Two weeks ago, former UFC fighter Kurt Holobaugh picked up the Titan FC Featherweight Championship with a split decision win over Des Green in the main event of Titan FC 33. I was lucky enough to get to talk to Holobaugh for a moments earlier this week. Below, Holobaugh discusses winning the Titan title, if he sees himself back in the UFC, the improvements he’s made in his game, and more:
Trent Dozier: First, just wanted to say thanks for joining me, and second, congratulations on your recent victory for the Titan FC Featherweight Championship. How does it feel to be the champion for Titan?
Kurt Holobaugh: Oh, man. You know, it really feels great, you know? It’s really good when you can actually have something to take home to show your hard work and what you’ve been through in that training camp, so it definitely feels good.
TD: We’ll start there with the fight. It was a super competitive fight that you had against Des Green, the incumbent champion. I thought it was a very close fight, but I thought you were the clear winner. When they announced that it was going to be a split decision were you a little bit worried or scared? What was your reaction when they said it was a split decision?
KH: You know, I wasn’t really too worried, and yeah, I thought I won a clear-cut unanimous decision. I thought I did all the right things in the fight to actually win a decision, you know? Of course, I wanted a finish, and I didn’t feel like he wanted to finish. I felt like he just wanted to either takedown, and lay on me, or he was going to run the whole fight, kind of like he did. But I was pretty confident that I did enough. As they said split decision and I’m sitting there waiting with the referee holding each of our hands, I was thinking to myself, I landed a lot of kicks, a lot of combinations, and he wasn’t able to take me down and secure a good position and hold me down. He got a few takedowns in the fight, maybe two or three, but he couldn’t do damage and I was able to get right back up, so I’m like, man, there’s no way I lost this fight. So I was pretty confident.
TD: Yes, in the fight, I think you’re right that he only took you down twice, and both times you were right back to your feet no problem. He had to cut his dreads to make weight, and it seemed like right out of the gate, and in every round, you came out and took the center of the cage right away. Were you very confident that you would have a big cardio advantage in the fight, and just overall, what was your gameplan specifically for Des Green?
KH: You know, I always come out and want to say I have the best cardio against anybody I’m going to fight. I always want to push the pace and I train hard for that. You can ask any of my teammates, they call me a cardio machine. I was a little worried with it being a five round fight, I never went five rounds, but man, it was really nothing. I think it was one of my least tiring fights I’ve ever had in my life. I really felt like I pushed the pace enough, but I could’ve done more, but I didn’t want to run into his takedowns, you know? So my gameplan was just basically keep the center of the cage and stay moving side to side. I got to where I would chase him here or there, and my cornerman would yell at me not to chase, but I wanted to knock him out, I wanted to hit him with something that hurt. So pretty much my gameplan was if he took me down, just go for submission, submission, submission, and if you don’t get nothing within seconds, get back to my feet and try to knock him out.
TD: You’ve now won five straight fights since your release from your one fight in the UFC. The fight you had in the UFC was against Steven Siler and it was an awesome fight. It was a little curious that they released you becasue the fight was a potential Fight of the Night winner, number one, and number two, they only gave you one shot. Now that you’ve won five in a row, are you looking to get back to the UFC right away or are you looking to stay around in Titan and defend your title a couple times?
KH: Uh, no, you know, definitely. You know, I love Titan. It’s been awesome fighting for them. I’ve had a great time each and every time I’ve fought. But I want to be a full time fighter. This is what I want to do for the next couple of years, you know? I want to be able to fight and support my family, and really the only way to do that is getting to the UFC and winning a couple big fights and hopefully some Fight of the Nights, which I know I can get. I definitely think at times that I can get back there.
TD: Yeah, I think you definitely deserve to be back there. Since then, you’re 5-0, 3-0 in Titan including the championship victory, and before that you had a fifteen second knockout of Lloyd Woodard, who had only been finished once previously before that. The official time on that knockout was fifteen seconds, but I was rewatching the fight today and it seemed a lot closer to ten seconds. Does that really bother you? Do you ever think about that or are you just happy with the victories?
KH: You know overall, I’m just happy with the victories, but yeah, you’re right. I’ve watched that and when the ref steps in to break us up it’s right at ten seconds. But it is what it is. Shit, I’ll take it. Fifteen second knockout, I’m not going to complain. But one thing that I have realized over the last three fights in Titan, my opponents have all been former Bellator tournament competitors. (Eric) Marriott, Woodard, and Desmond Green, and Woodard and Green I think have either been finalists or semifinalists. So that’s actually one place to make it deep in the tournament, and I’m like, c’mon man. The UFC has to want me, they have to take me back now. Let me come in and avenge my loss in the UFC and, you know, I want that bonus.
