Pat Barry

Patrick Joseph Barry (born July 7, 1979) is an American former mixed martial artist and kickboxer who competed as a heavyweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

He is particularly known for his low kicks.

He made his professional debut on November 2, 2002 at the U.S. Open International Martial Arts Championships in Las Vegas, Nevada, winning the Sanda Kungfu Federation (SKF) United States Heavyweight Championship with a fourth round knockout over Robert Parham.

He then left Jones' gym and pursued kickboxing full-time with Master Shawn Liu at LIU International in New Orleans.

He visited China numerous times from 2002 through 2008, amassing over fifty amateur bouts while competing in one of Shandong's stadiums and training with Chinese National Sanshou team at the Shaolin Temple.

In June 2003, Barry fought twice at the Art of War: China Comes to Atlanta event in Atlanta, Georgia where he won both a US National Sanshou team spot and the SKF World Heavyweight Championship by knocking out Paul Gurevidius with a high kick.

In November 2003, as a US National team member, Barry participated at the 2003 World Wushu Championships in Macau, winning a silver medal in the −90 kg/198 lb division.

On December 18, 2004, he won the K. Superstar Championship in New Orleans by KOing John Dixson, and a month later in Gulfport, Mississippi, he won the Kings of Kickboxing tournament by stopping Marshall Berger with low kicks in the final.

Barry began practicing Sanda while a college student and won numerous titles at domestic and international level before joining K-1 in 2005 where he competed for two years, mostly as a participant on the promotion's North American events.

Having taken part in K-1 tryouts held in Las Vegas in 2004, Barry was recruited by kickboxing's premier organization and made his promotional debut against Scott Lighty in a tournament reserve bout at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2005 in Las Vegas on April 30, 2005, losing for the first time in his career by split decision.

In June 2005, he met with American kickboxing great Duke Roufus while he was commentating on an event in Biloxi, Mississippi and the two became close when Barry stayed with Roufus in Milwaukee, Wisconsin after losing his home in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, a tragedy which also claimed the life of his grandmother.

After switching to Roufus' gym in Milwaukee, Barry won his first K-1 fight in his sophomore appearance when he knocked out Mark Selbee inside the opening frame at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2005 in Las Vegas II on August 13, 2005.

Later that month Barry's grandmother was killed in Hurricane Katrina.

He fought to a split draw with Russian Kyokushin Karate stylist Aleksandr Pitchkounov in a non-tournament bout at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2005 in Tokyo Final at the Tokyo Dome on November 19, 2005.

They rematched in the tournament reserve match at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2006 in Las Vegas on April 29, 2006, and Pitchkounov won by split decision.

Following this, Barry moved to Amsterdam to train under four-time K-1 World Grand Prix Champion Ernesto Hoost at "Team Mr. Perfect" based out of Vos Gym.

Away from K-1, he defeated Scott Lighty in another rematch at Shin Do Kumate XI in Tampa, Florida on December 8, 2006.

After hurting Lighty with low kicks throughout the first two rounds, Barry scored a high kick knockdown at the beginning of the third before finishing him off with another high kick shortly after.

He then returned to K-1 to compete in the eight-man tournament at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2007 in Hawaii on April 4, 2007.

He was initially set to face Jan Nortje in the quarter-finals but his opponent was then changed to Gary Goodridge.

Barry twice sent Goodridge to the canvas with low kicks in the early going, the first ruled a slip, the second a legitimate down.

He then landed a left high kick on the Trinidadian brawler and, although it did not knock him down, it opened a large cut which caused the ringside physician to call a halt to the bout and send Barry through to the semis where he had his rubber match with Aleksandr Pitchkounov.

He was floored with a mawashi geri in round two and received a count from the referee in three after being injured when the Russian checked one of his low kicks, losing by unanimous decision.

Barry Took part in his second K-1 tournament at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2007 in Las Vegas on August 11, 2007.

Drawn against Rickard Nordstrand in the quarter-finals, Barry scored a knockdown with a high kick inside the first twenty seconds before stopping the Swede with his patented low kicks in round two.

He then went up against Zabit Samedov in the semifinals and lost via split decision after a back-and-forth fight.

In his final K-1 appearance, Barry lost to Freddy Kemayo via technical knockout due to a broken nose caused by a knee strike in the opening round of their contest at K-1 Fighting Network Prague 2007 on December 15, 2007.

In 2008, he embarked on a career in MMA, winning his first three fights by knockout before signing a contract with the Ultimate Fighting Championship and competing in the promotion for the next five years as a Heavyweight, compiling a 5–7 record with only one of the matches going the distance.

In 2008, Barry left Team Mr. Perfect and returned to Duke Roufus at Roufusport after a fallout with Ernesto Hoost, as he felt that the Dutch legend neglected him as a trainer and showed little faith in him.

In an interview with Fight! magazine in 2009, Barry stated:

"Ernesto Hoost just didn't give a fuck about me. He didn't care, man. I was like hey, I'm leaving, man and he was like so?."

Barry retired from MMA in late 2013 and returned to kickboxing the following year, joining Glory.

He is also the fiancé and training partner of former UFC Women's Strawweight Champion Rose Namajunas.

Barry was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, to an American military veteran father of European descent and an African-American mother.

Barry's parents opened bilingual elementary schools around the world and as a result Barry was raised in Bogota, Colombia until the age of six.

When his father died from cancer, he moved back to New Orleans with his mother, older sister and younger brother.

Although he did not start training in martial arts until the age of 21, Barry grew up a fan of ninjas, the Street Fighter video games and Jean-Claude Van Damme films and often watched K-1 kickboxing in his youth.

Barry has stated that his three heroes are his mother, Mike Tyson and Sagat, a Thai boxer from the Street Fighter video games.

He worked as a pizza delivery man prior to his career in professional fight sports.

Hailing from Eastern New Orleans, Barry started training professionally in Wushu, sanshou and Kickboxing at the age of twenty-one while a junior sociology major at the University of New Orleans when he walked into Russell Jones's Kickboxing Gym in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.