"It's something that I had to come to terms with; nobody is 5'11 but me, so it's alright, man. I don't mind being the little dude throwing heat at the big guys...as long as I have a fight, it doesn't matter who they put me in with. It doesn't matter if they put me in with a Greco Roman Olympic wrestler who has like a 12th degree Black Belt in Jiu Jitsu and he could submit anyone. That doesn't matter to me because anybody could win and anybody could lose. At any point in time, anybody can win and anybody could lose a fight, so I know that and because I know that, I don't fear anyone. Not macho don't fear, but it doesn't matter who they give me, I will fight anybody," stated UFC heavyweight contender Pat Barry, who talked about his future plans after his recent knockout victory over Christian Morecraft at UFC on FX 1. Check it out!
PC: Congrats on the big win over Christian Morecraft. How do you feel?
PB: Good, man. I'm feeling cool as a mug after this fight. I'm feeling loose, man. You know what? I'm really enjoying just sitting here.
PC: The UFC never does you any favors with these huge guys they give you, that's for sure.
PB: Hey, you know, it's something that I had to come to terms with; nobody is 5'11 but me, so it's alright, man. I don't mind being the little dude throwing heat at the big guys.
PC: Looking at your training partners, you are probably used to it.
PB: Yeah, Cole Conrad is a monster. I'm giving fair warning to all heavyweights for them to watch out because that dude is coming. Brock Lesnar is as big as everybody knows he is. I'm the smallest guy in the room by far.
PC: Is Brock still gonna train with you guys or is he totally walking away from the sport?
PB: You never know. He said he will be around for whatever we need, so he says he's gonna be here, so we're assuming he's gonna be here, you know?
PC: For sure. You were in a tough spot coming into this fight coming off of the consecutive losses. What were you feeling before this fight?
PB: Before the fight was the same thing that I go through before every fight. whether I'm coming off of two losses, like I was, or if I'm coming off of a 15-fight winning streak, I come into every fight with the same level of pressure on my shoulders. I go into every fight with the same mentality and the same feeling, man. So I was strung out before the fight because I was about to have a fight. That's pretty much it. It didn't have anything to do with my previous two fights or anything. That's just me before a fight. I don't care who it is or what's the situation.
PC: You always talk about showing improvements in your game. You defended a great armbar attempt by Christian. How important was that to show other things to give these heavyweights something else to have to prepare for from you?
PB: You know man, I told them, I'm not as bad as the world assumes I am in Jiu Jitsu. Have I been submitted in fights before? Yes! I've been submitted in fights before. Everybody gets submitted at some point in time. I got submitted by Stephan Struve and Cro Cop and everybody wanna say my ground game sucks. Well, Nogueira just got his arm broken by Frank Mir. I doubt anyone is going to say his ground game is garbage. People get submitted, that's the name of the game. That's just how it happens, and I happen to get out of some. It's not as natural as my striking is, but that's because I have only had a few live experiences with it. So technically, I'm brand new to the ground, wrestling and Jiu Jitsu. It's coming, man. I don't mind people keep saying my ground game is whack and nonexistent. As long as you keep believing that, you're going to keep me safe.
PC: He did a great job of avoiding your kicks. You never looked like you panicked though. Did you expect him to avoid the kicks and you knew you would have to close the distance with your boxing?
PB: Yeah! I expect everybody to stay away from my kicks. Here is the thing though, maybe this is the difference between myself and others, but it's not just about punching and kicking. There is a strategy and a game plan. Everybody expects Pat Barry to come in and he's going to kick your legs off. Okay, so no problem, I come into the fight, I throw a few kicks, and as soon as everything you thought was right, you think I'm gonna kick your legs off, and then I start throwing hands with you. A lot of people seem to forget, yes, I'm a kickboxer, but the second part of that term is boxer. Kickboxing does not only consist of right leg low kicks. I don't know why people think that. "He will kick your leg off." "But what if he punches you?" "Nah, he can't punch." I can hit you with anything. I don't know how people forget that.
PC: You slipped his shot and landed your own and that was all she wrote. Talk us through the knockout.
