Never one to shy away from speaking his mind, UFC heavyweight Pat Barry (7-5 MMA, 4-5 UFC) wore his frustrations on his sleeve at last weekend’s UFC on FX 5.
Sitting in the front row of the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Barry became visibly annoyed at the booing and abuse being hurled at Jussier Formiga and John Dodson by one particular fan.
As the booing continued, Barry began to seek out the source, and found a gentleman who, by this point, had begun calling the fighters some, shall we say, uncouth names. Or pussies if we’re going to be factual.
Curious as to how someone could think such a thing of two professional combat athletes, Barry stood up and began to query the gentleman, garnering the approval and applause of the crowd, and requested he repeat himself. Unwilling to oblige, the fan in question returned to his seat and attempted to wave off the unwanted attention from the fan-favourite heavyweight.
While goading a member of the public into a dispute is not necessarily a positive thing for a UFC fighter to do, Barry later had a discussion with the fan, as he found him in line waiting for an autograph from the very fighter he was voicing his disdain for, flyweight John Dodson.
In the ensuing conversation, according to Barry, and sourced from his video response on his official YouTube.com channel, Barry elucidated his point to the fan, that it’s perverse to question the bravery of athletes from the comfort of a spectator’s chair.
In a sport where fan education, or a lack thereof, can often lead to ground-game-heavy fights and anything that doesn’t approximate a slug-fest being unpopular, it’s refreshing to see an employee of the UFC take a stand in defense of his peers and colleagues.
Here is Barry’s video response: http://youtu.be/_eiuniJ0Zdg
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