August - 2015
SCRAPP! FIGHT MAGAZINE
8
the guy you were fighting. It
was us as individuals trying to
get better and win a TV show.”
Walsh did not win the show,
but he did get a chance to fight
on the finale fight card. On
the card, Walsh took on Dan
Spohn. Walsh grinded away a
victory and won by unanimous
decision.
“I ended up being invited back
to fight in the finale,” Walsh
said. “I beat Spohn and was
awarded, well I don’t know if
you can say awarded, but I was
offered a six-fight contract.
Now, at that point I was cutting
a lot of weight to make 205. I
walk around at 240. Joe Silva
had offered me the option to
drop down to 185. I explained
to him that 185 might work for
me, but I need to completely
change my body type and I
think it will take around nine
months. I felt like he was upset
about that. So, what he did to
shun me was that he offered
me Pat Cummins.”
“I did research and understood,
and Joe Silva understood, that
Cummins was a bad matchup
for me in my second fight,”
Walsh said. “He told me that if
I do not want to fight at 185,
that I will need to fight some-
one like Pat Cummins every
fight. You know, I guess I pissed
off Joe Silva by saying I wanted
to change my body type. In the
UFC you can turn down fights,
but you are shunned for doing
it. So I was pretty much strong-
armed to drop down to 185 in
about two months. I was 240
and I was told that I could ei-
ther fight Pat Cummins or
Daniel Kelly. I chose Dan Kelly,
although he was undefeated,
because he looked like a bet-
ter matchup. The only problem
was my own struggle with try-
ing to lose all that weight in a
short period of time.”
Trying to lose all of that weight
is something that not a lot of
people can do, Walsh includ-
ed. Walsh missed weight; he
weighed in at 191.5, but still
took on Kelly. The fight was
one that Walsh looked fa-
tigued and not at his best. Kelly
defeated Walsh by unanimous
decision. Walsh talked about
the missed weight and loss to
Kelly at UFC Fight Night 60.
“I ended up fighting Dan Kel-
ly,” said Walsh. “It was a very
tough fight for me because
I did not make weight. My
body stopped sweating. I sat in
the sauna for about six hours
without sweating the day of
weigh-ins and missed weight.
It mentally took such a toll on
me. I spent the whole camp
not training, but getting my
weight down. It was my worst
athletic performance. I lost a
close fight.”
Walsh was then let go from the
UFC after his loss to Dan Kelly.
It was something that confused
Walsh, but he took it for what
it was. Walsh talked about the
UFC release.
“It was just so disappointing,”
explained Walsh. “They waited
almost two months before they
informed me I was cut. I was
waiting for my call about my
next fight and then eventually
got a call from Joe Silva telling
me I was released. He did not
do it in a bad way. He just told
me I needed more experience.
He let me go in a nice way, but
it was just so disappointing.”
It may have been disappoint-
ing, but it is not the end for
Walsh. Walsh will be fighting
at CES MMA 30 against Jesse
McElligott on August 14, which
will be his first fight since his
release from the UFC. It will be
the first step for Walsh to gain
the experience Joe Silva is look-
ing for before he can make his
way back to the UFC.
Walsh obviously wants to make
it back to the UFC and that is
his goal. Walsh talked about
making it back to the UFC and
what that would mean.
“Anyone that plays baseball
wants to be on the Red Sox,”
said Walsh. “You always want
to be at that top level, but mak-
ing the correct steps towards
that goal is what is most impor-
tant. I understand where I want
to be and what steps it takes. I
need wins and I need finishes.
I need to do that in devastat-
ing fashion. It would mean the
world to me to overcome the
obstacles and get back to the
UFC. It would give me a chance
to prove to the world that I de-
serve to be there.”
