UFC Fight for the Troops 2: Pat Barry Bounces Back With a Decision Win Over Beltran

Pat Barry and Mirko Cro Cop Filipovic at UFC 115

Pat “HD” Barry rebounded from a tough loss in his last fight and snatched decision victory over the always tough Joey Beltran at UFC Fight for the Troops on Saturday night in Texas.

In his previous fight, Barry faced one of his idols in Mirko “CroCop” Filipovic.  Barry saw success early, knocking down CroCop twice and winning the majority of the standup exchanges.  Unfortunately, Barry broke his right hand and right foot during the fight, causing him to be tentative in the later rounds.  Barry later succumbed to a rear naked choke in the third round.

Joey Beltran took the fight to Barry early, pressing him against the fence and utilized some dirty boxing.  Barry kept his cool and stuck to a strategy of well-timed kicks while parrying away from Beltran’s brawling exchanges.

The second round saw the Roufusport fighter continue to focus on leg kicks while Beltran charged in with small flurries.  The effects of low leg kicks showed as Beltran began to limp.  The “Mexicutioner” weathered the round and finished strong with a small flurry of punches.

Beltran came out strong in the third and dirty boxed Barry against the cage.  Beltran suffered an inadvertent eye poke but was able to continue after a small break.  Barry dropped Beltran with a leg kick late in the round but he displayed a lot heart and toughness, surviving to the final bell.

An emotional Pat Barry could be seen after the fight; he was wearing his father’s dog tags who passed away when Pat was a young man. “David J. Barry passed away 25 years ago.” Holding up the dogs tags Barry said, “this is all we got.”

“This is the greatest country in the world!”

Talking about the fight, Barry admitted that Beltran was tough to put away, evident by his tenacity after eating a number of bone shattering kicks throughout the fight.

“Joey Beltran is a zombie.  I kicked him in the face 300 times.  I think I beat his legs to death and he was going to keep coming no matter what,” Barry commented.  ”If we had two more rounds, that dude would be hopping around on one leg.  That dude is a monster.

“You all do it for us.  It’s an honor to be able to give you a few hours away from your everyday lives.  I salute you with both hands.”