UFC president Dana White fielded questions from the assembled media last night following the Matt Brown vs. Erick Silva main event of UFC Fight Night: Cincinnati. One of the topics he raised was a bit outside the usual. According to MMA Weekly, White claims one of his biggest stars ever has reached out asking for help.
“Brock Lesnar called me and begged me to make (Pat Barry) retire,” White said. “(Brock) said, ‘I don’t consider too many people my friend, and I consider Pat Barry a friend. Dana, you got to get this guy to retire,'” White continued.
“I said, ‘Listen, he’s a grown man Brock. What am I gonna do?’ It’s different with guys like Forrest (Griffin) and Chuck (Liddell), guys that I’ve had relationships with for a long time. Guys who have made a lot of money. That’s the difference. You look at guys like Forrest. Forrest and Chuck are multimillionaires. It’s easy to make them quit.
“It’s a lot tougher to make a guy quit that has to make a living. I don’t want to hurt Pat Barry or throw a monkey wrench in his life or anything, but at the end of the day, the state athletic commission is gonna need to step in and help a guy like Pat Barry retire… or people that care about him.”
Since leaving the UFC, Barry has been fighting as a kickboxer and was brutally KO’d by Zack Mwekassa last week in his debut with the Glory promotion.