MMATORCH INTERVIEW: Pat Barry on UFC Fight for the Troops 2 opponent Joey Beltran, Duke Roufus, Anthony Pettis, Brock Lesnar and more
By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
UFC heavyweight Pat Barry is set to return to action next Saturday on Spike TV, as he takes on Joey Beltran at UFC Fight for the Troops 2. The bout is his first since a submission loss to a former idol in Mirko Cro Cop at UFC 115 in June, a bout in which he broke his hand and foot early in the fight. Now healed and fully recovered, Barry took some time out of his training this week to talk to MMATorch Editor Jamie Penick, about the fight with Barry, Duke Roufus, Anthony Pettis and more.
JAMIE PENICK: Pat, you're taking on Joey Beltran at UFC Fight for the Troops 2 in Fort Hood, Texas next week; how have you been preparing for this fight and how is training coming along a week out from the event? PAT BARRY: Nothing in particular, just like always a lot of wrestling, a lot of jiu jitsu, a lot of cardiovascular conditioning and strength training. I'm just going into a fight making sure I'm a thousand percent ready for the deadliest man on earth to stand right across from me, that's my best way to be prepared per match, no matter who it is. Of course, we've got a gameplan for Joey Beltran and what we feel his style is like and what his abilities are, but I'm at the maximum [of being] ready. PENICK: Beltran's last fight was against your teammate Matt Mitrione. How has Matt helped you out with any of the preparation of this fight? BARRY: Yeah, we've talked a lot, did a little training together a few weeks ago but we've spoken a lot. We've devised a strategy and a gameplan, with like two or three different [things] I feel I can capitalize on. He let me know the things that he felt strongest in when he fought Joey Beltran, and he let me know the things where he felt he was lacking in strength in. So I've been able to grow from all of those, all of the advice, all of what he felt from Joe, Joe's strengths and weaknesses, like what he felt Joe was really good at or what he wasn't too good at; things that I could capitalize on and areas I should stay away from. We've gone from head to toe, any direction possible coming towards this fight. PENICK: What do you think is the most dangerous thing that Beltran presents to you in this fight? BARRY: He never seems to stop coming no matter what you hit him with, that's the most dangerous part. Not his striking ability or his wrestling ability or his jiu jitsu; the fact that he never seems to stop coming at you, which is extremely demoralizing. I would imagine there are plenty of guys who have stood across from Joey, who have punched him and kicked him with everything possible, and the fact that he keeps walking towards you like a zombie, that's got to ruin your confidence after a while. PENICK: What do you think about being a part of this Fight for the Troops card? It's going to be nothing but military personnel and their families in the audience, it will be on Spike TV as a fundraiser for the troops; talk a little bit about being a part of an event like this that's kind of unique for the UFC. BARRY: It's awesome, one. I think that a crowd that consists completely of military people has got to be rowdier than any other crowd you can fight in front of. A crowd consisting solely of military personnel has got to be rowdier than anything else because they are soldiers, they are warriors, they do go to battle. I don't know what their every day life is like, but I would assume it's got to be filled with a lot of stress. I'm sure they have some fun times, but I don't know how much off time they get while being on base and doing what they do. They're out there fighting every day, putting their lives on the line for us and the rest of the country, so it's an honor to be able to be part of a group of people that are going to be able to give them a relief. They're going to be able to have a few hours of letting go of what they normally do and releasing from that in some form of entertainment, like going to a movie. PENICK: I want to turn the attention to your fight camp, because Roufusport has been getting a lot of attention over the last couple of months. I know watching the "World of Jenks" show with Anthony Pettis, it seemed like you were the "big brother" of the group there. Do you feel like you take that role at the gym? BARRY: Definitely. When it comes to the people in general at the gym, but [especially] the fighters, I definitely take a big brother/mentor/leader type of role there, I do have that position. Not necessarily because of my fighting ability or my experience, but just because of the amount of life that I have under my belt in comparison to the rest of them, because these are a lot of young cats. These guys are 22, 23 years old. I've been around the world a million times and I've had a lot more life than they've had, so I do have a lot of experience with things in general, just being a man, period, that we can relate to because I've gone there, I've been there. We're just one big family, we're one giant team we're one big unit. Everybody's there for everybody else. We all do what we do for ourselves, but we're there for everybody else because we all know that, in order for the machine to work, every part needs to work simultaneously, so we are all there to help the other person get better. PENICK: A lot of people forget that while you're still young into your MMA career, you had a lengthy kickboxing career as well. Being that Duke Roufus himself is a legendary kickboxer in his own right, how does your relationship go in the gym? Does it go deeper than with others because of those kickboxing roots? BARRY: Right. We both speak a language that others just don't speak, because of the experience that