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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Heading into Saturday's final Strikeforce event, Pat Healy was more than a little perturbed. He was scheduled twice to meet longtime Strikeforce Lightweight Champion Gilbert Melendez, only to have Melendez pull out of both meetings with injuries. To make that worse, while Melendez would be brought over to the UFC immediately, he now had to fight for a chance to get a spot on the UFC roster.
He had to do so against late replacement Kurt Holobaugh, who gave him as much resistance as possible in a gritty effort on short notice, especially for a fighter who normally competes in the featherweight division. Still, despite a perhaps tougher than expected fight, Healy picked up the win. Though pen wasn't yet put to paper on a new deal, Healy said after the fight that UFC officials made it clear to him he'd be brought over following the win.
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's a done deal," Healy told Ariel Helwani at MMA Fighting right after his bout (transcribed by MMAMania.com). "I mean they kind of talked to me right before this [interview] and said I was pretty much going to come over, so I would say yeah it's a done deal."
Healy will enter one of the most populous divisions in the UFC, with no shortage of tough fighters and solid challenges, but he's got one name in particular that he thinks would make for a good debut.
"I named Joe Lauzon earlier because I think he's a great opponent and he wins a lot of 'Fight of the Night's' and I could use that nice little cushion money, you know, would just love to mix it up with a dude of his caliber."
Penick's Analysis: A Healy-Lauzon bout could be a lot of fun. With the exchanges on the ground between Healy and Holobaugh seen on Saturday night, it stands to reason that Lauzon could provide a very formidable foe for Healy in that department. That could be an excellent fight if the UFC were inclined to book it, and would give Healy a chance to make an impression on his own merits inside the Octagon. Regardless, he deserves a shot in the UFC, and he did what he needed to on Saturday to earn that.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
Frank Hyden - Rich Hansen
Chris Park - Matt Pelkey
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