Following a TKO victory over Che Mills in June, it seemed only a matter of time before Cage Warriors welterweight champion Cathal Pendred (13-2) would make his way to the Ultimate Fighting Championship. However, the Irishman has since ran out of patience, and is no longer content with waiting for an opening in the busy UFC ranks.
‘The Punisher’ recently tweeted of his intentions to try-out for the up coming Ultimate Fighter Season 19. Speaking again with Ireland’s SevereMMA.com, Pendred explained his reasoning behind this new plan to progress his career.
“I’m a fighter, I like to fight and I want to keep moving forward. Since the Che Mills fight I’ve just been sitting around waiting for the phone call or waiting for something to come up, it’s something to keep me going forward.”
It was previously reported that Pendred’s move to the UFC was “close”, and that it was basically a matter of time and roster rotation, therefore he aimed to face notable competition, understandably in order to keep a high profile. Many fighters are somewhat reluctant to go through The Ultimate Fighter experience, Pendred being one of them, but in his opinion a lack of highlight opponents in Europe left him with few options.
“There’s no fight out there for me in Europe; each fight I like to fight a guy better than the last. The Paul Daley fight was it, there’s no one else out there, I’m just waiting to get into the UFC, so I’m going to have to force my way in there through the house.
“I’d been saying for a while I wouldn’t go down the TUF route; I would have done it two years ago, definitely. I got a text message from John Kavanagh (Pendred’s coach) on Saturday night just saying what would I think about going for it. At the time it hadn’t even crossed my mind, but when he said it to me I thought I’m going to do it.
“No one puts more pressure on me than me. I don’t care about my reputation or being Cage Warriors champion; that’s all irrelevant, once I’m in the house there, it’s going to be 16 or 32 guys, who are going to be very hungry; it’s MMA and anything can happen. I’m going to be going at these guys from the start, not giving them an inch to breathe, and not being complacent at all, because that is the most dangerous thing I could do.”
Like many TUF competitors, Pendred would be competing outside of his usual weight class. Stepping up from welterweight, the Cage Warriors champion would be amongst TUF 19’s lineup of middleweight and light-heavyweight prospects, should he make the cut.
“I enjoy training with new people, regardless of me getting the best coaching around; you can still pick up new things, that’s just a fact. I don’t know who the coaches are going to be, but it could be someone like Cain Velasquez and that would be amazing.
“I’m going over there to get a UFC contract the hard way because I’m sick of waiting for one. I’m not going in there to make friends, to make up the numbers or be a TV star; I’m going in there for a contract, that’s it.”
Photo credit: Dolly Clew/Cage Warriors
