Pat Healy in the Desert: Lightweight Talks Titan, Retirement, Life on the Ranch

When someone tells you they've wandered into the desert, literally or metaphorically, it's usually not a sign that things are going super well.

Pat Healy displayed all the warning signs. The lightweight fighter hit on hard times after hitting the UFC in 2013. He lost four straight there, and the only win he did get became a no-contest after he tested positive for marijuana metabolites. It cost him $130,000 in pay and bonuses.

So it wasn't a very satisfying run, especially to those with high UFC expectations for Healy, who entered the Octagon on a six-fight win streak. Expectations, shmexpectations; barely a year after he came in, Healy was out.

And now, he's wandering the desert. Funny thing, though: He doesn't sound all that despondent about it. A little older and a lot wiser now, Healy seems reinvigorated by what he's found there.

He speaks thoughtfully and openly about his past, present and future, but it's the latter two that really get him going. He'll continue to try to work his way back out of the hinterlands this Friday when he takes on the undefeated and fairly unknown Kurt Kinser in his debut for Titan Fighting Championship.

"It's been hard to find a lot of stuff on him," Healy admitted of Kinser in an interview with Bleacher Report. "He's a good grappler. He's fought guys with lots of experience. I want to drag him into the later rounds, jump on him early so he doesn't gain momentum."

The 31-year-old Healy (30-20) has plenty of success as a pro, earning a name for himself in Strikeforce, the WEC, IFL and a slew of other promotions in various stages of existence. But after that UFC bad streak, he knew something had to change. A semi-chance meeting in his home state of Oregon opened that path.

"Donald Cerrone's grandpa lives in Oregon," Healy recalled. "He was visiting his grandpa and came in to train some rounds. We hit it off. There was a good vibe."

Not too long after, Healy found himself splitting time between Portland, where he's based at Rose City Fight Club, and Cerrone's own ranch in New Mexico. When Healy isn't shooting clay pigeons at the ranch with Cerrone, the UFC lightweight contender and extreme-living nut, he's studying under Greg Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn at their gym in Albuquerque, probably the most prestigious MMA gym in the world.

"Greg Jackson of course has a wealth of knowledge," Healy said. "We're training at 7,000 feet. It's in the high desert of New Mexico. It feels like you're on top of the world. We play Ultimate Frisbee. We shoot guns. Anything to fill the time. We see who can shoot the most clay pigeons. We just try to keep things interesting."

Not gonna lie a little sad leaving the #BMFRanch yesterday but ready to destroy Friday night for… https://t.co/PqCEDI64aC

— Patrick Healy (@BamBamHealy) March 17, 2015

Sounds like Healy's version of desert wandering is pretty fun and productive. But part of what he and Cerrone are doing there is purpose-driven. Not in the sense that they're getting in work for their fights, but in the sense that they're trying to develop a longer-term MMA thing.

Similar to the way in which Urijah Faber formed Team Alpha Male into a Mecca for lighter-weight fighters, Cerrone wants to turn his ranch—affectionately referred to by denizens as the BMF Ranch, the initials of which you can discern or Google on your own time—into a bastion for those at and around the 155-pound division.

Healy has jumped in with both feet. So have Australian Kyle Noke and up-and-coming lightweight Paul Felder, among others. It looks like momentum is picking up.

"He has a gym at the ranch," Healy said of the BMF Ranch. "We're just trying to build a team of people, I guess around our weight."

Check out life on the #BMFRanch https://t.co/rVzrtVf7xY @Cowboycerrone @KyleNoke @felderpaul

— Patrick Healy (@BamBamHealy) March 11, 2015

It's a part of the sport that seems to interest Healy more and more. While the UFC losing streak wasn't what anyone would call a good thing, maybe it changed Healy's thinking a little bit. Now, he's doing what few athletes seem to do: He's thinking of life after fighting, and creating a gym could be part of the equation.

"I'm certainly trying to prepare more for the future," Healy said. "The UFC was a lot more money than what I get now, so I've started teaching private lessons again. I'm saving up some money, just getting it put away. I have really good business credit. I'm looking at models of gyms now. ... I like the ideas of a fitness-based gym for regular people with MMA mixed in."

Healy, who turns 32 this year, said that "by 36, I figure I'll be toward the end of my career." So that's about four years of fighting. He said he'd like to use that time to keep socking away cash and developing credit and business acumen.

No matter what happens against Kinser Friday at Titan FC 33, Healy knows he'll always get "That Question." It's a little like asking Evander Holyfield about the ear or Janet Jackson about the malfunction. You have to ask, basically.

To his credit, Pat Healy knows that. He knows the drug test is going to come up, especially with drug testing protocols (the UFC just announced a new one) and failed drug tests (to Jon Jones, Anderson Silva and Nick Diaz, to name a few recent big ones) one of the sport's hottest topics.

"Every time something happens like with Jones, people want to talk to me about it," Healy said. "I kind of have that whether I want it or not."

But as with his losing streak and his time wandering the desert, it seems he's making the most of that situation.

"I'd say it would be good to have one athletic commission, one set of rules, one standard. Wherever you fight, nothing should differ," Healy said. "That's what I think. People are going to ask me about it, so I'm going to be knowledgeable on the subject, and I'm going to speak my opinion."

Scott Harris writes about MMA for Bleacher Report. For more stuff like this, follow Scott on Twitter.

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