Going into this Friday’s major pay-per-event featuring the return of Brock Lesnar, the former UFC heavyweight champion’s training partner, Pat Barry, reminds fans that this isn’t a K1 striking match in a recent interview with StudioMMA.com.
“You’re going to see Alistair Overeem’s MMA striking,” said Barry, who has trained with Lesnar since 2010. “You’re not going to see K1-level striking. That’s something I can finally admit to being a former kickboxer now turned martial artist. You can’t get in the ring and kickbox the way you do in a fight with ropes and no wrestling.”
Fans anticipate the match to be the classic style matchup of wrestler vs. striker. As a former NCAA Division I wrestler, Lesnar will want to take this fight to the mat. Overeem will be looking for his openings standing, and it could be the beginning of the end for whoever imposes their skill set first.
“That’s totally different,” Barry continued. “People tell me all the time, ‘you’re supposed to be this bad*** striker and we haven’t seen it yet.’ I’m like, ‘we haven’t done a kickboxing match yet.’ We have a kickboxing match, I’ll show you something you’ve never seen, but until then, as long as it’s MMA, things are going to be different.”
Barry is currently riding a two-fight losing streak, but anticipates his return to the cage on January 20, which will come against Christian Morecraft at UFC Fight Night 26.
Lesnar will enter his bout with Overeem having come off a loss to Cain Velasquez in Oct. 2010. Overeem was last seen defeating Fabricio Werdum in a June rematch.
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