Pat Barry(left) will face Christian Morecraft at UFC on FX 1

The UFC on FX card will get underway with a heavyweight bout between Pat “Hype or Die” Barry and Christian Morecraft. It is a very important fight for these fighters as both enter this fight with losing records in the UFC. Barry has dropped three of his last four fights and Morecraft has dropped two out of his last three. The loser of this bout could certainly themselves released from the promotion. Let’s see how this fight shakes out.

Christian Morecraft comes into this fight with a career record of (7-2) with four wins via submission and three wins via TKO/KO. He was last seen in action getting knocked out by Matt Mitrione back in June 2011. Morecraft is a huge heavyweight standing well over six feet tall, with a wingspan of 81 inches. His striking is ‘ok’ but he’s more comfortable on the ground inflicting damage via ground and pound or grappling. Morecraft tends to not do well against opponents that are primarily strikers if he can’t take them down and impose his will. He’ll have his hands full with Barry who primarily has a kickboxing background.

Pat Barry comes into this fight with a career record of (6-4) with five wins via TKO/KO. Barry was last seen in action getting submitted by Stefan Struve back in October 2011. This will be the second straight fight in which Barry will be giving up a huge reach advantage of at least six inches. Barry is a striker with devastating leg kicks, but is extremely vulnerable to submissions once the fight hits the ground.

Both of these fighters have a common opponent in Stefan Struve and Struve was able to defeat both of these guys. However, Barry probably got the better version as Struve fought Morecraft well over year before he faced Barry.

Morecraft can strike, but his best path to victory is putting Barry on his back and submitting him or working some ground and pound. He’ll have a height and weight advantage over Barry and he should use it to put Barry against the cage and then work takedowns from there. That will take away Barry’s ability to strike effectively while allowing Morecraft the opportunity to do some things offensively.

Barry simply needs to keep the fight on the feet, despite the huge reach advantage that Morecraft will have. Barry can compensate for the lack of reach with those devastating leg kicks he likes to throw at times. He’ll be the quicker heavyweight in there and could probably win this fight on leg kicks alone if he really went for it.

As I stated earlier, both of these guys really need a win if they want to realistically stay in the UFC. That edge usually makes fighters go for it or fight really tentatively. I think Barry is one of those that will go for it. Morecraft hasn’t beat a guy in the UFC that can strike yet and I don’t think he’ll be able to do it in this one. It should be noted that Barry has a tendency to do well in fights and then basically give his opponents a win. So if you are a betting man/woman, proceed with caution. However, I like Barry in this one via emphatic TKO.

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