Pat Barry escaped some early scares on the ground against Christian Morecraft at UFC On FX 1 before producing a big knockout victory to get back to winning ways.
Morecraft was clearly well prepared for Barry’s infamous leg kicks in this fight and when the first one came he used it to take Barry down.
This was the last place Barry wanted to be this early in the fight, but after some moments of panic he managed to get out of a choke attempt and made it back to his feet.
Unfortunately for Barry it wasn’t long before the much bigger Morecraft again managed to get him down on the floor and this time he was going all out for a submission finish.
First he looked for a head and arm choke, but the fence prevented him from moving to the side to finish it. Then he went for an armbar, and it looked tight, but Barry, who’s submission defense has let him down in the past, was this time able to counter the move by stepping over Morecraft to break free.
Back on the feet Barry then really started to let the leather fly, and as Morecraft came in with a big hook he ducked underneath and unleashed a powerful left hand that sent Morecraft reeling across the cage onto the mat.
He barely had a chance to land before Barry swooped in with a huge right that bounced his head of the mat before drilling him with a couple more punches to seal the knockout victory.
This fight showed that Barry has made some improvements to his ground game, though he’s still got a lot of holes there that other fighters will be only too happy to take advantage of. There’s no doubting his striking abilities though and his lethal power will always make him a problem for anybody on the feet.
As for Morecraft, you have to wonder if this latest loss, his third in four fights, may spell the end of his time in the UFC.
