Midnight Mania! Barry Addresses Strickland Rumor, Blames Him For UFC 274

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Rose Namajunas’ performance last weekend (Sat. May 7, 2022) at UFC 274 was baffling. Seemingly able to defend her opponent’s takedowns and top control without much effort, “Thug Rose” still refused to let her offense fly and lost a split-decision to Carla Esparza as a result.

Who’s to blame? Some pointed to the corner of Pat Barry and Trevor Wittman, who seemed to give Namajunas conflicting messages and told the former champion that she was winning. Barry responded to these claims on The MMA Hour, pointing to a slippery canvas as holding Namajunas’ up.

Barry also addressed another issue: the origin of his relationship with Namajunas. Recently, outspoken Middleweight contender Sean Strickland accused Barry of grooming Namajunas, and the former kickboxer wanted to set the record straight about when they started dating. He also laid some of the blame for UFC 274 at Strickland’s feet!

“This whole Sean Strickland thing that is all over the place everywhere,” Barry said (via BJPenn.com). “Years ago, Rose did an interview and said ‘I joined Rufussport when I was 14 years ago, and then I left Rufussport for a few years. Then I came back to Rufussport, to pursue my MMA career, and that’s where I met my fiancee Pat Barry’. When the guy wrote the interview up, he wrote ‘Rose Namajunas joined Rufussport when she was 14 years old where she met her fiance Pat Barry, when she was 14 years old’.

Pat Barry continued, “That’s where everyone is getting this s—t from, a botched interview. That’s where everyone is getting all that from because someone decided to write it that way. It must’ve seemed credible and they just run with it. It’s those types of things everywhere that cause Rose to get into the fight with Carla, and be emotional.”

Never one to stay quiet, it didn’t take Strickland long to respond to the above quote. Unsurprisingly, Strickland did not recant, instead doubling down on his previous accusations.

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