Pat Barry’s emotional story
FiveKnuckles.com: How do you feel about your overall performance? Pat Barry: I did everything exactly the way I was supposed…
FiveKnuckles.com: How do you feel about your overall performance?
Pat Barry: I did everything exactly the way I was supposed to do it. I did exactly what we trained for and followed the game plan to the tee. I didn’t sway off the course, I did everything I was trained to do and it worked out perfectly. Duke Roufus is a genius.
FiveKnuckles.com: You were very emotional in your post-fight interview. Can you expand on that a little bit?
Pat Barry: Hey man, I showed up to this fight broke. When we got to Los Angeles on Tuesday, I had ZERO dollars to my LIFE. I’m not even joking around. I had nothing sitting in the bank, nothing under the mattress at home, not even a piggy bank; nothing at all. Two days before we got to LA, I was literally eating white rice and ketchup. I didn’t want to say anything because I didn’t want anybody to worry or figure I was taking this fight for the money because I really wanted to fight. Financially I had nothing. I had no choice but to win.
FiveKnuckles.com: Looks like dinner’s on you tonight.
Pat Barry: (laughs) You know it. Ain’t that the truth?
FiveKnuckles.com: Besides the financial factor, was there anything else that served as motivation?
Pat Barry: Everything that goes into getting ready for a fight is an emotional process. All the bumps and bruises that I got during training; being away from home. The fact that I was fighting such a high-caliber guy in only my third UFC fight after coming off a loss knowing that the risk of being cut from the UFC was there. Also, the fact that I fought a guy who I’ve trained with before under Ernesto Hoost. Ernesto never thought I was good enough. He never thought that I was going to be anything or be good enough so the fact that I was able to beat a guy that is still active with him meant everything. That was the greatest fight of my life so far; this fight meant everything to me. It was the validation that I always wanted for the five years of being with Ernesto.
FiveKnuckles.com: Well, your happiness (and agility) showed in your back flip. Impressive.
Pat Barry: Hell yeah man (laughs). I heard a lot of people talking about that one. They obviously didn’t know a water buffalo can fly. I’m a straight up ninja; I’ve been saying it from day one. I’ve got a lot more of that coming (laughing). I was supposed to do that after the Dan Evensen fight, but I got caught up in the moment. I almost forgot to do it again.
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