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MR.WILLIE
Location : Puerto Rico
Posts : 6498
Join date : 2012-06-13

Dana White says Brock Lesnar asked him to force Pat Barry to retire, believes athletic commissions need to step in Empty Dana White says Brock Lesnar asked him to force Pat Barry to retire, believes athletic commissions need to step in

Mon May 12, 2014 10:20 am
After seeing friend and former training partner Pat Barry suffer yet another knockout, former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar has seen enough. According to UFC president Dana White, Lesnar reached out to his former boss in an effort to convince Barry to call it a career.

"Brock Lesnar called me and begged me to make [Barry] retire," White said during Saturday's media scrum. "He said, 'I don't consider too many people my friend and I consider Pat Barry a friend. Dana, you've got to get this guy to retire.' I said, 'Listen he's a grown man, Brock. What am I going to do?' There's only so much I can do."

Teammates at the now defunct Team Death Clutch gym in Minnesota, Lesnar and Barry trained together through much of the former's brief UFC career. Once home to former Bellator heavyweight champion Cole Konrad, Death Clutch was founded by Lesnar after leaving Greg Nelson's Minnesota Martial Arts Academy in 2008. Predicated on becoming a haven for heavyweight grapplers, the gym disbanded following the retirements of Lesnar and Konrad in 2012.

"It's different with guys like Forrest [Griffin] and Chuck [Liddell] guys that I have relationships with for a long time and guys who have made a lot of money," said White. "That's the difference. Forrest and Chuck are multimillionaires. It's easy to make them quit. A lot tougher to make a guy quit that has to make a living."

Barry had hoped a return to his first love of kickboxing would spur a career resurgence, but that plan took a sharp turn May 3 at GLORY 16. Making his promotional debut, Barry was hurt badly early on before an uppercut from Zack Mwekassa ended the fight.

"I don't want to hurt Pat Barry or throw a monkey wrench into his life or anything, but at the end of the day, it's the state athletic commissions that need to step in and help a guy like Pat Barry retire," White said. "Or people that care about him."

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