UFC heavyweight Pat Barry (5-2) has been working very hard to become a well rounded fighter. He made his way to mixed martial arts from K-1 in 2008 and has been steadily improving his wrestling and Jiu-Jitsu, but when UFC heavyweight Brock Lesnar brought Barry into the former champs camp, it opened up Barry’s eyes.
Training at Lesnar’s camp helped Barry realize that training with guys his own size makes a huge difference then training with guys the size of say teammate and friend Anthony Pettis.
Speaking to MMAjunkie.com, Barry told them that:
“The very first day that I was in Brock’s camp and I got grabbed by a big guy, that’s when I realized it’s not that I suck at wrestling, and it’s not that I suck at jiu jitsu. It’s that I’ve been doing it with Anthony Pettis.”You can get a lot of skill and a lot of knowledge rolling around with (smaller) guys, but if I’m not doing it with a big body, than it doesn’t really matter how good I get at it.”
Barry is coming off a loss to Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovi? last June at UFC 115, losing by submission to his boyhood idol in the third round. Barry was wheeled away after the fight after breaking both his foot and hand against the Croatian.
Now he’s set to meet Joey “The Mexecutioner” Beltran this Saturday on the televised card of UFC: Fight for the Troops 2 in Fort Hood near Killeen, Texas.