A quick finish always looked on the cards in this opening fight of the UFC On FOX 3 card and that’s just what we got as Lavar Johnson stopped Pat Barry with a brutal barrage of strikes.
Johnson looked to be the aggressor early in the fight and after taking a heavy leg kick he pressed Barry up against the cage and began to throw the same kind of powerful uppercuts that earned him a victory in his UFC debut, but somehow despite having limited space to work with Barry managed to land a head kick that backed him up.
It didn’t stop Johnson for long though and he started to push the pace again and returned to pressing Barry up against the cage, landing more hard strikes.
Sensing that he was coming off second best Barry attempted to change up his strategy and made a rare attempt to take the action to the ground.
Lavar stuffed the attempt, but in the ensuing scramble Barry got on top and briefly found himself in full mount. Bizzarely, and perhaps showing his relative lack of experience on the ground he then moved over to side control. After settling into the position he then attempted a kimura, but despite cranking on it he wasn’t able to apply the technique properly and Johnson was able to break free and before long was upright again.
Again Johnson was able to close Barry in against the cage and started unleashing a barrage of strikes at him, landing with multiple combinations of left hooks and right uppercuts.
Barry seemed dazed and wasn’t getting out of danger, only putting his hands up to protect himself as the blows continued to connect before he finally slumped to the canvas, still conscious but clearly a spent force and the fight was brought to an end with 4.38mins on the clock.
This was another impressive display of power striking here from Johnson, remarkably similar to his destruction of Joey Beltran last time out, and a good way to kick off the FOX show with a definitive finish.
A disappointing night for Barry though who’s now won just one of his last four fights in the promotion.
