Pat Downey (wrestler)

Downey attended North County High School and Loch Raven High School, where he was a three-sport athlete, competing in wrestling, football and lacrosse. After placing third at the MPSSAA championships as a freshman, he went on to win the tournament every year and also won the NHSCA and USAW National Championships before his graduation in 2011. As a football player, he set a school record for total offense in a game with 420 total yards on 315 yards passing and 105 yards rushing his senior year and was one of three Maryland prep quarterbacks selected to the prestigious Super-22 Team.[5] A legally problematic high schooler, Downey was multiple times denied of wrestling and playing football due to multiple charges.[6]

After being invited to train at the United States Olympic Training Center by Bobby Douglas, he started residing and training in there. During his stay, he met Olympic Gold medalist and University of Nebraska graduate Jordan Burroughs, who played a big part on Downey's recruiting. He was accepted by the Nebraska Cornhuskers and was supposed to attend the University of Nebraska, but as a recently turned 21 year-old, he got sidetracked on partying. This caused head coach Mark Manning's decision of cutting Downey off the team, suggesting him to start a mixed martial arts career after breaking his thumb in a street fight.[7]

After his deflected time at UNL, Downey attended Iowa Central Community College, an NJCAA level school. As a redshirt freshman competing at 197 pounds, he compiled an undefeated record and became the 15' NJCAA champion (helping the Tritons reach the team championship).[8] He also went 10–1 against NCAA Division I competition, recording notable victories over Hawkeyes, Cornhuskers, Quakers, Sun Devils, etc.[9]

After putting things back on track, Downey was given two options; Iowa State University and University of Iowa. He ended up deciding to wear the Cyclones' cardinal and gold clothes, stating that some of the factors of his decision were his connections with coaches Kevin Jackson and Trent and Travis Paulson and his preference of the teammates.[7] During his sophomore season (2015–16), he competed just three times and lost one of the matches, but still was the starter for the post-season at 197 pounds.[5] He placed third at the Big 12 Conference championships[10] and entered the NCAA championships unseeded.[11] He performed greatly, taking out multiple high-seeded wrestlers to place fifth, earning All-American honors.[12][13]

As a junior, he was finding high success at 184 pounds during the regular season, posting seven wins and no losses.[5] On February 23, 2017, it was announced that Downey had been kicked off the wrestling team due to "repeated violations of team rules", as quoted by head coach Kevin Jackson.[14][15] Despite some talks about a potential run as an Iowa Hawkeye, this finished Downey's collegiate wrestling career and he earned his degree from ISU via online courses.[16]

Downey was a standout junior level freestyle wrestler until 2014, year in which his eligibility to compete at this level expired. After failing to make the 2012 Senior Olympic Team, he made the Junior World Team and went on to win a silver medal at the World Championships.[17] He was also a FILA and USAW National Champion.[18]

Downey is currently competing in the senior level.[18]

He made his debut in 2011 (fresh out of high school) at the OTT qualifiers in an attempt to make the Olympic Team, but was unsuccessful after losing in the first round to eventual UFC champion and then NCAA DII champion Kamaru Usman.[19] He competed just once between 2012 and 2013 and made his return in 2014.[20] In this year, he won the Northern Plains tournament,[21] placed sixth at the University Nationals[22] and attended the World Team Trials.[23] A year later, he competed at the ASICS US Nationals, the Northern Plains and the Bill Farrell Memorial but did not place,[20] unlike the University Nationals in where he placed fourth.[24] In 2016, he just wrestled one match.[25]

In 2017, he made a return to freestyle in big fashion with a fifth-place finish at the US Open, which qualified him for the World Team Trials.[26] At the WTT, he defeated two-time All-American turned MMA fighter Kyle Crutchmer but subsequently dropped his next two bouts.[27] To close the year, he racked up a bronze medal from the Dave Schultz Memorial Invitational.[28] In 2018, he once again placed at the US Open[29] and (unlike the previous year) at the World Team Trials.[30]

Downey completed his best year of competition as of now in 2019, as he racked up titles from the Dave Schultz Memorial International[31] and the US Open[32] and made the World Team after defeating Nick Heflin in the challenge finals and the defending World Champion David Taylor could not make it to Final X.[33] After successfully making the team, Downey won a prestigious Pan American Games medal[34] and went 2–1 at the World Championships.[35] He then participated in a Super Fight against the accomplished submission grappler Nick Rodriguez, whom he teched after scoring 12 points to none.[36]

In 2020, he won a bronze medal at the Matteo Pellicone Ranking Series in Italy[37] and had a brief appearance at the Ivan Yarygin Golden Grand Prix.[38] In February he competed at a special event where he faced the man often referred as "Greatest Submission Grappler of All Time"[39][40][41] Gordon Ryan. This event consisted of a freestyle wrestling match and a submission grappling match. Downey won the first bout in one minute and twenty seconds and Ryan submitted Downey in the second match.[42] He was then slated to rematch Nick Rodriguez with submission grappling rules on March,[43] but the event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[44]

Downey was scheduled to compete at the 2020 US Olympic Team Trials on April 4 at State College, Pennsylvania.[45] However, the event was postponed for 2021 along with the Summer Olympics due to the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving all the qualifiers unable to compete.[46]

After the Olympic Trials were postponed, Downey participated in the first wrestling event of the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic on June 28, at Rumble on the Rooftop. He faced Greco-Roman World Team Member Joe Rau in a mixed-rules match, this consisted in one period of Greco-Roman rules and other of freestyle rules, with no technical falls. After choosing Greco-Roman in the first period, Downey was down 9 points to none and could just pick up four points during the freestyle period, dropping the match 4–9.[47]

After several tweets where he made comments towards Greco-Roman and women's wrestling, Downey was dropped by the NJRTC,[48] terminated by Paradigm Sport Management and Barbarian Appel and also lost his spot at the FloWrestling: Dake vs. Chamizo card where he was supposed to wrestle 18' World Champion David Taylor on July 25, in a 5-day period.[49][2]

Downey was scheduled to make his amateur MMA debut on January 19, 2019 at Donald Cerrone's Cowboy Fighting Series 1.[58] However, he was removed from the card later on.[59]