Engineer-By-Day James Head Anticipates Big 2012 Finish at TUF 16 Finale

ENGINEER-BY-DAY JAMES HEAD ANTICIPATES BIG 2012 FINISH AT TUF 16 FINALE
BY JOHN MORGAN ON DEC 13, 2012 AT 12:40 PM ET

Move over, Shane Carwin. There's a new engineer in town.

Carwin, the massive heavyweight and coach on "The Ultimate Fighter 16," has long balanced a day job as an engineer with his fighting responsibilities. As it turns out, he's not the only athlete on the UFC roster embarking on such a journey.

UFC welterweight prospect James Head (9-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC), who fights Mike Pyle (23-8-1 MMA, 6-3 UFC) at Saturday's The Ultimate Fighter 16 Finale event in Las Vegas, is seeking his third straight UFC victory. He's also kept his position in Oklahoma as a petroleum engineer along the way.

"I drill oil and gas wells – designing and then managing the day-to-day operations of the drilling rigs," Head told MMAjunkie.com. "I have three different rigs that I'm the engineer on.

"It's not a cut-and-dry job. There's lots of different variables, so it keeps me on my toes and keeps me busy, for sure."

And it's not exactly a part-time position. To the contrary, Head has 7 a.m. work meetings each weekday, so he rises early to get in a strength-and-conditioning session before he reports to work each morning. Lunch break provides another opportunity to sneak in a workout, and then the bulk of his fight-specific training is done after business.

It wouldn't seem to be the ideal arrangement for an elite athlete, but the 28-year-old Head said it all works out just fine.

"Quitting the job has crossed my mind, but at the same time I really love my job, and I'm fortunate to have both avenues to work in," Head said. "I'd be lying if I said I didn't have hard days at work and think, 'Man, I should just give this up and concentrate on fighting,' or vice versa, but I'm really enjoying the ride that both paths are taking me on. I really like the challenges that each one presents uniquely."

As it turns out, oil fields aren't the only focus of Head's engineering skills. With the help of a few medical professionals, the 6-foot-2 Head also recently schemed a drop from middleweight down to 170 pounds. Head made the welterweight move after losing his UFC debut to Nick Ring, but he explained it's a decision he was already well on his way to making before that result.

"I had been thinking about it in the past," Head said. "I made it through all the cuts for 'The Ultimate Fighter 13,' when they were going to do it with 185-pounders and 170-pounders on the show. At the last minute, they decided to go with just the welterweights.

"They asked me if I thought I could make 170 pounds. I told them of course I could. I'd do anything if that's what it took. When they asked me, I had no idea if I really could. I had never been that small and competed, but that's what I told them. So whenever I got back from the tryouts in Vegas, I went and saw a bone composition specialist at the University of Oklahoma Medical Center."

After performing a battery of screens, including a bone-density exam, physicians told Head he would be safe to compete at 170 pounds. Unfortunately, he had already qualified for "TUF" as a middleweight, so he kept his body ready for 185 pounds.

It turned out first to be a curse, but a blessing would soon follow.

"I was supposed to fly out for 'TUF' on a Tuesday," Head recalled. "They called me like two days before and told me the news that they had changed their mind but thank you and you won't have to try out when we have 185-pounders. We'll just bring you on the show. So it was really a blessing in disguise. I was going to have to ask my job for a leave of absence and all that other stuff.

"At that point, I got a call a month later to fight Gerald Harris locally. That was right after he got cut from the UFC. I took that fight at 185 pounds (and won), and then a couple months later (UFC matchmaker) Joe Silva called with the Nick Ring fight. I took it. Even though I had 170 pounds in the back of my head, when Joe Silva calls you, you say yes."

Unfortunately for him, things didn't go Head's way. Fighting in Ring's Canadian backyard, Head lost via submission in the third round. His next appearance was 10 months later, which allowed him to complete the planned drop to 170 pounds. However, the assignment wasn't much easier. In his welterweight debut, Head traveled to Sweden to take on local star Papy Abedi, a heavily hyped prospect. This time, Head capitalized on the opportunity with a first-round submission win.

He returned to the octagon at July at UFC 149, where he earned a split-decision victory over longtime veteran Brian Ebersole, whose awkward style contributed to a less-than-thrilling affair. Head was happy with the win, but he knows it wasn't his best performance.

"Brian Ebersole is such a hard guy to look good against," Head said. "He's so awkward that I couldn't really get my timing going. I couldn't get the things I really wanted to do done, and those are the main things I was really disappointed about.

"I'm a pretty big critic of myself, so I'm mad I didn't let my hands go a little bit more and really push the action. But I think I won each round. I don't think he did any damage really in any of the rounds. I'm chalking it up as a great learning experience to be in there with somebody with more than 70 fights."

Head gets another big opportunity when he faces Pyle on the FUEL TV-broadcast preliminary card of Saturday's TUF 16 Finale card. The two cap off the evening's prelims prior to the night's FX-broadcast main card.

"This is kind of like the last one," Head said. "He's got 10 UFC fights and 30 fights in his career. He's another very game dude, and he's going to show up – consummate professional. I'm really looking forward to it.

"I think we match up really well. He might try to stand up a little bit more than Ebersole did. I'm really looking forward to getting in there and beating him up."

A victory isn't going to earn Head a title shot, but it certainly might finally get him some attention. After all, three straight UFC victories is always a fine accomplishment, regardless of circumstances.

"If I could close out 2012 with three wins in a new division, I think it might open a lot of people's eyes," he said.

But Head is in no particular rush. He's already put in the work to make it to this point. What comes next is unclear, but Head knows any sizable structure needs a firm foundation. Knocking out "Quicksand" would certainly offer a nice step in that direction.

"If I'm under the radar, that's fine," Head said. "I'll continue to do what I have to do to climb the ladder, but this fight is definitely a step in the fight direction.

"Pyle is a top-15 guy in the world, and that's where I want to be. I want to test myself in competition, and the UFC's allowing me to do that. I can't be any more thankful."