Barry Tired of Relentless Criticism After Cro Cop Loss

Patrick Barry (left) | Dave Mandel/Sherdog.com

At dinner, a fan approached him and said he’d seen him fight. Then the fan whispered that he knew Barry had thrown his UFC 115 bout against Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic.

“I’m still hearing about that,” Barry said Wednesday on the Sherdog Radio Network’s “Beatdown” show. “I’m still hearing people.”

In the seven months since the fight, Barry said he’s been approached every single day by someone who thinks he showed Cro Cop too much respect or simply didn’t want to win.

“My mother’s hearing this kind of s--t. My mother’s hearing this,” Barry said. “People are approaching my mother and making these comments to her. It’s still going on now.”

Barry explained that what really happened was he broke his hand and his foot in the first round. For the next 12 minutes, he fought for survival, eventually succumbing to a rear-naked choke 4:30 into the third round. He’s baffled by people who think he lacked heart in the bout.

“You know what I really wanted to do? I really wanted to go and get kicked in the head and knocked out completely because I like having a headache for three days,” Barry said sarcastically.

Tired of defending himself, he has started telling people that he bet on Cro Cop and made a ton of money on losing the fight. They don’t laugh. They believe him.

The criticism has soured Barry’s mood. With a Jan. 22 UFC “Fight for the Troops 2” matchup against Joey Beltran approaching, Barry hasn’t been his usual pre-fight self.

“This is a feeling I haven’t had in a long time,” he said. “Back in my kickboxing days, I used to have these every once in a while. Just an angry, want to break something, upset at something. I don’t know what it is. I don’t know what it is that’s giving me this feeling, this sensation, but I’m very annoyed. Like I’m extremely annoyed and I feel like I’ve got to break something.”

The last time Barry had this feeling was before a kickboxing bout against Chuck Liddell’s teammate Scott Lighty.

“I kicked him in his neck,” Barry said. “I don’t think I hit any bone. I just hit straight jugular with my shin in his neck, and he was carried out on a stretcher and hospitalized that night.”

Barry believes he’s ready for either a Fight of the Night or Knockout of the Night performance against Beltran.

“Every time I’m going for it,” he said. “No matter what the world may believe or have seen. Even in the last fight, I put it all out there on the line every time. I know that of myself. From what I’ve seen of Joey Beltran and heard of him, he does it too. It’s obvious when you see the guy fight, he’s fighting with his heart.”

Win or lose, though, Barry said he’s not trying to erase fans’ perception of his performance against Cro Cop.

“I’m the one who I’ve got to prove something too,” he said. “The world is either going to be with you or they’re going to be against you. … No matter what, people are going to hate your guts anyway. That’s part of the job. We all know it and expect that.”

Listen to the full interview (beginning at 7:00) with Barry, who also discussed Brock Lesnar, fighting for the fans and the seven months since his loss to Cro Cop.