Kickboxer Patrick Barry worked hard to improve his wrestling for UFC Live 4. | Photo: Dave Mandel
MINNEAPOLIS -- Patrick Barry is larger than life.
It’s a Thursday morning, as he spars at The Academy -- formerly the Minnesota Martial Arts Academy -- under the direct guidance of Death Clutch Gym coach Marty Morgan. The first things I notice are Barry’s epic kicks, perfected no doubt by his many years of high-level kickboxing. Next, I notice his sound effects. He has a rhythm going, and the exclamation points on his explosive strikes seem straight out of the pages of a comic book: “Zap! Boom! Pow!”
“I have to be as animated as I possibly can, because that’s how I keep myself distracted,” Barry says. “Every once in a while, I’ll throw punches, and when they land, I’ll make a sound like swords clanging. And gun sounds. And you know what, I do that in a fight, too, and the referee and others around the ring are sitting there going, ‘What the f--- is this dude doing?
“You’re gonna hear me. I’m just gonna make noise the whole time,” he adds. “When I’m in the ring, I’ll just start singing songs. I’ll sing a song in your face while I’m fighting. I get told by referees all the time to stop singing, and I’m like, ‘I can’t. If I stop singing, I’m gonna lose.’ I’m not an angry guy. I don’t hate anybody. I’m not mad at anyone. I don’t fight out of anger. It’s a fun game; it’s a real live game here. I’ve wanted to be a ninja ever since Halloween, ever since I was 2, and now I get to be a real live ninja.”
Barry -- who will face French kickboxer Cheick Kongo in the UFC Live 4 “Marquardt vs. Story” co-main event on Sunday at the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh -- admits that although he is perfecting two ninja skills, he does not have them quite down yet.
“The first one is where I throw a smoke bomb, and all of a sudden, when the smoke clears, there’s seven of me and you don’t know which is me,” he says. “Then the real one hits you on the back of the neck. The second one is my disappearing act, since they won’t let me in the ring with smoke bombs yet.”
Strengthening Weaknesses
In addition to all of his ninja training, Barry has been diligently working to fix the holes in his game by training with the Death Clutch camp, which specializes in wrestling, jiu-jitsu and strength and conditioning.
“Training with Marty Morgan, Brock Lesnar, Cole Konrad, Jon Madsen … these are a bunch of giant wrestlers,” he says. “That’s the thing my repertoire is lacking and I need in my game. I need heavyweight training partners, wrestling and jiu-jitsu.”
In addition to Morgan, who holds a Master’s degree in Kinesiology and coached wrestling at the University of Minnesota for 15 years, Barry has been working with seven-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion Rodrigo “Comprido” Medeiros, as well as longtime training partner Eric Schafer -- a high-level Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt and seven-time UFC veteran.
Access to heavyweights, wrestling and jiu-jitsu training is why Barry chose to train with Death Clutch.
“Those are my weak points,” he says. “Wrestling, jiu-jitsu and just strength in general, those are the weaknesses in my game. I’m not as strong as I look like I should be. I’m not as good of a wrestler as I should be. I’m not as good at jiu-jitsu as I should be. But with [Morgan] I am making dramatic improvements in all three.”
Schafer has noticed a significant improvement in Barry’s grappling game since the two-time Sanshou national champion began working with Death Clutch.
“I’ve been training with him for three or four years, and he’s been getting better constantly, but since he’s been training here in Minnesota with these huge guys, he’s finally gotten that kind of grappler strength that you can’t really get unless you grapple hard with these guys his size,” Schafer explains. “That’s one of the best parts about having the camp here is that he’s got these bigger guys to push him. You just get stronger because you have to get stronger when there’s a 250-pound man on you, [a] 290-pound guy on you. He’s gotten so much stronger, so when he’s grappling with me, I feel that strength that he didn’t have even a year ago. He’s gotten to a whole new level since [he started] grappling with these guys.”
Cheick Kongo File Photo
Kongo may look for takedowns.
“The most unique thing about Pat in the entire heavyweight division is that he’s such a gymnast. He moves unlike any other heavyweight. He’s fast. He’s agile. He’s smaller, but he’s still powerful, and he can do a lot of stuff that lightweights can’t do,” Schafer says. “He’s just as fast -- if not faster -- than lightweights. You can’t get training partners like him. You can’t get a guy as big as him that moves like him. That’s very unique in the sport.”
Finding Structure
Aside from working his ground game with guys his size and bigger, Barry has flourished under the periodization framework provided by Morgan.
“I really I think where we mix together well is he wanted something that’s structured and can get him ready, basically work on peaking for his upcoming fight,” Morgan says.
Barry was originally helping Lesnar prepare for a fight against Junior dos Santos at UFC 131, but the training camp moved from Lesnar’s home in Alexandria, Minn., to Minneapolis, where Morgan lives, when the former World Wrestling Entertainment superstar was forced to pull out of the fight due to medical reasons. This led to even more individualized focus in an already structured camp.
