UFN 23 heavyweight Pat Barry: Some people are just going to hate your guts

KILLEEN, Texas – UFC heavyweight Pat Barry (6-2 MMA, 3-2 UFC) can tell you all about emotion.

From rags to riches after dual "Fight Night" bonuses at UFC 104, to a heartbreaking defeat at the hands of his idol, Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic, at UFC 115, Barry always has been an open book to his fans.

Barry once again was riding high after a UFC Fight Night 23 win on Saturday, but he knows that performance wasn't enough to please his doubters. In fact, Barry couldn't even make it back to his hotel before the criticism came rolling in.

"I've already had bad things said to me as soon as I got out (of the cage)," Barry told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) following his Spike TV-broadcast win at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas. "People said, 'Good fight, but what happened in round one?'

"I'm already hearing negative (comments). I'm getting bad text messages already. That's always going to happen. No matter what, some people are just going to hate your guts. It's impossible to make everyone happy."

In fairness, round one of Barry's unanimous-decision win over Joey Beltran was a bit lackluster. Fans expected fireworks between the two heavy-hitters, but the action was slow to develop, and Beltran actually claimed the opening frame on two of the three attending judges' cards.

Barry recognizes the opening five minutes might not have lived up to fans' expectations, but he believes the round played out as his camp intended.

"That was an absolute strategy on his part and my part," Barry explained. "Joey Beltran, statistically on paper, I'm the better stand-up guy. He's the better wrestler, jiu jitsu, maybe all-around guy, but I'm the better stand-up guy. So when the bell rang, he walked backward toward the cage. That's a trap.

"I don't know if anybody noticed that, but I was supposed to run at him, take him to the ground, put him against the cage, so I stood on the circle. That was the gameplan: I'm going to stand on this blue circle in the middle of the octagon, and you're going to have to go to me."

But after working form distance early, Beltran was more willing to engage in the final two rounds, especially as Barry's leg kicks began to hamper his mobility. Barry capitalized on the proximity of his opponent by continuing to chop the legs, as well as firing off a few highlight-reel headkicks.

"For the first part of the fight, the first round, he didn't come to me," Barry said. "I could have either gone to him and broken my gameplan, or he could have walked straight to me and broken his. It was kind of a tossup.

"Sorry it turned out to be a slow start, but we both had a strategy."

Nevertheless, Barry racked up the final two rounds on all three judges' cards, and he was awarded a unanimous-decision win. Following the victory, Barry's emotions once again took center stage as he addressed crowd, which was comprised entirely of troops stationed at Fort Hood. "HD" said the tears that flowed freely have been welling up since childhood.

"I come from a family with a lot of military personnel," Barry said. "My uncles and cousins, a lot of them joined the Navy and Army and Marines. My dad was in the Army. He passed away when we were all kids. We had a mother, an older sister, myself and a younger brother, and for years, we went on with just us. My grandmother mailed his dogtags back to his only two sons 20 years ago. We both wear them all the time. I never take it off unless I have to get an MRI for a fight. My brother wore his for 12 years straight. It broke off in the ocean one day. Now he's got it tattooed on his neck. There's a big long story that goes along with the military.

"To be here in front of everybody and to give everyone in that room an opportunity to have three hours away from their normal life – three hours to just put on a show – it's like watching a big, long movie but really being there. It was great to be able to give back in a way. We could say, 'Go Army' all day and night, but that only does so much. We can give support, but to actually put on a show and give them a release from their everyday lives, which has got to be stressful, is rare. To be a part of that is great."

With the win, Barry improves to 2-1 in his past three contests. And while still just eight fights into his MMA career, Barry remains one of the most dangerous strikers in the heavyweight division. But while the Louisiana native was enjoying his return to the win column, his emotional spectrum was far greater than simple joy.

"It's just life in general, not just the last fight," Barry said. "Everybody has a bad day eventually. Certain things just build up, build up, build up. I hadn't had a cranky fight in a long time. Do I feel it's behind me? No. I'm still hearing about kickboxing matches that I lost 10 years ago. It's never going to go away.

via mmacrypt.com

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