UFC Fight for the Troops II: Joey Beltran Guarantees Excitement Versus Pat Barry

It is nearly unheard of for a fighter to defeat a member of the legendary Gracie family in their Octagon debut. However, that is exactly what Joey “The Mexicutioner” Beltran (12-4) when he defeated Rolles Gracie via second round technical knockout at UFC 109.

Three months later, Beltran earned his second victory in the organization by defeating Tim Hague at UFC 113 to make it a perfect 2-0 for the year and would head into a September showdown against TUF 10 alum, Matt Mitrione.

The first round of action between the two heavyweights at UFC 119, was spent on the ground where Beltran displayed a solid ground game, as he transitioned from Mitrione’s guard to side mount where he proceeded to land strikes to win the round. Soon after, something would happen to Beltran in the second and third rounds which would ultimately cause a different outcome in the fight as Mitrione would use his reach and striking to win by unanimous decision.

According to Beltran, a lesson has been learned and it has made him a better mixed martial artist heading into this weekend’s UFC Fight for the Troops II at Fort Hood in Texas.

“I learned from my last fight, that I need to stick to the game plan and eliminate emotion from my fights,” Beltran explained to Bleacher Report. “I had it in my mind that I wanted to hurt him and prove to everybody that I could knock this guy out, which made it entertaining, but that fight should have been mine.

I learned if you have a gameplan then you need to stick to it, because it probably wasn’t the best thing to stand in front and trade with him, I should of used my wrestling and gone back to what worked for me in the first round.”

On Saturday night, the Alliance trained heavyweight will have his opportunity to execute the gameplan that he and his team have prepared when he faces knockout artist, Pat Barry.

The heavyweights will put their skills to the test in front of the troops stationed at the Fort Hood Army base and live on Spike TV as part of the televised main card. It is a special event that has only been done once prior and Beltran is excited to be a part of the show.

“I am excited first of all to be on this show, it’s a special card and to be able to perform in front of the troops is great,” Beltran said. “You know the energy level in the crowd is going to be top notch and that is one of the main things I enjoy about fighting in the biggest show in the world, is the crowd. Without a doubt, the energy by the troops will be ridiculous and fighting Pat Barry is an awesome challenge.”

Beltran has certainly been up to the challenge each time he has stepped foot inside of the Alliance Training Center and has had numerous world class fighters assisting him in preparations, including UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz.

“I’m pushing the pace every round that I’m in and trying to get the most out of every workout and really leave no stone unturned going into this fight. If I lose, I want to get knocked out because I don’t want to lose because of my gas tank,” he explained.

“That’s one thing that I’ve picked up from Dominick Cruz, who’s unofficially the team captain at Alliance. You can only control certain things and conditioning is one of the most important things in fighting and you have all the control in the world over that. I know that this fight is win or go home, we’re going to go out there to fight for our UFC careers and I know what’s at stake. If I’m going out, I’m going out on my shield.”

With that being said, when the Mexican heavyweight steps inside of the world famous Octagon on Saturday night, fans can rest assure that they will not witness a lackluster fight as Beltran plans to stay in the big show.

“Whenever I step inside of the Octagon, you are guaranteed to see an exciting fight. You’re going to see me lay it all on the line and I’m that stereotypical Mexican with tucking my chin and going for it,” said Beltran. “That’s what has gotten me to the big show and I think that’s what is going to help me stay here. I’ve been working diligently to clean up my technique here and there, but ultimately I’m a scrapper.”

A scrapper he is, but a very successful one as Beltran has eleven first and second round stoppages to his credit, which equates to 83 percent of his wins coming by way of technical knockout.