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Lesnar enlists Pat Barry to be his sparring partner for the Velasquez fight

3K views 37 replies 29 participants last post by  Rauno 
#1 ·
Pat Barry. A man in demand.

http://www.fightersonlymagazine.co.uk/news/viewarticle.php?id=5052&offset=0

Pat Barry has revealed that he is in high demand following his UFC 113 fight with Croatian heavyweight legend Mirko ‘CroCop’ Filipovic.

Speaking to Wisconsin Combat Sports, a website local to the gym where he trains under Duke Roufus, Barry said he had received calls from CroCop and Brock Lesnar to be a sparring partner for future fights.

“I’m talking to Cro Cop. Brock Lesnar wants me to come and be his sparring partner… You can’t write this man, this isn’t even a dream. This is just all around fabulous. I’m just going to keep riding with it, man, and keep screaming thank you out the window to somebody,“ Barry said.

“[Filipovic] says as soon as my hand is healed, he would like to fly me to Croatia for a month to come and be his sparring partner… [Filipovic] said, ‘You are faster than I am and you hit harder than I do… but I could tell that when we grabbed each other you weren’t very strong. Like you haven’t been wrestling with guys bigger than you or stronger than you…So I’ve got a lot of giant serial killer Croatian guys out here, that are wrestlers that I could throw at you…But I would really like you to come out here and be my sparring partner for my next fight.’”

Barry also related how UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar “has asked for me to come and be his sparring partner for a month before he fights Cain Velasquez. How cool is that? A month with the heavyweight champion of the universe Brock Lesnar, the biggest scariest dude on earth, and then a month with a legendary striker like CroCop. These two guys have recognized and see something in me that they feel can help them get better, and that’s amazing.”

Barry lost to Filipovic by third-round submission following a back-and-forth striking battle at UFC 113. Despite losing, Barry earned himself big points with fans for taking the fight to CroCop - his self-confessed hero - and battling on with a broken hand.
Barry is awesome. Everybody likes him. The fans. The other fighters. He deserves it. The lovely squidgy cuddly thing.
 
#2 ·
That's pretty sick. His mentor wants him and Brock thought he was beast enough to want him as a sparring partner. Good for Barry. If Brock could have 1/3 of Barry's kicking technique, it'd be a major step up in Brock's arsenal. Right now Brock kicks like a wrestler and that's no compliment.

Barry seems like the coolest guy, I'm glad he's getting all these cool breaks.

War Barrytone.
 
#4 ·
Barry won me over on the UFC countdown prior to the Cro Cop fight. He is so humble and polite and he has killer leg kicks. I think he has a lot of raw talent. If he can work on his wrestling and TDD he could become a top 5 HW in the UFC.
 
#6 ·
haha same here! after that countdown i became a huge fan, hes such a nice, cool, normal guy....he wanted to be a ninja! who doesnt? come on...no1 can hate on this guy, hes awesome and could really be a force in the HW division with the right training

stand up is already deadly and hes very big and agile, just needs to work on wrestling and some BJJ or BJJ defense...imagine what those leg kicks could do to brocks tiny legs
 
#5 ·
its good that barrys going to work with brock and cro cop, hopefully brock learns a little something from pat and throw some sweet leg kicks cais way when they fight
 
#19 ·
I want to be a ninja with Pat Barry. We'd be like good cop bad cop, mean ninja cuddly ninja.

He doesn't talk a lot in the press from what I've seen (I'm comparing him to motormouths like Hardy and Bisping and Sonnen), but whenever he does, he gets a few more fans.
 
#8 ·
Put me down as a fan of Barry's. But He has to get over his hero worship of his opponents before he can go into the ring convinced he CAN win.

I think he's a super kid with a lot of potential, but you cannot win a fight when you're in awe of the guy you're supposed to beat the shit out of. You can like him, respect him etc. but you can't be in awe.

Hope to see Barry become very successful.
 
#10 ·
I agree, but I don't think he lost to CroCop due to hero worship. That was due to breaking his hand early on.

I don't see him fighting Brock any time soon, so working with CroCop and Brock can only help the guy. And holding his own in sparring sessions with them can really boost his confidence.
 
#14 ·
I know he's going over to help these guys improve, but it's going to be an amazing experience for him to learn so much from Brock and Cro Cop. I want this guy to be relevant at HW as he's so likeable and his style is exciting, but he obviously needs TDD, lots of wrestling, even if a lot is focused on just the area Cro Cop was alluding to about the clinch game, and of course a little jitz would be good for him as well.

I look forward to what he'd look like in 2012. He should experience a good progression from now until then.
 
#16 ·
Very good move by Brock. Just what he needed. Somebody with elite MMA striking to stand in there and trade with.

Chris Tuscherer was not cutting it.


http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2010/8/11/1618554/brock-lesnar-and-mirko-cro-cop-ask

Pat Barry - "You can’t write this man, this isn’t even a dream. This is just all around fabulous. I’m just going to keep riding with it, man, and keep screaming thank you out the window to somebody."

