Pat Sabatini will face william gomis this weekend at UFC 328 at Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey, carrying a three-fight winning streak and a sharper sense of where he is mentally. The 35-year-old featherweight says the work he has done away from the cage has made the fight game feel more manageable and more enjoyable.
Pat Sabatini and UFC 328
That change follows a difficult stretch in March 2024, when Sabatini was a few months removed from a stoppage loss to Diego Lopes and a few weeks clear of a minor knee procedure to clean up a torn meniscus. He reached out that month to Micah Schnurstein with the Sports Psychology Team at the UFC Performance Institute, and he says the work changed the way he carries himself before and during camp.
“I feel like it’s had an impact on my whole life in general,” Sabatini said, describing the effect of that work. He said his life and his Octagon preparation became more present after the sessions, and the edge that once followed him into every fight started to ease.
William Gomis and the rankings
After beating Chepe Mariscal, Sabatini said he wanted someone in the rankings next. He did not hide the confidence behind that request. “I’ve always had the discipline, but I feel like this is the real superpower is being able to harness that presence, use the mind the way it’s meant to be used, and them just go in there and shine; simple as that,” he said.
He added that the mental work has paid off in a way he can feel every day. “Your mind doesn’t come with a manual, so learning how to use it properly has paid dividends… I feel like I’m oozing with confidence and it’s only the tip of the iceberg; it’s only going to keep getting better with time,” Sabatini said. That is the backdrop for a matchup that now gives him another chance to turn a three-fight run into something bigger.
Gomis brings a test
Sabatini also knows what Gomis brings. He called him “a very smart fighter, very rangy, with very good kicks; I think he’s a good all-around opponent,” and said Gomis enters with a 5-1 mark under the UFC banner. Sabatini, a Philadelphia native and former two-time CFFC champion, enters with a clear target: keep the streak moving and make the case that he belongs near the top end of the featherweight division.
For Sabatini, this bout is less about proving he can compete and more about proving the recent mental reset can hold up against a measured, rangy opponent. If he carries the same discipline and presence into Newark, the performance will say as much about his development as it does about the result on the scorecard.
