If there’s one thing Pat Downey and many in the amateur wrestling community can agree on, it’s that they didn’t get along.
A former NCAA Division I All-American wrestler, Downey (0-0 MMA, 0-0 BMMA) proved to be a talent on the mats, but a controversial and polarizing figure away from them in the eyes of some. Now a member of Bellator, Downey enters the MMA world with a sour taste in his mouth after the way things ended.
“Wrestling was the first thing I ever fell in love with,” Downey recently told MMA Junkie. “I just kind of had to accept it and see reality for what it is. I don’t think wrestling loved me back the same way I love wrestling. It’s like trying to stick around at a party you’re not invited to. I didn’t feel welcome there any more. I just felt like the writing was on the wall.”
It seems many in the wrestling community took exception with the way he carried himself, in particular his tweets and his controversies. Downey encountered a handful of legal issues during his high school and collegiate wrestling careers, which he openly discussed with MMA Junkie in 2020. That same year, Downey lost multiple competitive opportunities for a series of tweets about women’s wrestling in 2020. He later clarified and apologized for the posts.
Patrick Downey III is introduced before his grappling match during Flowrestling’s Who’s Number One event, Saturday, Oct., 5, 2019, at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa.
191005 Wno Wrestle 054 Jpg
For Downey, however, he thinks the wrestling community, and USA Wrestling in particular, didn’t like him because he didn’t fit the mold.
“Even when I did everything I set out to do in the sport, they still didn’t want me being their representative,” Downey said. “I just feel like I wasn’t the wrestling poster boy they wanted representing Team USA. When I say ‘they,’ I mean team USA Wrestling, the governing body. I was always getting reprimanded for sh*t I was saying or what I was doing or how I was behaving, just because I didn’t go to church on Sunday and then go secretly closet-sin on Monday, like all them fake motherf*ckers are doing. I was a little bit more open about my lifestyle and how I live and what I do.
“They were just a very judgmental, small, cliquey crowd. It sucks that in an individual sport and a tough sport like wrestling that there are so many politics and favoritisms and weird little cliques and crews. I don’t really know how to explain it much better than that. It kind of put a sour taste in my mouth. I’m happy to move on to something better.”
Despite his difficult breakup, Downey doesn’t regret the way things played out – even as harsh as they were. He points to cancel culture as the perpetrator, something he frequently discusses on his social media.
“I’d rather just be freaking hated by them for who I am than play their game and have them love me for being somebody I’m not,” Downey said. “Anything I said is my opinions. If my opinion is so bad that you cancel me from the whole sport, then that’s what it is. Then, I shouldn’t be doing the sport, because that’s how I feel. So, f*ck ’em.”
With the Olympic trials in the rear-view, Downey officially made the jump to MMA when he signed with Bellator in January. A self-described “fighter who wrestled,” Downey said his rough life experiences and knack for exploring all aspects of martial arts made the transition a seamless no-brainer.
“I’m still a white-belt in jiu-jitsu, but I’m probably the best white-belt on earth,” Downey said. “I can basically do any sport that’s one-on-one. Right now, I’m just learning to put them all together to where I feel as comfortable as I did out on the wrestling mat in the MMA cage. I grew up, and I can’t even remember how many street fights I had by the time I was 12. I’ve just always been in different schools and different homes in different towns. That’s why I kind of feel like I didn’t fit in with the wrestlers as much.
“If you were to have seen some of the sh*t I’ve lived through, you’d see why fighting has always been inevitable. It just makes sense. It’s like now you can get paid to do what you freaking have been going to jail and pay lawyer fees for doing. It was a pretty easy career path choice when it came down to it.”
Currently training out of The Goat Shed Academy in Miami, Downey thinks he’s nearing his professional debut, perhaps sometime in March. He’ll listen to those around him and wait for permission to put pen to paper on a bout agreement.
“First and foremost, I’m happy,” Downey said. “That, to me, is everything. You can’t put a price on your mental health and your happiness. That’s the most important thing. I’m going to keep doing what makes me happy. I had some really low lows, losing wrestling and kind of being excommunicated by the whole culture. That messed me up. Now, I’ve just got my happy feeling back, and I’m going to keep it.”
Pat Downey, (Red), 86 kg Freestyle, US Olympic Training Center, Colorado Springs, Colorado, (Photo by Casey B. Gibson/SIPA USA)(Sipa via AP Images)
His sole focus is on winning gold, but Downey is perhaps more fired up for the sense of vindication that could come with MMA success. He thinks he left a lot of stones unturned in wrestling, and this is a way to prove to himself and the world his capability of maintaining athletic greatness.
“I just want to prove myself right,” Downey said. “I fell short in wrestling at the world championships and at the Olympic trials. Sometimes, that’s life. You aim for the highs of things, and you don’t accomplish what you set out to do. … I’m not trying to set the bar low and (hope) I overachieve. I want to set the bar as high as possible, and if I underachieve, then I’m still probably a lot better than 99 percent of the population. Titles and belts is all I want in this sport. I’m not getting into it to lose. That’s never been my plan.”
To see the full interview with Downey, check out the video below.
