UFC heavyweight Joey “The Mexicutioner” Beltran (12-4) is looking to rebound from a loss to Matt Mitrione at UFC 119. It was a fight that earned both men the “Fight of the Night” bonus as the fighter let his natural instinct to “scrap” kick in.
Now he’s set to face Pat Barry, a fighter whose lost twice by submission, this Saturday at the upcoming UFC: Fight for the Troops 2 event in Fort Hood near Killeen, Texas.
Speaking to UFC.com, Beltran was asked whether he’d look for the submission or let his “instincts” take over and keep the fight standing.
“I would like to say that I’d take him down and use my jiu-jitsu, but when the fight starts happening, you tend to go where your instincts are, and my instincts are always to scrap. The last fight (against Matt Mitrione), you look at round one and I easily got the takedown and I probably should have taken Matt down again. It would have made it more of a boring fight, but it probably would have been a lot easier to win. But when it starts happening, you just go with what you know, and fighting is all I know how to do. That’s what I’m good at and that’s what got me to the big dance, and I don’t plan on changing now…”
“It definitely falls into that old cliché, box the brawler and brawl the boxer, and that’s definitely what I’m gonna try to do. If I got complacent with who I’m fighting, and for some reason decide to get into a technical match with Pat Barry, I’m sure I’m gonna get eaten up. I have to remember who I am and stay true to myself and I should be all right.”
Beltran had won three straight fights before his loss to Mitrione, putting together a 2-1 record with the UFC. Under the promotion he earned victories against Tim Hague at UFC 113, who is also fighting on the card, and against Rolles Gracie in his debut at UFC 109.