I årets, kanske till och med årtiondets, comeback drog Chieck Kongo en kanin ur hatten och vann över Pat Barry med en rungande högerkrok. Fransmannen gav Barry den tredje förlusten i hans karriär och numera sitter Pat med ett UFC-record på tre vinster och tre förluster. Det var emellertid inte bara matchen som Pat förlorade, rädslan för att bli knockad försvann även den.
Nedan följer en intervju som MMAFighting gjort med Pat Barry:
”I was hitting [Kongo] and then all of a sudden I opened my eyes and I thought I won. That was the first thing out of my mouth was, ’Yo, we got him.’ I also didn’t know I was lying on my back. I thought I was standing face-to-face with him. So when the doctor said, ’Can you try to sit up for me?’ I looked at him like, how am I going to sit up when I’m already standing? That doesn’t even make sense. You’re the worst doctor in the world. You should be fired.”
Hela upplevelsen kändes absurd, det sista Pat kom ihåg var att han knockade Kongo, nu hade han själv blivit knockad:
”I was like, this is what this feels like? First, I was having this little moment, almost like when you’re a kid and you finally get on that scary rollercoaster, like the Texas Giant that you’ve been avoiding for years and years. Then you finally get on and you realize it’s not that bad. Guess what, you don’t die when you get on it. … I got knocked out, but I’m still alive. I can get up, walk around, still function. I’m okay. It’s not as bad as I thought.”
Han gläds å fansens vägnar trots det faktum att han inte bara förlorade matchen, han gick även miste om vinstbonusen:
”He wasn’t pretty much out, he was out out. But I will say this, and I come from a few different viewpoints, but from my personal standpoint, it sucks. It sucks financially. It sucks for my record. It sucks emotionally and mentally. I lost. I got knocked out. Not only did I lose, I lost my third MMA fight to a guy who was knocked out.”
”From a fan point of view, there could have been no better outcome to that fight. That was the best possible end to that fight that could have happened. If I would have just kept going and knocked him out, it would have been awesome for me financially and for my record. And yeah, it would have been awesome for the crowd, but it would have been nowhere near as exciting as the way it ended. That was the best ending to that fight possible.”
”If Dan Miragliotta would have stopped it, he would have robbed Cheick Kongo of one of the best comebacks in UFC history. And if he would have stopped it, he would have robbed the fans of one of the most exciting endings in the history of the UFC. If he would have stopped that fight, with the way it turned out, it would have been a terrible injustice. We would have all missed one of the greatest 20 seconds in MMA ever.”
Vid presskonferensen efter galan berömde Dana White Pat, trots förlusten:
”Dana White telling me that he thought my best performance was me getting knocked out, you know, I hear what he’s really saying. He likes that level of aggression. Everybody’s been waiting to see it. Like, ’Come on, man. You’re the nicest guy in MMA. Why don’t you go out there to kill somebody.’ And this, I came out ready for war, and it showed.”
Pat är medveten om att han inte skulle blivit knockad om de båda haft på sig de större handskarna som används inom Kickboxning:
”I put up a block for the wrong size glove. What can you do?”
Trots att matchen slutade som den första knockout-förlusten i hans unga karriär tar han sig något positivt från upplevelsen:
”Every fight, I can honestly say, a part of me has held back because of that fear. So it was kind of a relief. Like, it finally happened. Now I honestly can’t wait to get back into the next one and really go off on someone, because now I don’t have to worry about what it’s like anymore. I don’t have that fear of what’s going to happen, because now I already know.”
”I came into that fight just fearless. Kill or be killed. That’s the sacred oath that all kickboxers take. No kickboxer wants to win a decision. I’m going to knock you out or you’re going to have to knock me out. I’m coming back with my shield or on it. I’m HD, man. That’s what I do. I’m going to win all the way, or I’m going to lose all the way. I’m going to lose better than everybody.”
Källa: MMAFighting
