Pat Barry: What the hell am I doing this for?
In this in-depth interview with Sherdog.com, the six-year professional kickboxer, UFC heavyweight and former Shaolin monk understudy from New Orleans…
In this in-depth interview with Sherdog.com, the six-year professional kickboxer, UFC heavyweight and former Shaolin monk understudy from New Orleans talks Mike Tyson’s Punch Out, how fighting scared is like riding a roller coaster and the damage he proudly does at fast-food drive-thru windows.
Sherdog.com: How did you get into fighting?
Barry: To me, this is a real live video game. Like this is Street Fighter live action; it’s just a fun game. I’ve always wanted to be a ninja, so I get to be a real live ninja in life. For the most part, this is a real, live game. I’m not an angry dude. I don’t have to walk around and snarling and growling. And of course fighters have a very bad reputation. We’re drug abusers, alcoholics, illegitimate children. We smack women around. We get in street fights all the time. We’re angry dudes who can’t read. That’s just not what it’s like nowadays. We’re really civilized people. We just play the game really well.
Sherdog.com: What do you mean by always wanting to be a ninja?
Barry: You know, roam the earth and defend the weak and solve crime and just, like, hide in the shadows and have little secrets. Ever since I was a kid, I never idolized samurais. One guy with a sword versus 75 men on me with guns, and the samurai never turns his back? No, I was the ninja who you never saw coming, who shot you in the neck with an arrow from 200 yards away. I was like a sniper, you know, a ninja, like, in the shadows. You never knew. Very unsuspecting. That’s something that I’ve told everyone from day one. Don’t ever count me out. One, you never know what’s going to happen. Two, you never know what’s coming. I’ve got a very nice demeanor. I’m a good guy. I love this sport. I love the game, but the whole don’t take anyone’s kindness for weakness thing, it’s true. I’m terrified when I get in the ring, of course. That’s my strength, is fear against the guys I’m competing against. But you can’t sleep on me. I’m very good at what I do.
Sherdog.com: Hearing you describe Cro Cop and your fear of competing, you must be scared s–tless going into UFC 115.
Barry: In all actuality, I wake up every day and ask myself, What the hell am I doing this for? This is stupid. This guy’s going to try to kick me in the face. Why would anyone ever put their hand in the fireplace on purpose? I said yes [to fighting Cro Cop] without even thinking about it. [They said], You wanna fight Cro Cop? I was. like, Hell yeah, I want to fight Cro Cop. As soon as I got off the phone, I was, like, Oh, s–t. Oh, damn. OK. But, have you ever played Mike Tyson’s Punch Out? Did you ever turn that game on with no intentions of ending it? I never quit Tyson’s Punch Out. I used to sit up 24 hours a day, night after night, day after day, nonstop, just playing Tyson’s Punch Out nonstop, just trying to get to the end and finish it. You want to fight Tyson at the end. You don’t want to get all the way to Piston Honda and say, No more, Bald Bull and say, I beat Bald Bull. I’m finished. I don’t want to play this no more. No, you want to get to the best. You want to fight the best.
When they said, Do you want to fight Cro Cop? that’s like a warp zone from Super Mario [Brothers]. I can skip levels two, three and four? I can go straight to five? What? I have three undercard fights: Dan Evensen, Tim Hague, Antoni Hardonk. Now I get to fight Cro Cop? That’s not in the chronological order. Now, I’m not taking anything away from the first three guys, but it just doesn’t seem like Dan Evensen, Tim Hague and Antoni Hardonk … Cro Cop doesn’t seem like the next step. Cro Cop seems like a warp, like I’ve jumped eight levels. In my eyes, that’s damn near the top. It’s not the top, but that’s near the top, in my eyes, being a kid, being a fan of the sport. He wasn’t my favorite in kickboxing, but when he came to MMA, he was my favorite guy ever in MMA. I’ve always wanted to just meet the guy.
Now, not only do I get to meet him and like touch his hand and shake his hand and hopefully get a picture with him, I get to hopefully not get kicked in the face by him. How awesome is that?