With his idols becoming his rivals, even Pat Downey admits it's going be hard to talk sh-t to Chris Weidman

Downey and Weidman clash in intriguing featured contest at FURY Professional Grappling 13 on UFC FIGHT PASS.

Pat Downey is known as a man happy to engage in a little pre-match banter, but for his next assignment, "PD3" admits even he might be forced to refrain from any verbal sparring.

Of course, as he prepares for a FURY Professional Grappling 13 matchup with former UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman, don't think for a moment that Downey is not still hell-bent on destruction.

"Guy's a f-cking Hall of Famer," Downey said. "I mean, it's tough. Like, how much sh-t can you talk to this dude? I even DMed him. I'm like, 'Man, I'm a f-cking fan. Thank you for taking this match.'

"Like, this is an amazing opportunity for me, you know what I mean? Dude's the bigger draw. A-side, obviously. He's got a million followers, and his pedigree speaks for itself, so I have to, if anything, kind of slap myself back into reality and say, 'Hey, I've got to whip this guy's ass still,' so I'm just going to let my skills do the talking for this one, you know what I mean? But I'm going to be ready because anytime I'm healthy and in shape, my performances are good. They're worth tuning in for."

Downey and Weidman meet in an intriguing featured matchup at FURY Professional Grappling 13, which streams live on UFC FIGHT PASS on Friday, May 23 from New Jersey's Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Atlantic City.

For Downey, a former U.S. Open Wrestling champion and NCAA Division I All-American wrestler at Iowa State, it's the second time he's faced a former UFC champion after scoring a decision win over Luke Rockhold this past August. Still relatively new to the professional grappling scene, Downey admits it's a true honor.

"I was playing with Rockhold and Weidman in high school in the UFC video game, and now it's like quite literally do this sh-t until your idols become your rivals," Downey said. "Yeah man, I've arrived, and I'm ready to show my gains."

It's also Downey's second time competing for FURY Professional Grappling, after taking home a golden-score win over UFC middleweight standout Andre Petroski this past December. While it was entertaining matchup between two powerful grapplers, Downey admits he was a little disappointed he wasn't able to take home a submission win, and he aims to rectify that issue this time around.

"I'm not going to be happy unless I get the finish," Downey said. "Winning's nice, but I wasn't necessarily happy with not finishing Petroski – and there's a cliche, 'win or learn,' and that's bullsh-t. You win or you lose, and it's up to you to learn afterwards, you know what I mean?

"You can learn from your losses or you cannot; you can get worse. You can learn from your wins, or you can get worse, so I'm really keen on progressing and getting better, even from the victories."

While Weidman will forever be lauded for his MMA exploits, he was a two-time NCAA Division I All-American wrestler at Hofstra prior to his fighting days, and he was awarded his Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt in 2015 from grappling and MMA legends Renzo Graice and Matt Serra.

Downey is anxious to see how their styles collide but is confident it will result in an entertaining contest, knowing that MMA veterans, especially, don't usually take a passive approach to grappling.

"Which one of these high-level fighters is going to pull guard and just try to leg lock me the whole time?" Downey asked. "I mean, then what am I doing? Just sprawling and defending because I don't want to get entangled so I'm not passing guard because I'm being defensive from the leg because I want to walk out of the venue. It's not fan friendly.

"When you give matchups like this, there's guaranteed fireworks because styles make matches."

So expect excitement when these two powerful grapplers collide in the 215-pound matchup that precedes the card's two inaugural title matches and kicks off a weekend of back-to-back combat sports events that also includes CFFC 142 the following night.

Downey may find it tough to talk trash against Weidman leading in, but you better believe he'll be looking to have his hand raised once the two hit the mat.

"I mean, if you're a combat sports fan, you're silly not to tune into this," Downey said. "I'd love to show my jiu-jitsu and get a submission finish this time around.

"Obviously in a perfect world, I go out there, I submit this mug in 30 seconds, and boom, ippon. No sweat broke. I go right back to the Hard Rock table and we're playing some poker, you know what I mean?"