Brock Lesnar begged Dana White to make Pat Barry retire after latest KO
Dana White spoke to the media after UFC Fight Night in Cincinnati and covered off on several things, from Brock Lesnar to how Fabio Maldonado got the chance to stand in for the injured Junior Dos Santos versus heavy hitter Stipe Miocic
The Brock Lesnar Phone Call
Pat Barry may no longer be a UFC fighter, but he still remains a popular figure in the realm of combat sports. Following his semi-retirement from mixed martial arts, Barry went back to the sport of kickboxing, where he first made his start before transitioning to the UFC.
Unfortunately, Barry was brutalized in a fight in Denver, CO last weekend, which marked the fourth time he's been knocked out in less than two years time. The violent nature with which Barry gets knocked out might be the most concerning factor in potential head trauma that he's suffered over the last few years.
His latest knockout loss was so hard to watch that a former training partner and friend of Barry's called UFC president Dana White asking him to beg the Louisiana native to call it a career.
"Brock Lesnar called me and begged me to make him retire," White revealed to FOX Sports. "He said 'I don't consider too many people my friend, and I consider Pat Barry a friend, Dana you've got to get this guy to retire'. I said listen he's a grown man, Brock. What am I going to do, there's only so much I can do."
White said the decision to retire doesn't come lightly for any athlete, but it's not as difficult a call when it's not the only way the person is currently making a living. Past UFC fighters who needed a bit of convincing from White were financially secure, and not competing anymore wouldn't leave them in any kind of peril.
He's not sure where Barry would sit on that list, but at the end of the day with the kind of knockouts he's suffering, the choice may be taken out of his hands regardless of whether or not he wants to retire.
"It's different with guys like Forrest (Griffin) and Chuck (Liddell) guys that I have relationships with for a long time and guys who have made a lot of money. That's the difference. It's easy to make them quit. Lot tougher to make a guy quit that has to make a living," White said.
"I don't want to hurt Pat Barry or throw a monkey wrench in his life or anything, but at the end of the day, state athletic commissions that need to step in and help a guy like Pat Barry retire or people that care about him."
UFC Fight Night Reaction
Saturday night not only served as Matt Brown's seventh straight victory inside the Octagon, but it may have pushed the Ohio native to the next stratosphere in terms of his career and popularity as he begins to transcend from top 10 fighter to superstar.
UFC president Dana White commented after monumentally epic fight between Brown and Erick Silva came to a conclusion that for years, Cincinnati was a town most associated with former middleweight champion Rich Franklin. He believes after Brown's latest war in the Octagon, the Queen City now belongs to 'The Immortal'.
In many ways, White looks at Brown's fight with Silva as the kind of transcendant performance that pushed Alexander Gustafsson up the ladder following his fight against light heavyweight champion Jon Jones. The big difference being Brown won versus Gustafsson lost, but ultimately he sees the two fighters mirroring each other in terms of star and fan appeal after a phenomenal bout.
"He became a star tonight that's for sure. This was like (Alexander) Gustafsson's fight with Jones for Matt Brown, this is the fight that breaks Matt Brown out. This is his town now," White told FOX Sports.
"The difference is Brown won the fight, in losing Gustafsson became a huge star. He's without a doubt the biggest star we have in Europe. By far."
Brown has already started to ask the UFC when he will fight next, but for now he's waiting to hear if fans voted for him to take home a brand new Harley-Davidson motorcycle following his 'Fight of the Night' against Silva.
Fabio Maldonado begged for the Stipe Miocic fight
Just days ago, former UFC heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos fell out of his scheduled fight against Ohio native Stipe Miocic in the main event of the upcoming UFC Fight Night card in Brazil on May 31. Dos Santos' exit left the UFC in a precarious position without many options as the fight was rapidly approaching.
That's when the announcement was made that light heavyweight competitor Fabio Maldonado would step in and take the fight against Miocic. According to White, it was Maldonado and his camp who made an impassioned plea to land the fight with Miocic, and while it did take a little bit of convincing, the bout eventually got made.
"They called and asked for that fight," White confirmed about Maldonado's camp requesting the bout. "Stipe was like it's a lose-lose for me, I'm fighting Junior Dos Santos, the best heavyweight in the world that isn't Cain Velasquez and now I'm fighting this lunatic that's from another weight class. If I destroy him, I should have destroyed him, and if I don't seems kind of like a step back for me. But the kid's stepping up and taking the fight. Keeping the card together and we appreciate it. But Maldonado begged for the fight."
The other guys
The question did come up on Saturday night regarding the recent news that Bellator Fighting Championships had another snafu with putting on their first pay-per-view as their lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez suffered an injury, which forced a last minute change to the main event of their upcoming card next weekend.
White more or less blew off the idea that Bellator was even a real competitor to the UFC, much less a threat to their grip on the MMA pay-per-view market. He also fired back at Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney, who has been in the press lately taking shots at the UFC and White for any number of reasons.
"It's one of those things. Those guys, I don't care about those guys," White said. "I don't see them as competition whatsoever. I see that Bjork (Bjorn Rebney) is saying a lot of stupid s--t lately, he's in the press, he's screaming for attention. Talking about New York and the union. What the f--k has he done to do anything in New York? What has that guy done to raise the bar in mixed martial arts whatsoever? He's done nothing. Zero, zilch."
