Guilherme Pat is set to make his second UFC appearance when he faces Thomas Petersen at UFC Vegas 115 on April 4 at the Meta APEX.
Pat enters the bout unbeaten at 6-0 in MMA after a decision win in his UFC debut over previously undefeated heavyweight Allen Frye Jr. in December. Frye Jr. was 6-0 with a 100 percent knockout rate before losing to Pat.
Reflecting on his debut, Pat admitted the moment brought unexpected mental hurdles. “Sometimes you get flashes of thoughts you shouldn’t have during a fight. You have to let everything flow there. I think my opponent may have been ‘surprised’ by the power in my hands. And in the end, some things from my opponent caught me off guard.”
Pat said this camp has been built around sharpening his mindset ahead of Petersen. “The preparation was much more focused on the mental side this time around. Whether we like it or not, there were doubts and questions about the level, about truly belonging on the UFC roster. Now that the debut is out of the way, we go in more confident and approach training with a different mindset. The mentality now is definitely to go out there and deliver a great fight, a great show for you all.”
Looking at Petersen’s previous defeats, Pat is clear about his objective. “We’re prepared to shut down his takedown attempts and work our striking. His past losses are valuable references that show a possible path, maybe a weakness there. We’re identifying his weaknesses. Those knockouts he suffered are examples for me, a path I’ll look to follow to get my own knockout.”