he has, and the experience that I have in the kickboxing world. He understands the things that I'm really great at. This guy's a fight genius, no matter what kind of fight it is. He's been everywhere in the fight world, especially in his kickboxing and boxing career. At the same time, he's a fight fanatic, so he sits around and studies us all day and night. So he can devise a gameplan for you, but he speaks a language that I understand. We both understand each other because of our histories and what we do. PENICK: Another person you've worked with is former UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar, who was named this week as one of the two coaches on the new season of The Ultimate Fighter. I know you're bound to confidentiality on what went on in the Death Clutch camp [prior to UFC 121], but is it a situation where you'll be invited back to work with them again? And have you gotten any calls from them about working with them on The Ultimate Fighter, as it begins filming shortly after your fight next week? BARRY: I haven't heard anything about the Ultimate Fighter show, not from them yet. You know just like I do that they're an extremely quiet and secretive group, but I am positive I was very beneficial to them, so if they were to call to have me come and help out with that, I would almost expect that. A part of me would like to believe that I was able to contribute enough to them; they called me for a reason, because of my ability and the knowledge I have when it comes to striking, so I would think that maybe I would get the call to come help out. Now, if not the show, just for regular training would they ask me to come back? Sure. Yeah, definitely. I think everyone was able to benefit from my striking game, my strength, everyone was able to benefit from that, and I think I'm a pretty cool guy to have around (laughs). I was able to learn from them a lot also. PENICK: Shifting back to your teammates at Roufusport, and specifically Anthony Pettis. It's clear you two have a close relationship, and now that his title opportunity is not coming and he's rumored to be fighting Clay Guida, how has he been around the gym, and what are you guys doing to try to keep spirits up about that situation and move forward with his UFC career? BARRY: A fight is a fight. We have total confidence in him that, whether he would have waited for an entire year to have that title fight, or have other fights until that title fight comes around, we have the utmost confidence that he will still be the title contender. Whenever that fight comes around and they're giving that opportunity, he will still be the man who is there with the WEC title belt to go for it, no matter who he fights. I honestly believe this guy's invincible. There's a lot of "oh, anything's possible," but this is a whole other sport whenever he steps in the cage. PENICK: You guys are going to have a lot of lot of fighters in the UFC in 2011 with the merger, from Pettis to yourself, Mitrione, Erik Koch, etc. Do you think this is going to be an even bigger year for Roufusport than 2010? BARRY: Definitely, because we've got the merger. Anthony Pettis is in, Erik Koch is in, I'm in. Dan Downes, another young guy and up and comer, just fought the guy from China (Tie Quan Zhang) and won. After almost getting submitted two thousand times in the first round, he came back to dominate the guy for round two and round three. So a lot of these guys are going to be in the UFC, and after the way this year ended, everyone's even more motivated to out-do 2010. 2011 is going to be so big that no one will remember what happened in 2010; not coming to this gym. PENICK: You're 2-2 overall in your UFC career and 5-2 overall in your MMA career, what are your goals for 2011? BARRY: To get a submission win before the year is over. PENICK: That's a good goal to have. You've got five TKO victories and two submission losses, so you want to give it back to someone else this time? BARRY: Yeah, I'll get a submission win, just to get people to shut up. PENICK: How much have you been working that area of your game and what's the biggest thing you've improved upon in that area so far? BARRY: It's just becoming more natural for me. We work on it regularly, the wrestling aspect and the jiu jitsu aspect of it, but it's becoming more natural, not so much thought. I'm starting to just react to it the way I do with my striking. I don't have to think about striking. I can have a talk with someone who's sitting down over to the left and still then in front of me just punch and kick anybody. It just happens that my body reacts to it; just like blinking, you don't have to concentrate on blinking your body just does it. PENICK: I want to thank you for taking some time out from training to talk with me today, do you have any sponsors or anyone you'd like to give a shout out to before I let you go? BARRY: Brian Butler at Sucker Punch Entertainment for being my "sponsor guy" is what I like to call him. TapouT, Skrape and Punkass, those guys have been loyal to me since day one and I've been giving loyalty back. They're going to take it to the top of the world. No matter what people think about the whole TapouT sponsoring situation, those guys are legit and they're going to be there forever, they're never going to go anywhere. Alienware, Muscle Pharm, my teammates, everybody who has helped me train, you for giving me an opportunity to do this interview, and my mom, because she's awesome. PENICK: Well Pat, we wish you the best in the fight against Joey Beltran next week, and we hope to talk to you again sometime after the fight. BARRY: Thanks a lot. -Barry and Beltran square off on the main card of next Saturday's UFC Fight for the Troops 2 event from Fort Hood in Texas. The event's main card airs live on Spike TV.
