Dana White’s Contender Series is Johnoven Pati’s chance to make good on UFC or bust goal

As he entered 2020, the outlook for middleweight Jhonoven Pati was simple: UFC or bust. 

Following seven years without making as much headway as he would have liked, Pati was willing to call it a career in 2020 if he didn’t finally make his move to the top tier of MMA.

“In the beginning of the year I actually gave myself a timeline,” Pati told MMAWeekly.com. “I told myself I was going to push through this year, get at least three to four fights in 2020, and if I didn’t get the call to the UFC that I was actually going to walk away from the sport.

“That’s the absolute truth. My goal was to get four wins, three minimum, then if you didn’t see me in the UFC I was going to walk away.”

For Peti the onset of the novel coronavirus and the lockdown that ensued could have put a major dent in his plan, but actually he was able to use it to his advantage and improve his game during the last several months.

“(Not a lot changed) other than the gym closing down for a number of weeks, it was a little hard with the adjustment of that,” said Pati. “We had to go back to the garage and have private sessions with my coaches.

“The sessions weren’t big, but it was truly a blessing because whenever you get those times in with your coaches one-on-one you can fix a lot of things that were small errors in your game and build on your relationship with your coaches. I try to look at the good things out of everything bad that happened.”

On Tuesday in Las Vegas, Pati (6-3) will look to make his goal for this year come true when he faces Jamie Pickett (10-4) with a possible UFC contract at stake at Dana White’s Contender Series 2020: Week 4.

---

TRENDING > Bellator 244 Highlights: Vadim Nemkov KOs double champ Ryan Bader in a stunner!

---

“There are still things inside of my head that I want to answer for myself that I know that I can do, I just need to display it for myself,” Pati said. “Me, stepping into the cage August 25, I think is going to be a perfect display who I am to this sport and who I am to myself.

“The fact that everybody else gets to see, because it’s a spectator sport, is just a plus. But this is for me as far as my performance and to prove to myself that I belong there.”

While a UFC contract will make Pati’s goal come to fruition, his focus is on Pickett and getting the win in the fight, everything else will fall into place afterwards.

“I don’t need to do anything spectacular to beat (Pickett), I just need to be myself,” said Pati. “I just focus on what’s in front of me. If I focus on what’s in front of me everything else will take care of itself.

“I really strongly believe in what my teammates and coaches bore into me, so why should I stress anything else other than taking care of business, collect a check, collect a contract; and all of that will come if I just focus on what’s in front of me. Everything else will fall into place.”

(Photo courtesy of Jhonoven Pati)