UFC on FOX 12's Patrick Cummins says fans have seen '50 percent' of potential

Patrick Cummins knows it sounds odd – especially coming from a 33-year-old – but he’s still growing up in the cage.

While his age precludes him from being a true “prospect,” the light heavyweight believes fight fans have still seen just “50 percent” of his actual fighting potential.

Since being tapped a very late replacement and quickly losing to massive favorite and upcoming UFC title challenger Daniel Cormier in his February UFC debut, Cummins (6-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) has posted impressive back-to-back wins. “Durkin’s” latest victory came via a three-round drubbing of Kyle Kingsbury (11-6 MMA, 4-5 UFC) on Saturday at UFC on FOX 12.

However, despite three UFC bouts, Cummins, a former NCAA Division I wrestler, is just seven fights deep into a four-year pro career.

“I think I’m in a unique situation,” he said after Saturday’s FOX-televised event at San Jose’s SAP Center. “I’m growing up in the octagon. It doesn’t sound right because I’m 33 years old, but I have very little experience, and what I have is from the UFC. My goal when I go out there is to just keep getting better and better every single time.”

With winning scores of 30-27, 30-25 and 30-24 over Kingsbury, as well as a second-round TKO of Roger Narvaez just 49 days earlier, Cummins is getting time to develop in the UFC. That’s not always an option on the sport’s biggest stage, but UFC officials have clearly given Cummins a fair chance to develop after throwing him to the wolves against Cormier, who’s currently ranked No. 3 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA light heavyweight rankings.

Cummins believes there’s still a lot more to show.

“I think last fight, my coaches and trainers said, ‘You showed about 30 percent of what you can do,’” he said. “This time, they said, ‘I think you’re about 50 percent.’

“As long as I’m improving, I’m happy.”

To do that, he’ll go back to the gym. He sees areas to improve upon while in camp, and when he returns to the cage, he’s hoping for another step up in competition.

“If there was one thing I would liked to have improved on, (it) would’ve been scoring on my transitions, so I’ll work on that in my next camp,” he said. “I want to stay active and keep fighting.

“The biggest thing I can do is just get as much experience as possible. The goal is to just keep taking on guys ranked above me and moving up the ladder.”

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