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JAMIE PENICK: Pat, you're taking on Joey Beltran at UFC Fight for the Troops 2 in Fort Hood, Texas next week; how have you been preparing for this fight and how is training coming along a week out from the event? PAT BARRY: Nothing in particular, just like always a lot of wrestling, a lot of jiu jitsu, a lot of cardiovascular conditioning and strength training. I'm just going into a fight making sure I'm a thousand percent ready for the deadliest man on earth to stand right across from me, that's my best way to be prepared per match, no matter who it is. Of course, we've got a gameplan for Joey Beltran and what we feel his style is like and what his abilities are, but I'm at the maximum [of being] ready. PENICK: Beltran's last fight was against your teammate Matt Mitrione. How has Matt helped you out with any of the preparation of this fight? BARRY: Yeah, we've talked a lot, did a little training together a few weeks ago but we've spoken a lot. We've devised a strategy and a gameplan, with like two or three different [things] I feel I can capitalize on. He let me know the things that he felt strongest in when he fought Joey Beltran, and he let me know the things where he felt he was lacking in strength in. So I've been able to grow from all of those, all of the advice, all of what he felt from Joe, Joe's strengths and weaknesses, like what he felt Joe was really good at or what he wasn't too good at; things that I could capitalize on and areas I should stay away from. We've gone from head to toe, any direction possible coming towards this fight. PENICK: What do you think is the most dangerous thing that Beltran presents to you in this fight? BARRY: He never seems to stop coming no matter what you hit him with, that's the most dangerous part. Not his striking ability or his wrestling ability or his jiu jitsu; the fact that he never seems to stop coming at you, which is extremely demoralizing. I would imagine there are plenty of guys who have stood across from Joey, who have punched him and kicked him with everything possible, and the fact that he keeps walking towards you like a zombie, that's got to ruin your confidence after a while. PENICK: What do you think about being a part of this Fight for the Troops card? It's going to be nothing but military personnel and their families in the audience, it will be on Spike TV as a fundraiser for the troops; talk a little bit about being a part of an event like this that's kind of unique for the UFC. BARRY: It's awesome, one. I think that a crowd that consists completely of military people has got to be rowdier than any other crowd you can fight in front of. A crowd consisting solely of military personnel has got to be rowdier than anything else because they are soldiers, they are warriors, they do go to battle. I don't know what their every day life is like, but I would assume it's got to be filled with a lot of stress. I'm sure they have some fun times, but I don't know how much off time they get while being on base and doing what they do. They're out there fighting every day, putting their lives on the line for us and the rest of the country, so it's an honor to be able to be part of a group of people that are going to be able to give them a relief. They're going to be able to have a few hours of letting go of what they normally do and releasing from that in some form of entertainment, like going to a movie. PENICK: I want to turn the attention to your fight camp, because Roufusport has been getting a lot of attention over the last couple of months. I know watching the "World of Jenks" show with Anthony Pettis, it seemed like you were the "big brother" of the group there. Do you feel like you take that role at the gym? BARRY: Definitely. When it comes to the people in general at the gym, but [especially] the fighters, I definitely take a big brother/mentor/leader type of role there, I do have that position. Not necessarily because of my fighting ability or my experience, but just because of the amount of life that I have under my belt in comparison to the rest of them, because these are a lot of young cats. These guys are 22, 23 years old. I've been around the world a million times and I've had a lot more life than they've had, so I do have a lot of experience with things in general, just being a man, period, that we can relate to because I've gone there, I've been there. We're just one big family, we're one giant team we're one big unit. Everybody's there for everybody else. We all do what we do for ourselves, but we're there for everybody else because we all know that, in order for the machine to work, every part needs to work simultaneously, so we are all there to help the other person get better. PENICK: A lot of people forget that while you're still young into your MMA career, you had a lengthy kickboxing career as well. Being that Duke Roufus himself is a legendary kickboxer in his own right, how does your relationship go in the gym? Does it go deeper than with others because of those kickboxing roots? BARRY: Right. We both speak a language that others just don't speak, because of the experience that he has, and the experience that I have in the kickboxing world. He understands the things that I'm really great at. This guy's a fight genius, no matter what kind of fight it is. He's been everywhere in the fight world, especially in his kickboxing and boxing career. At the same time, he's a fight fanatic, so he sits around and studies us all day and