Pat Cummins may be coming back to the Octagon sooner than you think, and he may even be wearing his Brazilian Jiu Jitsu GI while displaying his white belt proudly. That’s right, Pat is a proud White Belt in BJJ, but don’t let that fool you, he is a black belt in Wrestling.
After the dispatching of Kyle Kingsbury at UFC on Fox 12, Pat is looking for the next challenge already. His ultimate goal however, is to avenge his UFC debut and lone loss to Daniel Cormier. As MMA fans who look to the sport for inspiration and love a feel good story, we believe that the world would love to see nothing less. Who could deny the story of Pat coming back after a stellar streak to fight his wrestling arch nemesis, and not only avenge his only loss, but win the title. When taking into account Pat’s humble beginnings, It’s a true Cinderella story that rivals even the ascension of the once seemingly doomed Mark Hunt. Although, until it actually happens, it remains in the realm of the hypothetical.
Before Pat laces velcros up his gloves for Cormier, you might find him in the ring with fellow Light heavyweight stand out Anthony Johnson, who Pat and his coach believe could be a great match up. Not only that, but Pat believes that unlike fellow wrestler Phil Davis, he could actually take Anthony down and take advantage of his perceived weakness…….…his conditioning.
Check out the full highlights below including Pat’s thoughts on Jon Jones dissing him on Twitter, the Jones vs Cormier matchup and who he thinks will win, his own Brazilian Jiu Jitsu game, improvements to make from the Kingsbury fight, his favourite fighter to watch, the secret behind a good takedown, his bromance with Dennis Bermudez, and what really happened to his missing tooth!
On his win over Kyle Kingsbury
“I went 1 for 1 on my predictions, because I said I would also finish it, and I don’t know if you could tell but I was a little pissed after the fight that I didn’t get it. But I did say that I would retire him, so I got that out of the way.”
Reason why Pat didn’t go for a Submission to finish the fight
“You know rather than squeeze myself out or risk something like that I just thought you know, I’m dominating pretty well and I felt like I was close to finishing the fight a couple of times, it was just a matter of that last little bit. Maybe I just need a little kick in my conditioning to be able to you know, just keep that flurry and that storm together to finish the fight”
“I think this next week I’m gonna spend a lot of time on my ground game and really work on adding a couple of submissions to my game.”
(Pat comes on at the 3 minute mark)
On Kyle’s retirement
“Immediately after the fight Kyle, you know he shook my hand and he said ‘Man, great fight’ he’s like ‘you know what, I’m done. I’m not gonna do this anymore. That’s it for me.’ And I was like man, you know what it just, it kind of made me feel for him, you know. Because he’s a competitor, he wanted to put on his show and do his very best, and I think that he realizes that it’s not gonna happen for him in the UFC, but at the same time when a guy can move on and say ‘ok I’m done with this part of my life’, and go on to the next step. So I’m happy for him in that way, and I definitely wish him all the best of luck. He was a great guy, I feel like we could’ve been pretty good friends if not for the fight.”
Pat’s thoughts on his back to back training camps
“I had a week off and then I got right into my next training camp. Initially we were a little concerned, like you know, maybe it’s too much, maybe we’ll get a little burned out, but man I felt great. I felt like I picked up right where I left off my last camp and was able to build on top of that. I think what you’ll see from me in the future is trying to stay active as much as possible. I really like this sequence of take a week, relax, have some fun, you know. I just spent the day on a tuna boat today, so I’m getting my little vacation in and then I wanna get right back at it. So I’m not exactly sure what they next step is for me, who were going to go after, but I’d like to know pretty quickly.”
On if Pat would take another short notice fight 6 weeks away
“Absolutely, yeah. Somebody else asked me about that and they were wondering, you know ‘what’s going on, how come you want to get all these fights in?’. I said, ‘my clock is ticking man’. I’ve spent four years, before I got into the UFC I had one fight a year. I want to have at least four fights this year and just you know, charge at this thing hard and make it happen. And also experience is my number one thing that I need, more than anything else, it’s just time in the cage. So why not.”
On how hard is it for Pat’s Manager to find opponents willing to fight Pat in the UFC’s light heavyweight division
“Yeah I think we’ll see that a lot more in the future, but I also think 205 is a unique weight class, in that I think the number of guys in the weight class are in the twenties or thirties, so it’s a small weight class. So I think, if you want to fight and you want to do well, you gotta take those fights. You know sometimes that’s the only option for you. So I don’t foresee any real obstacles for the next fight, but I think we’ve kinda looked into it a little bit and there’s only a handful of guys that we could really challenge at this point.”
If winning the championship is Pat’s goal and the timeframe he believes it will take for him to reach the title
“Yeah I mean I think there’s plenty of guys that fight just for recognition, they want to maybe break the top ten and you know, hang their hat on that. I wanna be the champ. And more than anything I want revenge against Daniel Cormier. And I think he has a great shot of taking the belt, and I’d love to kill two birds with one stone eventually and take the belt from him, and you know kind of avenge that loss. But I think realistically by the end of the year I’d like to be in the top 10, and next year I think I can be starting to challenge. As long as I can have as many fights as I’ve had this year, I think I can find myself in the hunt.”
Thoughts on Jon Jones’ Tweet to Cormier about how he will find out that Jones “isn’t Pat Cummins” in the Octagon
“I would probably make the same comment. You know, I had an awful showing. But at the same time, you know, he’s not explaining the circumstances with that fight.”
“I actually like the fact that Jon Jones is looking at me like I was some kind of, you know pop up, quick ‘one and done’ kind of guy, when you know realistically I wanna challenge for the belt. So if he’s gonna overlook me that’s great, because it’s going to catch up with him eventually. I may be the tortoise in this race but he’s gonna fall down at some point.”
On a scenario where Pat defeats Cormier for the title and avenges his loss
“I was that underdog guy coming in, you know I kinda had the odds against me, but you know stepped up to the challenge, didn’t go my way but you know, I’ve taken the long road back to the top and man that’s a true Cinderella story. I think people really like that. I think I played the underdog for my first fight and I think the comeback story is ten times as good.”
Thoughts on Anthony Johnson
“After I saw Anthony’s fight my coach and I looked at each other and said ‘man I would like that match up’. Because really for me it’s weathering the storm, you know. He’s an explosive guy and we all saw what he did to Nogueira in just over a minute. So, you know I think I can weather that storm and I think conditioning is still his issue. I still think if someone pushes him hard, he’s gonna have those same problems that he used to have when he was making 170, and I’d like be the guy to exploit that weakness.”
On Phil Davis inability to take Anthony Johnson down, and if Pat believes he could take Anthony down if they fought
“Yeah, I definitely think I can. You know Phil is a great wrestler, but we’re very different wrestlers. I mean, it’s sometimes very difficult for him to go out and get that explosive take down that he needs, where that’s my strong point. When you get tangled up with Phil and get into a situation with him on the ground, you can find yourself in a lot of trouble. You know, he has great control and obviously his striking is getting better, but I think what he lacked was being able to apply that pressure and do it by taking it by force and not waiting for someone to make a mistake.”
On what belt Pat Cummins currently holds in BJJ
“Oh I am happy to say that I’m a white belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. But, I’m a black belt in wrestling. So I think those two kind of, I think actually the wrestling kinda tops Jiu Jitsu so it doesn’t necessarily equal out. But yeah that’s my favourite thing to tell people I’m a white belt”
“Maybe my next fight I’ll come out in a GI with my White Belt.”
Favourite fighter to watch
“I really enjoy Robbie Lawler. He is the most cool, calm guy out there, and I feel like I can learn a lot from watching him.”
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