PB: You know, about 10 seconds before the knockout, I saw an opening for a left hook. Just like in any other fight, you feel something out; you might have a game plan, but things are changing all of the time. Things usually change on the spot and you are usually improvising to find your opening. It's only a matter of time before you do enough calculations and it's only a matter of time before you see the opening that you are looking for. Maybe about 10 seconds beforehand, you know, I threw enough stuff at him from different angles and different directions and enough different attacks that one of them is going to have...it's only a matter of time before you show me an opening, and I saw it about 10 seconds before it landed. I knew exactly what I was going to do. I was like, "You know what? Out of everything I've thrown, he's open for a left hook." His right hand was really low and he was turning to his right. I knew he was open to a left hook, a lunging left hook. It couldn't be a regular left hook; it had to be a lunging gorilla left hook. I knew it was only a matter of time before I launched it. Like I said, 10 seconds before that, I saw the opening. He threw the hook, I slipped it, and just like classic Mike Tyson, slip a punch and throw a punch, because every time somebody punches or kicks, they are open somewhere. Even myself, every time I punch or kick, I am open somewhere. Somewhere on me is open or vulnerable.
PC: You almost attempted a standing guillotine. Your eyes got bright as can be and...
PB: (Cutting in and laughing) Hey man, that's my fault, but when he pressed me against the cage, if you watch it again in slow motion, as soon as my back hit the cage and I lock my hands together, you can see like this celebration look on my face and I look up at my corner. I was like, "Oh shit!" I started smiling. I'm going to send you the picture after we are finished, man. It's a picture of me with this smile on my face looking over at my corner. My coach Marty Morgan said do not attempt any submissions unless there is 10 seconds left in the last round. That's the only time you are allowed to attempt a submission. "No matter what you do, don't try it. If it's wide open, you better let it go." Yo man, when I grabbed that dude's neck, I was like, "Oh shit, what?" And I looked over at Marty, his eyes got so wide and he started shaking his head no. I looked down and I looked back up and I was like, "Alright." I let it go and what happened? I got taken down. I wasn't supposed to be there in the first place.
PC: You're the only fighter that negotiates with his trainer in the middle of a fight.
PB: (Laughing)
PC: I know you are enjoying your down time, but when would you like to return and is there anyone on your radar you would like to fight?
PB: You know what? As long as I'm getting offered fights from the UFC, that's good enough for me. I don't have any gripe against anybody. There is no one in particular. There's not like a "I really want to fight so and so," like everyone normally does. I literally...as long as I have a fight, it doesn't matter who they put me in with. It doesn't matter if they put me in with a Greco Roman Olympic wrestler who has like a 12th degree Black Belt in Jiu Jitsu and he could submit anyone. That doesn't matter to me because anybody could win and anybody could lose. At any point in time, anybody can win and anybody could lose a fight, so I know that and because I know that, I don't fear anyone. Not macho don't fear, but it doesn't matter who they give me, I will fight anybody. Now take it, I just came off of a win, so I'm gangsta right now. I will fight tonight if they want me to, but that's only because I don't have a fight offered. As soon as they say I want you to fight next month, I could feel myself going, "Ah, no, that's too soon." But right now, because I don't have a fight offered, I will fight anybody tonight.
PC: You are truly one of the fighters that just seem to be enjoying the ride and having fun with this stuff.
PB: Yeah! If you don't have fun with it, then what's the point? If you don't have fun with it, then you might as well go miserably do something else. If you don't love what you do, then why do it? Why waste time doing it? If you don't enjoy doing this, then that's really unhealthy. This is really not the sport to not be enjoying doing because that can be detrimental to your health.
PC: Helluva fight. I saw a lot of things in that fight that impressed me a lot from you. Is there anything you want to say in closing?
PB: Thank you for giving me the opportunity to get my word out there, man. The more I get to talk, the more people get to know who and what I am. Everybody out there who is still with me and everybody out there who hates my guts, it don't matter, I love you all. You guys can keep it coming even if it's, "You suck on the ground." Anybody out there who enjoyed the show, thanks and I got love for everybody.
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]