night. So he can devise a gameplan for you, but he speaks a language that I understand. We both understand each other because of our histories and what we do. PENICK: Another person you've worked with is former UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar, who was named this week as one of the two coaches on the new season of The Ultimate Fighter. I know you're bound to confidentiality on what went on in the Death Clutch camp [prior to UFC 121], but is it a situation where you'll be invited back to work with them again? And have you gotten any calls from them about working with them on The Ultimate Fighter, as it begins filming shortly after your fight next week? BARRY: I haven't heard anything about the Ultimate Fighter show, not from them yet. You know just like I do that they're an extremely quiet and secretive group, but I am positive I was very beneficial to them, so if they were to call to have me come and help out with that, I would almost expect that. A part of me would like to believe that I was able to contribute enough to them; they called me for a reason, because of my ability and the knowledge I have when it comes to striking, so I would think that maybe I would get the call to come help out. Now, if not the show, just for regular training would they ask me to come back? Sure. Yeah, definitely. I think everyone was able to benefit from my striking game, my strength, everyone was able to benefit from that, and I think I'm a pretty cool guy to have around (laughs). I was able to learn from them a lot also. PENICK: Shifting back to your teammates at Roufusport, and specifically Anthony Pettis. It's clear you two have a close relationship, and now that his title opportunity is not coming and he's rumored to be fighting Clay Guida, how has he been around the gym, and what are you guys doing to try to keep spirits up about that situation and move forward with his UFC career? BARRY: A fight is a fight. We have total confidence in him that, whether he would have waited for an entire year to have that title fight, or have other fights until that title fight comes around, we have the utmost confidence that he will still be the title contender. Whenever that fight comes around and they're giving that opportunity, he will still be the man who is there with the WEC title belt to go for it, no matter who he fights. I honestly believe this guy's invincible. There's a lot of "oh, anything's possible," but this is a whole other sport whenever he steps in the cage. PENICK: You guys are going to have a lot of lot of fighters in the UFC in 2011 with the merger, from Pettis to yourself, Mitrione, Erik Koch, etc. Do you think this is going to be an even bigger year for Roufusport than 2010? BARRY: Definitely, because we've got the merger. Anthony Pettis is in, Erik Koch is in, I'm in. Dan Downes, another young guy and up and comer, just fought the guy from China (Tie Quan Zhang) and won. After almost getting submitted two thousand times in the first round, he came back to dominate the guy for round two and round three. So a lot of these guys are going to be in the UFC, and after the way this year ended, everyone's even more motivated to out-do 2010. 2011 is going to be so big that no one will remember what happened in 2010; not coming to this gym. PENICK: You're 2-2 overall in your UFC career and 5-2 overall in your MMA career, what are your goals for 2011? BARRY: To get a submission win before the year is over. PENICK: That's a good goal to have. You've got five TKO victories and two submission losses, so you want to give it back to someone else this time? BARRY: Yeah, I'll get a submission win, just to get people to shut up. PENICK: How much have you been working that area of your game and what's the biggest thing you've improved upon in that area so far? BARRY: It's just becoming more natural for me. We work on it regularly, the wrestling aspect and the jiu jitsu aspect of it, but it's becoming more natural, not so much thought. I'm starting to just react to it the way I do with my striking. I don't have to think about striking. I can have a talk with someone who's sitting down over to the left and still then in front of me just punch and kick anybody. It just happens that my body reacts to it; just like blinking, you don't have to concentrate on blinking your body just does it. PENICK: I want to thank you for taking some time out from training to talk with me today, do you have any sponsors or anyone you'd like to give a shout out to before I let you go? BARRY: Brian Butler at Sucker Punch Entertainment for being my "sponsor guy" is what I like to call him. TapouT, Skrape and Punkass, those guys have been loyal to me since day one and I've been giving loyalty back. They're going to take it to the top of the world. No matter what people think about the whole TapouT sponsoring situation, those guys are legit and they're going to be there forever, they're never going to go anywhere. Alienware, Muscle Pharm, my teammates, everybody who has helped me train, you for giving me an opportunity to do this interview, and my mom, because she's awesome. PENICK: Well Pat, we wish you the best in the fight against Joey Beltran next week, and we hope to talk to you again sometime after the fight. BARRY: Thanks a lot. -Barry and Beltran square off on the main card of next Saturday's UFC Fight for the Troops 2 event from Fort Hood in Texas. The event's main card airs live on Spike TV.
Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/Interviews_34/article_8173.shtml