The UFC On Versus 6 card offers a co-main event of a true David vs. Goliath status as 5’11” Pat Barry will face off against 6’11” Stefan Struve in a heavyweight matchup. It’s an important matchup as both fighters are coming off losses and are definitely looking to get back into the win column. Let’s break this one down.
Stefan Struve comes into this fight with a career record of (21-5) with 14 wins via submission and 5 wins via TKO/KO. Struve was last seen in action back in May on the wrong end of a highlight reel knockout against Travis Browne. Struve is well rounded with a solid chin and underrated ground game. Struve has kickboxing experience, but often times he relies to heavily on his chin and takes way too much punishment.
Pat Barry comes into this fight with a career record of (6-3) with 5 wins via TKO/KO. Barry was last seen in action in June as he was involved in the craziest KO loss in UFC history against Cheick Kongo. Barry hurt Kongo badly with strikes only to have Kongo come back and throw one punch that put Barry out cold. Barry has extensive kickboxing experience with vicious leg kicks, but has serious holes in his ground game.
Bet on Fighting as Pat Barry as the betting favorite at (-200) and Struve as the underdog at (+160).
I’m not sure I agree with those odds. Barry will have to overcome a huge reach disadvantage and Struve has a big advantage on the ground in regards to submissions. It all depends on Struve’s gameplan though as he likes to play rock’em sock’em robot quite a bit in his fights.
Barry will simply need to keep this fight on the feet and somehow overcome the reach advantage that Struve has. It’s not anything he isn’t used to as he almost always gives up a big reach advantage to his opponents. If Struve decides to stand with Barry he will definitely be eating a ton of leg kicks. Barry could win the fight on those alone as he packs devastating power. The only danger to those leg kicks as it could make him vulnerable to takedowns. If Struve was smart he would try to use that strategy to take Struve to the ground where he has a big edge. Otherwise, I’m not sure he has the skills to take Barry to the mat.
I don’t see this fight being boring at all. There’s a reason they have these two guys as the co-main event even though both are coming off losses in their last fights. I like Struve at these odds, provided he fights smart.