Pat Barry doesn't expect as much kicking as everyone else does in his bout against Antoni Hardonk.
Pat Barry admits he got too excited in his bout with Tim Hague.
Barry was controlling the bout with Hague, and connected with some powerful shots before Hague took him to the ground and ended the fight with a guillotine choke at UFC 98.
He doesn’t look to make that same mistake when he takes on Antoni Hardonk at UFC 104 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. The fight will be aired live on Spike TV.
“I’m not going to jump the gun,” Barry (4-1) said. “That’s awesome that we’re getting to be put on TV. I believe that people are going to be good for us sponsor-wise.”
Many fans are expecting a brawl between two of the heavyweight division’s explosive strikers, but Barry isn’t taking any chances by sticking to the stand up portion of the fight game.
Ceded, he is also improving on it as well.
“I’ve been doing a lot of ground work and footwork and moving,” Barry said. “I don’t want to get caught stagnant. I want to keep moving and not get trapped in a position.”
Hardonk (8-5) is more experienced and has two submission victories to his name — one over The Ultimate Fighter 10 contender Wes Sims.
By no means is Hardonk a submission wizard like Frank Mir or Antonio Nogueria, but the chance that Hardonk may take the fight to the ground is a thought looms in Barry’s mind, forcing him to prepare accordingly.
“I’m not too convinced he’s going to stay standing,” Barry said. “Rest of the world is saying you two are going to bang it out. He’s got more experienced than I do on the ground.”
It isn’t too much of a concern to Barry, who has been working on the ground aspect for quite some time now.
He’s just getting used to having to use the training in live situations rather than the controlled environment of the sparring and practice sessions.
“[My ground game is] coming. It’s better than the world knows,” Barry said. “I’ve only had one live experience. It’s better than the rest of the world think.”
But for the meantime fans can dream of the pending stand-up war featuring two men who have knockout victories by leg kicks.
Between Hardonk and Barry, the two men have won six fights by knockout via leg kicks.
“No matter how much the tree wants to stay up, it won’t after you chopped out its base,” Barry said. “You can’t put pressure on [your leg after it’s been attack]. It changes their mobility.”
Barry admits that he is getting himself up for the bigger challenge. He prefers it over battling a fighting neophyte.
“I know that I always performed better against higher-level guys. I’ve always been better against skill guys,” Barry said. “I’ve always had trouble with rollers and with no pattern and swinging and brute strength and no technique. I’ve always struggle with those.”
The fight will be aired on Spike TV along with the Ryan Bader and Eric Schafer fight. Barry doesn’t see any difference if he was fighting on Spike TV versus fighting an unaired preliminary bout.
“It’s not going to be different. A fight’s a fight,” Barry said. “We got to win to eat, advance move forward. Just because the fight is going to be televised. I’m not going to control my head differently. I’m going to fight to the best of my abilities.”
Barry has gone out to say the fight has a good chance to be fight of the night, but he warns that it may go longer than what many people are expecting.
Even though the fight maybe longer than the 30 seconds, Barry doesn’t want to see a second or third round.
He respects Hardonk and expects a good fight that will test his abilities to the fullest.
“He’s one of my friends in Amsterdam,” Barry said. “We’re going to get in there and do our thing.”
