pound him out, and I was hooked,” Walsh said. “That experience, I think it was maybe six, seven weeks after the first punch I ever threw. I was so obsessed with this new sport where I could throw punches, I could kick…there’s very little rules, and it was me again.
“If I worked on wrestling for two months, I might get 1 percent better. If I worked on my boxing for two weeks, I would get 30 percent better, so that learning curve really gave me a little bit of a high.”
And you wouldn’t be alone in thinking that stepping in to fulfill a lifelong dream in front of thousands of adoring fans on MMA’s biggest stage should send a shiver of nervousness down Walsh’s spine. That’s a big stage, and it makes sense to believe that it could throw Walsh off his game, leaving him too “caught in the moment.”
But you’d be wrong.
“We all work so hard for these dreams, for these opportunities, and to be scared or nervous baffles me,” Walsh said. “I have the opportunity to focus and go out there in front of my family to do something I’ve trained for and focused all my energy on this one moment and it’s not something I’m afraid of. It’s something I look forward to.
“Sure, I could go out there and get caught, you know? But I would never just go out there and give up. If anything, the hometown crowd, the extra people, the only thing it does is motivate me.”
*Note: All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted.
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