A battle of heavyweight strikers has been added to the upcoming UFC on FOX 3 card on May 5th in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Former K-1 star Pat “HD” Barry will face recent UFC signee Lavar “Big” Johnson, who won his Octagon debut with an impressive knockout this past weekend.
The heavyweight bout joins a previously announced lightweight tilt between Jim Miller and Nate Diaz on the card. The Miller-Diaz fight has now been confirmed as the night’s main event and will be contested over five rounds. Barry and Johnson will square off on the FOX-televised portion of the card.
Barry (7-4-0) found himself on the chopping block late last year after posting just one win in four fights during his 2010-2011 campaign, but he rebounded with a much-needed victory over Christian Morecraft at UFC on FX 1 two weeks ago. Perhaps more impressively, Barry demonstrated improved skills on the ground and managed to fight free of Morecraft’s submission attempts before knocking him out with a looping hook and follow-up punches in the latter stages of round one. Six of Barry’s seven wins have ended via a form of knockout and he is one of the most formidable heavyweight strikers in the UFC.
Johnson (16-5-0) has endured his own trials and tribulations in recent years. The Californian was the victim of a drive-by shooting that left him with a large scar on his stomach and kept him out of action for close to a year. He returned with a pair of knockout wins in Strikeforce, but suffered submission defeats at the hands of Shane del Rosario and Shawn Jordan in 2011. Johnson received a big opportunity when he was brought over to the UFC late last year and he made the most of it by becoming the first man to knock out Joey “The Mexicutioner” Beltran at UFC on FOX 2 this past Saturday. Johnson has never gone the distance in his career and has knocked out 14 opponents.
With the UFC’s second FOX card drawing criticism from some for featuring main card bouts that lacked action at times, the Barry-Johnson battle will all but ensure that the promotion will have at least one highlight-reel finish when it returns to FOX in May.
UFC on FOX 3 takes place on May 5th at the IZOD Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey. The event will be headlined by a five-round non-title lightweight bout between Jim Miller and Nate Diaz.
(Photo Credit: Sherdog.com)