Photo: Esther Lin / Strikeforce

By Kelsey Mowatt

As Pat Healy was preparing for his fourth Strikeforce bout last August, the veteran fighter wasn’t shy about the fact he believed many observers were overlooking his extensive accomplishments. Since then, the self described “Rodney Dangerfield of MMA” has gone on to defeat Eric Wisely and Maximo Blanco to extend a three fight win streak which includes a win over Lyle Beerbohm. Now, as Healy prepares for his March 3rd bout with lightweight Caros Fodor, the 28 year-old fighter is happy to report that more respect has been coming his way.

“I do feel like I’m starting to get the respect that I deserve,” said Healy (26-16), whose only loss since 2009 came against former Strikeforce champ Josh Thomson. “I feel like I’ve got a good buzz about myself right now; I feel like I’m being taken seriously as a lightweight contender and I do plan on making a run for the title this year.”

Of course, due to Healy’s recent run and what’s riding on this Saturday’s bout with Fodor, the Strikeforce spotlight has been focused on the Team Quest fighter that much more.

“I think either this fight, or obviously they’re looking at the KJ Noons, Josh Thomson fight, since it’s on the main card,” Healy said, when asked if he believes the winner of his next bout  could determine the promotion’s number one contender. “I think a strong performance from either of us could steal it away from them.”

“He’s (Fodor) put together a nice winning streak, especially coming off that big win over (Justin) Wilcox,” Healy furthered. “I’ve been making a nice run myself, so I think it’s logical to think the winner of this will emerge as one of the top lightweights in Strikeforce.”

Healy mentioned Fodor’s (7-1) KO win over the fellow contender Wilcox, which marked the AMC Pankration fighter’s fifth straight victory since he signed with Strikeforce.

“He’s strong in the clinch and is a good take down guy, top position,” Healy noted when asked to evaluate the abilities of Fodor. “He’s a pretty well rounded guy. His win over Wilcox obviously showed that his hands are to be feared also. I think his weakness would be off his back. I know he’s pretty solid there but I haven’t seen him win any fights off his back. I don’t see that being a real strong point for him.”

When FCF spoke with Fodor recently, he predicted that Healy would look to close the distance when the two square off Saturday.

“I’ve been working a lot from the outside recently,” Healy said. “I went to China and learned a lot from the fighters out there–pretty unique striking style that they have–but the clinch is my game. If the fight goes there I definitely plan to dominate that position.”

“I went to the Xi’an Sports University,” said Healy, when asked to elaborate on his experiences in China. “It was really to help bring MMA to them. They have a lot of stand-up, San Shou fighters, and a lot of them do MMA, but they’ve never really had proper instruction for ground techniques. It turned out to be a huge advantage for me as well, because I learned so much from them…They have a lot of really unique striking techniques, so I was able to pick up a lot of stuff.”