“Since Brock’s been sick, I’ve been able to specifically focus on what Pat needs, conditioning-wise, strength-wise, wrestling-wise, standup-wise, making sure he has the right partners, making sure that his schedule is structured, so that he’s getting ready at the right time, so he peaks at the right time,” Morgan explains.
Barry has flourished under this regimen.
“[Morgan is] always there,” Schafer says. “He’s got his schedule. He’s got his workout plans. Everything’s ready to go, and I think Pat’s really responded to that in a good way. It actually feels like being a pro athlete rather than being a tough guy training and beating the hell out of yourself for no good reason, you know what I mean?
“Coach Morgan knows when to turn it up, when to tone it down,” he adds. “He’s helping him with his nutrition; he’s helping him with everything else, and I don’t think Pat’s had that yet. Anyone can just get in the ring and train, train, train, but Marty’s got him mentally focused [and] physically hitting his workouts at the right time.”
Peak Performance Training
Morgan has drawn on his knowledge of sport science to make sure Barry peaks at the right time for his fight against Kongo, an experienced 6-foot-4 heavyweight with wins over the well-traveled Paul Buentello and 2006 Pride Fighting Championships open weight grand prix winner Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic.
“Some guys peak really early, and, like, eight weeks away from a fight, they’re walking around all amped up,” Barry says. “And by the time the fight comes around, they’re so drained and uninterested that it doesn’t matter what they do, they just won’t get up for it.”
Barry (left) has some of the best low kicks in the game. | Photo: D. Mandel/Sherdog.com
Barry believes Morgan is building him up a little bit at a time.
“If you peak at the right time, by the time the fight comes around, you can’t wait to get in there,” he says. “You’ll be excited, looking forward to getting in there. I know that I’ve peaked at the right time a few times, and there’ve been times when I peaked way too early and by the time the fight comes around, I’m completely uninterested. He’s just got it down to a science.”
Morgan will extend practice on certain days and cut it short on others based on Barry’s pulse and various other factors.
“There’s a science behind it; he’s like a scientist,” Barry says. “He knows about diet and nutrition and strength training and conditioning. He’s not just a wrestler turned coach. He’s done the research, he’s done the work and he knows everything about what the body needs and where the body needs to be and what it needs to do to peak at the right time.”
Schafer has noticed the effects of this strategic, disciplined approach.
“I’ve been training with Pat since his first MMA fight all the way through the UFC, and this is the first time I’ve ever seen him so focused,” he says. “He’s happy, but he’s also eating right, he’s sleeping right, he’s training hard, he’s not running around as much. He’s really dedicated to this fight in a good way.”
“
and I’ve always given it
everything I got --
everything -- my whole
life. It’s just all or
nothing, no matter what.
”
Barry is not underestimating his opponent. Kongo has been in the cage with some of the world’s best, including reigning UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez and former titleholder Frank Mir. Barry anticipates Kongo will look to push the fight to the ground.
“Kongo’s another kickboxer who took a step before I did and started working on his ground game. In his last few fights, he’s been taking guys to the ground and winning; he’s been taking guys to the ground and just beating them there, and he’s able to do it. That’s what he’s getting very good at. He’s done it in his last five or six fights; he’s looking for the takedown,” Barry says. “I expect everyone to take me down and beat me on the ground. Everyone knows that’s where my weak point is. You wouldn’t get into an MMA match with Mike Tyson and say, ‘You know what? I’m just gonna box with him the whole time.’”
Barry’s camp has included a lot of work on positional defense and offense, getting and defending takedowns and working the top and bottom positions.
“I think the fight’s gonna start off on the feet, and it’ll be him going for the takedown, but you never know,” he says. “With the way things have been going here in training, it might be me going for the takedown. Trust me, if he punches me in the head hard enough, I’ll turn into a wrestler fast.”
When asked whether or not he was worried about Kongo’s height and reach advantage, Barry pointed to the entire challenge in front of him.
“I’m worried about Kongo, period,” he says. “I’m not worried about his length or his strength; I’m just worried about him in general, as a whole. I’m worried about his punches, his wrestling, his muscles, his blackness, his bald head. I’m worried about his song he walks out to. Every bit of Kongo is on my mind at all times. I’m getting prepared for everything,”
Barry will take his ninja skills, world-class kickboxing, improved ground game, strength, speed and “Hype or Die” attitude into the cage with him.
“My whole life I’ve been an extremist,” he says. “If I’m eating, I’m gonna eat everything. If I’m driving, I’m gonna drive fast. If I’m drinking, I’m gonna be the drunkest guy in the country in five minutes. If I’m gonna be a gymnast, I’m gonna be the greatest gymnast in the gym. If I’m doing kickboxing, I’m gonna be the greatest kickboxer that ever lived in the history of the world. That’s my goal.
“I’ve swung for the fences, and I’ve always given it everything I got -- everything -- my whole life,” Barry adds. “It’s just all or nothing, no matter what.”
by: Yael Grauer is a freelance writer and editor.
Find her at http://yaelwrites.com.
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