Since his Bellator debut in 2014, Chris Honeycutt has been one of the company’s most consistent performers. In his first two years with Bellator, Honeycutt fought seven times, never missing a scheduled bout.
It wasn’t until earlier this year that he forced to drop out of a fight for the first time, when he was forced to miss his March 3 match against Kendall Grove at Bellator 174 due to injury.
“I worked really hard for that camp and was really looking forward to fighting Kendall Grove,” Honeycutt told MMAWeekly.com. “It was a real bummer to not be able to fight him. Things just happen and sometimes you’ve got to listen to your coach’s and manager’s advice. I’m okay with it and we just move forward from there.”
Having not fought since last December, Honeycutt isn’t so much worried about ring rust as he is being overly anxious for his return bout.
“If it does affect anything, I think it might make me a little overly excited,” said Honeycutt. “I definitely have that itch. I almost get worked up I’m so happy (to be fighting again). But I don’t think it will play a factor other than a little extra excitement going in.”
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Honeycutt (9-1) returns to Bellator to take on Kevin Casey (9-5-2) in a preliminary card 185-pound on Friday in Verona, N.Y.
“He’s an athlete,” Honeycutt said of Casey. “He’s very gifted. He’s fast, he’s explosive and he’s strong. I wouldn’t necessarily say he’s got the greatest technique. A lot his strengths are because he’s an athlete.
“The last four or five films I’ve watched he tends to over-commit his strikes and gets tired easily. I don’t think he’s out of shape, but he puts everything into everything. If you do that, no matter how much cardio you do you’re going to get tired.”
Back into fight mode, Honeycutt isn’t looking past his bout with Casey other than to express how eager he is to stay active in the future.
“Obviously I have long term goals, and when I’m not in fight camp I look forward to those, but when I’m in fight camp, life gets simple,” said Honeycutt. “I have a date, I have an opponent and I have a task. My lifestyle revolves around being ready, being prepared and being as efficient as possible to take care of things on fight day.
“If it were up to me, I’d fight sooner than later. Obviously I can’t predict how much I’ll get touched (against Casey), but in hindsight the goal is to go in there, take as little damage as possible, then get back in the cage as fast as possible.”