TD: Some of the other second tier promotional featherweight champions are Patricio Pitbull in Bellator and Lance Palmer in World Series of Fighting. Do you think you match up well against them and do you think you’re the best featherweight not on the UFC roster right now?
KH: Oh, yeah. There’s no doubt. I truly think that I am the best featherweight not in the UFC right now, and I think those would be incredible match-up’s with Pitbull and Palmer if those were ever to happen. But overall, I think my ranking is somewhere between 1 and 30 in the world, and I definitely think that I could step up and compete with any guy in the UFC. That being said, I definitely think I’m the number one guy outside the UFC at featherweight.
TD: I think you’re definitely a top 30 featherweight no doubt, and I think that you proved to everyone way back in January of 2013 in the Pat Healy fight that you were capable of competing with anybody. That was a fight that you took on two weeks notice, and Pat Healy at the time was on a five fight win streak and he was supposed to fight Gilbert Melendez for the Strikeforce Lightweight Championship originally. When you were out there in the cage with Healy, it looked like a welterweight versus a featherweight, but you held your own the whole time. What was that fight experience like and just fighting someone so much bigger, and proving to everyone that you can hold your own with the best in the world?
KH: That fight experience was great. I was still really green in the fight, and the experience level of fighting that level of competition wasn’t there yet I don’t believe. Now, I do think I had the skill to beat Pat Healy, but I didn’t truly believe it in my head. I was comfortable in the fight and I was comfortable on the ground, and that’s what I think cost me the fight. But after that fight, after going three rounds with Pat Healy, I knew that I could fight that level of competition. But then I made the same mistakes in the next fight against Steven Siler and after that, I said, man, I’ve got to start training hard, because I didn’t really have a good training camp for Steven Siler. I had a lot of stuff going on in my life, and it probably wasn’t the best time to be put in the UFC and get that shot, and as a result of that, you saw what happened. But ever since then, I’ve called it The Comeback. I’m taking out everyone that’s in my way all the way back to the UFC and I can fight with that level of opponent now, so I’m ready to take them all on.
TD: Like you said, you felt a little too comfortable on your back in the Pat Healy fight. Half of your wins are by submisison and you proved in both the Healy and Siler fights that you’re comfortable on the ground, whether you’re on top or on your back. But your last two fights were the fifteen second knockout of Woodard and in the fight against Des Green, you kept it on the feet the whole time and basically dominated him for 25 minutes standing. Would you say you’re a more complete fighter than you were two years ago? Are you more comfortable on your feet now? How would you say your overall game has evolved?
KH: Definitely. I’m ten times the fighter I was when I fought Pat Healy. I have way more experience now, and the thing about it is, I’m comfortable on my back and I’m comfortable on my feet, but laying on your back for three rounds or five rounds isn’t going to win you the fight. So I mean, while you’re on the ground, you work your submissions, but if you can’t get the submission, you’ve got to know what the time is in the round or how long is left in the round, and you’ve got to get back up and make something happen. I think that’s how it was in the Desmond Green fight. I knew I couldn’t lay on my back for long. So if he took me down, I went for a few submissions, couldn’t get them, and I knew I had to get back to my feet and keep fighting. I couldn’t rest. I couldn’t lay on the ground and rest, kind of like I did against Healy.
TD: Last question: you were undefeated as an amateur, you’re now 14-2 in your professional career, you fought for the UFC, you fought for Strikeforce, and you’re the current Titan FC Featherweight Champion. Why does Kurt Holobaugh not have a Wikipedia page?
KH: You know, I’m not sure. I think I get overlooked a lot of times, and I’ve kind of felt like that my whole life. Even when I grew up in high school football, I never was able to really get a starting spot, and I thought I was good enough. I guess it’s kind of the same thing here. I think a lot of people overlook me, but once I’m in the UFC and I’m taking everybody out, they’re not going to have the choice to overlook me.
TD: Kurt, I hope you get the call to the UFC soon. If you have any training partners or sponsors you want to thank, please feel free.
KH: I’ve got to thank my whole team, everybody that comes down to Mobile with me. Rafael Ellwanger, Jimmy Mills, Scott Smith, Anthony Donze, Brendan Allen, and all my sposors, Prosupps, K-ray Construction, Evermor Water, Nutrishop. They’re awesome, stand by me since day one, so big thanks to all of them, couldn’t do it without them.
While Holobaugh’s next move is unclear, one thing is for certain: his future, whether it’s in the UFC or Titan FC, is very bright. Follow Kurt Holobaugh on Twitter: @KurtHolobaugh, and Titan FC: @TitanFighting.
