There was a lot more than met the eye in Enrique Barzola’s successful Bellator debut.
The season two winner of “The Ultimate Fighter: Latin America” made a good first impression in Bellator, outworking and stopping one of their former champions. In a bantamweight contest, Barzola (17–5–2 MMA, 1-0 BMMA) scored a third-round TKO stoppage win over Darrion Caldwell at last Saturday’s Bellator 273.
It was a grueling and high-paced bout that had Barzola tested early. Caldwell proved effective early on with his wrestling, but Barzola remained calm and turned the tide halfway through the fight.
Although Barzola showed great decision making, wrestling, and ground-and-pound to secure his first victory under the Bellator banner, there was plenty more that went into his winning performance.
“I haven’t spoken about this to anyone, I’ve only told my wrestling coach Abel Herrera, who’s a personal friend,” Barzola told MMA Junkie in Spanish. “I’ve been working a ton on the mental aspect of my game, but also on my spiritual part. When he saw a ‘Fuerte’ Barzola face-to-face, he didn’t see ‘Fuerte’ Barzola. He saw a monster, a massive energy. That’s what I transmitted to him. How? With the eyes, with my energy, with my calmness, and never at any point showing him my fatigue.
“If a fighter just shows one second of fatigue, the other fighter is going to pick it up and say, ‘he’s also tired.’ And from that, he’ll be able to recover and get back in the fight. But I never showed him at any time that I was tired. I trusted my strength, my cardio, my spirit, and my mind.
“I broke him in the first round – and yes, he won it – and then the second round was even. But I knew that sooner or later his cardio was going to give out on him. Every time I took him down, I would talk to myself. I would murmur in his ears. I wasn’t insulting him, no. I was just motivating myself and speaking to myself. And that’s when I entered into a connection within myself, and that’s something personal. I knew he wasn’t going to beat me. I was going to destroy him. I would say, ‘Come one, come on. What do you have?’ I’d tell myself.”
The TKO win over Caldwell was a very important moment for Barzola’s career.
The Peruvian hadn’t competed since completing his UFC contract back in March 2020 in Brazil where he fought Rani Yahya to a majority draw. Despite being 6-3-1 in the UFC, Barzola wasn’t resigned, as it was almost impossible for him to get a visa in Peru to go fight abroad due to the pandemic.
Now training at AKA in San Jose, Calif., Barzola is not surprised he didn’t experience the infamous “ring rust” in his first appearance in almost two years.
“I was very prepared, I was prepared for it all,” Barzola said. “I’m the type of fighter who’s always ready and working in all areas of the game. Those two years of no competition could affect a fighter, but I’ve been improving throughout that time.
“I’ve been getting better and I’ve been training. It was different because there weren’t many training partners (due to the pandemic). I didn’t fight for two years, which could be tough on a fighter even if they spar. But I managed to maintain a level of competition. Darrion Caldwell did surprise me in the first round, attacking me hard, but I knew how to counter that.”