Bellator 153's Chris Honeycutt: Playing 'Russian roulette' led to first career loss

Chris Honeycutt

Chris Honeycutt rolled the dice the last time he entered the Bellator cage. The numbers didn’t come up in his favor, and he suffered the first loss of his career, by knockout, in just 40 seconds.

Honeycutt (6-1 MMA, 2-1 BMMA) said straying from his game plan resulted in Paul Bradley putting him to sleep  in a matter of seconds at Bellator 148 in January. He said he’s not going to let it happen again Friday when he takes on Matt Secor (7-2 MMA, 1-1 BMMA) at Bellator 153.

“I totally carry that loss on my shoulders, and I burden that completely,” Honeycutt told MMAjunkie. “I don’t know why I did it, but I stepped in the pocket and started throwing punches when that wasn’t the game plan. I don’t know why I did it. I need to play out the whole hand. I can’t just go all-in before the flop.

“Me doing so not just gave him the win, but I feel like I could have done it to him just as easily as he did it to me. It’s Russian roulette. It doesn’t really matter who is better or not. Whoever gets the punch gets the punch.”

Bellator 153 takes place at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Conn. The welterweight bout between Honeycutt and Secor headlines the MMAjunkie-streamed preliminary card prior to the main card on Spike.

Still early in his career, Honeycutt has been pegged as a top prospect in Bellator’s 170-pound division. Although the loss to Bradley, a fighter with nearly four times the pro experience, marked a setback, it was also an opportunity for growth.

Honeycutt said he learned that no matter how confident or what type of momentum there is, every fighter is vulnerable to absorbing damaging blows that can change everything in an instant. Honeycutt admitted he got a swollen sense of self-belief going into the rematch with Bradley after having his way in the first fight before the no-contest finish due to an accidental clash of heads. He paid for it but accepts the consequences.

“I’m not going to dwell on that loss because it’s behind me, but I did take a big learning experience,” Honeycutt said. “I’m writing my own book. I’m not reading it. You have to be realistic about it. Nobody goes undefeated their entire career. Everyone loses eventually, especially when they have the mentality of wanting to fight anybody at any time.”

After tasting defeat for the first time, Honeycutt has done everything in his power to make changes for the better. While Dethrone Training Center in Fresno, Calif., is his home gym, Honeycutt expanded his horizons for this training camp, spending time at American Top Team in Florida as well as American Kickboxing Academy in California.

He said he experienced the benefits of different training environments.

“I needed to get that confidence back,” Honeycutt said. “When you go to ATT and AKA, you get some big names. When I spar those big names and I’m landing my combos and taking them down and sensing their frustration, it just makes me realize that even though I did lose this last fight, it’s not that I’m not any good. My confidence is still supposed to be high. That fight against Paul was not – I wouldn’t even put it as a half-assed performance. I walked in and stepped into the pocket in the first 30 seconds and played a game of Russian roulette of who was going to knock who out.”

Honeycutt said the past few months of training will produce a strong showing. Secor has lost just twice in his career, and against current UFC fighters Lyman Good and Nordine Taleb at that. He’s not going to be easy to put away, but as long as Honeycutt fights intelligently, he said he anticipates victory.

“He’s not a very complex fighter,” Honeycutt said. “He’s a jiu-jitsu guy that’s got a handful of tools. I’m not trying to downplay him to being less than he is. He is very good at what he does. As long as I keep him out of that game, I don’t think there’s an answer for him. He clearly doesn’t want to stand up and strike with me.”

For more on Bellator 153, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.