"Even Dana White said that Cro Cop is not your friend, you know what, I’ve spoken to that dude (Filipovic) like every other day since the fight. He’s called from Croatia to see what’s going on and how my healings coming."

"Something that is really cool and that no one really knows about, Cro Cop says he might fight again in November. And (Filipovic) says as soon as my hand is healed, he would like to fly me to Croatia for a month to come and be his sparring partner."

"He (Filipovic) said, you are faster than I am and you hit harder than I do, or something like that, but I could tell that when we grabbed each other, he’s like I could tell you weren’t very strong. Like you haven’t been wrestling with guys bigger than you or stronger than you…So I’ve got a lot of giant serial killer Croatian guys out here, that are wrestlers that I could throw at you…But I would really like you to come out here and be my sparring partner for my next fight."

"Brock Lesnar has asked for me to come and be his sparring partner for a month before he fights Cain Velasquez. How cool is that…A month with the heavyweight champion of the universe Brock Lesnar, the biggest scariest dude on earth, and then a month with a legendary striker like Cro Cop."

"These two guys have recognized and see something in me that they feel can help them get better, and that’s amazing."
 
#20 ·
New Lesnar was going to really start working on his striking after nearly getting punched out. He wants to be the best and I can't wait to see how his striking has improved.

Once he gets his striking at a decent level he will be unstoppable. We already know that he can get hit by tree trunks right to his chin and keep on going. We know he has some of the best wrestling in ring and some dangerous ground and pound as well as submission ability.

Not to mention how much this is going to help Barry. Great move for both fighters.
 
#29 ·
This is why I'm a huge Lesnar fan, even though he is one of the most genetically gifted people on the planet, he works as hard or harder than any other fighter out there.

I just don't think he has enough time to get to Cain's level of striking, Cain is already just as good of a wrestler as Brock. It certainly won't hurt him though, dude has a monster chin and would be very impressive if he could fight like a heavyweight Wanderlei for a round.
I don't think Brock's standup as bad as it looked in the Carwin fight. I don't think scared is the right word, but Brock definitely had a very healthy respect for Carwin's power and wanted to avoid it at all cost. We've seen in past fights that he has some really wicked knees and elbows and with his reach he can be dangerous with his punches as well.

So do I think Brock will be improved enough to go toe to toe with Cain? No, but I think it's likely that he will have improved enough where he can defend until he sets up his takedown.
 
#21 ·
Awesome read and smart move on Brocks part, especially since his training for this fight will pay HUGE dividends if he makes it through Cain and fights Dos Santos.

I think the biggest winner here is Barry, getting to train with Lesnar for a month and then training with Flipovic and other Croatian wrestlers/ He'll come back a better version and that excites me!
 
#22 ·
If Brock starts kicking like Barry I'll down a bottle of whiskey...Chivas Regal with green tea preferrably.

Pat's dope. He's got great all around spirit and he deserves it yo...man long ways from ketchup and rice.

Learning from the man himself CC can only improve his game...

Good stuff man...
 
#25 ·
Smart move on the part of Lesnar, by training with Barry he can prepare for sick technique of Cain's leg kicks.

Barry has good striking which Lesnar is most likely working pretty hard to improve on, and should give Barry a good taste of what its like to have a gorilla throw you around on the ground.

Good move for both fighters I think.
 
#26 ·
Should be a good thing for both guys. Barry gets to train with some big, powerful wrestlers and work on his wrestling; Brock gets kicked in legs for a few weeks....oh, and probably works on his kickboxing too. Imagine if Brock Lesnar possessed the kick technique of Pat Barry, that would be a scary, scary man.
 
#27 ·
This is the sort of dedication that I'm glad to see Brock giving. He knows he got pounded, so he puts his pride aside and brings in a few guys to help him out.

Like others have mentioned, if Brock can get his stand up game to a respectable level, he's going to be pretty hard to deal with.... Hell he's already pretty hard to deal with and most the times he just looks like he's running on caveman instinct.
 
#28 ·
I just don't think he has enough time to get to Cain's level of striking, Cain is already just as good of a wrestler as Brock. It certainly won't hurt him though, dude has a monster chin and would be very impressive if he could fight like a heavyweight Wanderlei for a round.
 
#34 ·
We may get another title fight where the champ shows up with broken ribs... ;p

Good for Barry that he's training with some notable guys, but I'd really like to see him train with a notable grappler/jitz guy and just concentrate on sub defense / escapes if anything...
 
#35 · (Edited)
We may get another title fight where the champ shows up with broken ribs... ;p

Good for Barry that he's training with some notable guys, but I'd really like to see him train with a notable grappler/jitz guy and just concentrate on sub defense / escapes if anything...
:) Oh lord, I hope that you're not a prophet.

This is a very smart move for Lesnar. He (or someone)is doing all the right things and making the smart decisions and that is scary. Pat hit's harder than Cain. Don't expect to ever see Brock turn away from punches again.
 
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