Oct-9-2009

Pat Barry: Readying His Own 'Perfect Storm'

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By Rhett Butler

In 2005, one of the worst hurricanes in history touched down on U.S. soil, completely decimating areas of the Florida Panhandle and Gulf Coast region. Greater New Orleans, however, was hit the worst, and the pictures of the Superdome’s peeling roof, bridges completely impassable and the cryptic tic-tac-toe door sprayings that represented life either found or not found challenged our civility. The lower 9th ward was one of the most affected sections of The Big Easy, scoring the most fatalities and destroying property percentages citywide. Lifelong residents like UFC heavyweight Pat Barry and his family were among the thousands affected by the force called Katrina, altering life forever.

“The entire city was pretty much wiped out,” said Barry. “The house was totally flooded, my entire family was scattered all over the country everywhere. Everybody was displaced and moved all over the place. We all went in separate directions, and in order to lower the rate of something tragic happening, we all decided to scatter instead of staying in one big huddle.”

That family - which included a younger brother, older sister, two stepsisters, mother, aunts, uncles, cousins and stepfather - was the nucleus of Barry’s affable nature and free spirit. It doesn’t hurt to also come from a place where freedom of thought and inhibition is a daily ritual. This cauldron created a gumbo of passion that Barry channeled into varied physical activities during his youth, when New Orleans was its former self.

“In elementary school I was a gymnast right until before high school,” he recalled. “When I got to high school I was on the bowling team, which people don’t know; everybody assumes I played football, but when I was in high school I was on the bowling team and didn’t do anything through college. But my entire life I was secretly walking around a ninja. I had ninja stars and swords, I was jumping out of trees on people and just being as acrobatic and active as I possibly could but without the normal, regular type of sports.”

Not the typical origin story of your average UFC heavyweight but the Pat Barry story has been non-typical throughout his entire life. Knowing that Mardi Gras nights and Bourbon Street meanderings were secret stealth missions for the budding young ninja sets up this UFC tale almost too perfectly. However, the path from ninja dreamer to professional fighter didn’t occur the way one would think. Like Katrina it was a big natural accident that evolved into the perfect storm.

Barry attended Louisiana State University (LSU) after high school, and like a yearning super hero, he majored in Sociology/Criminal Law - two must haves for a stealthy warrior. It was during his 23rd year, however, that a new interest started to take shape, kickboxing, and little did he know that his chances of becoming a ninja were closer to reality.

“In college (LSU) I was looking for a hobby or something to do other than just go to class and I did. So I started kickboxing as my extracurricular activity on the side; it was my eventual recreational thing because I wasn’t doing any type of exercising at all. So kickboxing is what I started doing as a hobby, and the more I did it, I started really getting good at it quickly. Then the better I got at it, the more I did it, the more I did it the more I pursued it, and then all of a sudden one day I just really needed it (in my life).”

What came next was scary and beautiful, as Barry realized he had a talent for kickboxing. Quickly compiling 29 amateur fights in the span of 7-8 months since his start, Barry began traveling across the country, entering tournament after tournament, tearing the competition up. Then the unthinkable happened: the moment when the impossible becomes possible. A mentor offered Barry the chance to live and train in Amsterdam under none other than four-time K-1 world champion kickboxing legend Ernesto “Mr. Perfect” Hoost. As the veritable Michael Jordan of kickboxing this was the equivalent of a young Lebron James having the chance to study under his ‘Airness’ on the eve of his world debut. Barry couldn’t believe his fortune, but when he got to the legendary Vos Gym in Holland, he didn’t expect what came next.

“I don’t know if he didn’t have the confidence in me to keep on going or if he was using me as a training partner for the other guys he had on the team that he wanted to get better, but it seemed like he had no confidence in me getting better so eventually I left Amsterdam. That’s really what it was; he just didn’t think that I had it.”

Compiling an impressive kickboxing record of 18-6-1 and making it to the “Super Bowl of kickboxing,” K-1, Barry couldn’t please his mentor. After five years and following Ernesto Hoost to two gyms as a member of Team Perfect, Barry was, and is, crushed by what he felt was a total disregard for him by his idol.

“What people don’t know is I left December 18th, 2007, and we have not spoken to each other since,” said Barry. “I sent him calls, text messages, emails, I’ve tried to contact him and he’s not returned any of my messages; I never heard from him again, ever. So the next time that we are going to speak since the day I’ve left Amsterdam is at the fight when I’m fighting my former teammate, Antoni Hardonk.”

Considering Hardonk a close friend, Barry will put all that to the side when they meet in Los Angeles, as this fight is so complex that it goes beyond mentor usurpation.

“This is the fight that I’ve wanted since I moved into MMA. It has nothing to do with Antoni because we are friends. This is the fight that I’ve wanted since I’ve moved into MMA because he is a great kick boxer, he’s a great striker. I’ve always wanted to be the best striker in the world ever since I’ve started my kickboxing career and now I am in MMA. Antoni Hardonk is known in the UFC as a really great kickboxer, so because he’s called a really great kickboxer, then he’s got a target on his back; that target is right in my sights.”

As the former teammates collide and the mentor faces the abandoned mentored, the ‘Team Perfect” storm is brewing on the California coastline, and for Pat Barry, like Hurricane Katrina, this encounter is bubbling over with extremely bad intentions.