Dean Barry is having a horrible time. Barry started as a promising kickboxer and signed with the UFC in order to make his debut back in 2020.
Due to the pandemic, his debut was delayed and once he finally made it the UFC had booked him against their worst athlete on the roster – journalist Mike Jackson.
Jackson had made it to the UFC only because the UFC needed someone who could match then former pro wrestler CM Punk. Jackson had one amateur and one professional loss at the time. While their skills were a match – it was undoubtedly a big hit for Barry’s ego to be matched with Jackson.
As a result the betting odds were heavily stacked in Barry’s favor. Jackson’s odds were at -800 for their bout.
But during their bout Barry would go on to deliver a spinning back kick to the groin of Jackson in addition to later eye gouging him. This time, Jackson was reluctant to continue after the foul effectively making the ref call it a day and declare Jackson winner by DQ.
Oddly the backlash against Barry was bigger than the backlash against Jackson. UFC audiences typically don’t look fondly upon DQ victories. Just ask Aljamain Sterling and Diego Sanchez. But in this case it was understandable considering this wasn’t a one off, this looked like an elaborate attempt to foul.
Barry was initially unrepentant and had published an instagram video condemning Jackson for not continuing the bout.
Jackson in turn went on a rampage against Barry and made some racially charged comments. While Jackson accused Barry of white fragility over the fact he deleted his twitter – Barry recently revealed he had been facing a severe backlash that prompted the decision.
Barry told The Sheehan Show:
“Everything gets to you bro, I’m a f*cking human being. Seeing that sh*t, even just after the fight, some of the stuff people were saying about me kids and all that,”
“People saying they hope my kid has no daddy, and that I drop dead. ”
“I know who I am, I know it wasn’t the best performance, but how dare people think they can say that about somebody. ”
“And then if it upsets you, ‘Ah, this fella is a p*ssy,’ you know what I mean? I’m a f*cking human being, bro,” added Barry.
Barry also claimed that the foul was allegedly unintentional.
“I was about to finish the man, why would I stick me fingers in his eye? Even the spinning kick, it was an accident, he’s way taller than me.”
“The thing people are saying, ‘You deliberately done it.’ I’m like, ‘Why the f*ck would I deliberately poke someone in the eye I was about to knock out on my UFC debut?”
Barry has since been released from the UFC and made his way to a smaller promotion Titan FC.