Pat Walsh has had an interesting ride when it comes to the UFC.

It is a ride that many look at, but few fully understand.

Walsh was a member of season nineteen of The Ultimate Fighter. Walsh did not win the show, however, he did make it far on the show and may be best known for training with the other team.

“They casted thirty-two of us,” Walsh told The MMA Corner. “They had us fight to get into the house and then threw sixteen alpha males into a relatively small house for sixteen people. Then, they told us we had to fight each other. So, the experience on TUF was like a giant pissing contest. I felt like I had to eat cereal better than the other guy across from me. I don’t know why it gets competitive like that. I am a friendly person, but I was being shunned for being friends with people who wore a different color shirt than me. It was a weird experience. I took the competition serious, but not the parts inside the house. I am a very logical person. I know that two coaches, based off of one MMA fight, randomly picked us in hopes that we would win more fights. Really, we were just thrown t-shirts. There was no reason to hate the other team or 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 someone 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 either fight Pat Cummins or Daniel Kelly. I chose Dan Kelly, although he was undefeated, because he looked like a better matchup. The only problem was my own struggle with trying 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 included. Walsh missed weight; he weighed in at 191.5, but still took on Kelly. The fight was one that Walsh looked fatigued 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 Kelly,” 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 disappointing, 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 looking 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 making the correct steps towards that goal is what is most important. 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 devastating 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 deserve to be there.”