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Ep. #105 – Peter Barrett

Peter Barrett is a mixed martial artist who competes in the Featherweight division of the UFC. The Sityodtong Boston and Lauzon’s MMA prospect is 11-4 as a professional which includes nine finishes.

Transcrip

All right, we are back with the 105th edition of uh the quarantine cast. I’Ve got a special guest coming on he’s got a fight coming up in december, been a fan of his for a long time. It’S peter barrett slippery pete. I’Ve been looking forward to this one for a little while without further ado, i’m going to invite him in hey man, how you doing hey. What’S going on brother thanks for having me, oh thanks for coming on. I’Ve been a fan of yours for uh. For a little while now so i appreciate you taking the time. Oh absolutely man, my pleasure, this is the uh the first time the monstash is making an appearance. It’S uh it’s movember, so i had to like get rid of the beard and i’m doing it. For prostate cancer. It looks hilarious. Oh nice, so uh first things. First man how’s the pandemic been on you uh. I mean you got ta fight in but uh. Overall. How is it, how has it been on you and uh and your family uh man? It’S been crazy, so originally i was scheduled to fight uh, steve garcia in april and that that fight eventually uh ended up getting canceled because of the nationwide lockdown um, and you know every at that point. Like all the gyms had closed, nobody was really training and uh. It was really hard to train uh. That being said, my girlfriend is also a nurse in boston at one of the really you know: big hospitals, so her life was crazy at work every day having to to work around the pandemic and corona positive people all the time. So we had like a couple a couple juggling acts going on at once, but um you know once everything calmed down and we started training again and, like you know, all those brain chemicals were working properly. Everything got much better real quick. Did i see that there’s new uh restrictions there in the in in uh that area like are they shutting things down at night? Is that is? Is that new? Is that just something i heard, and it’s probably not accurate at all? No uh, charlie baker had like this big press conference from massachusetts today and pretty much said uh. You there’s like a a recommended curfew from 10 pm to 5 a.m. All restaurants have to pretty much you know, shut down by 10 and have everybody out out and at home um, which is really weird. I think it’s it’s it’s restaurants, gyms any sort of social places, uh that people could gather um, have to be shut down by 10 p.m, but um. I think it’s really strange. I think i’m pretty sure if i heard correctly that in that same address, they said that they don’t believe people are catching corona at restaurants, but they want the restaurants to be shut down by 10, which sucks because outside of fighting, i also bartend and that’s like A big hit on my my uh pay, my bills, money yeah, it’s uh, how’s, it gon na affect your training. I mean, obviously the news of your fight coming up, but do you know if there’s anything there? Are you still going to be able to train? Uh? Is it going to hinder you uh? In that regard, i mean i was at lauzons today and joe joe stays pretty hip to all that stuff and he didn’t mention anything. But that being said, we may have been grappling before the press conference went off, but as far as i know from what i understand, it’s it’s like a curfew, they’re trying to get people in their houses a lot sooner in the evening than they do than anything Else so i think training is going to be fine. I think uh the the way that the gyms that i train out are handling it are in accordance to the health department, so um. I don’t think it’s gon na interrupt too much unless it gets worse. Who knows, like i, i told my little brother today, i’m like dude next week is going to make the summer look like a walk in the park after this election depend, regardless of which way it goes with that being yeah with that being said, man you’ve got Your you’ve got you’re fighting, i mean i was very excited for it. I mean lots of eyes on chase hooper. So what’s your thought on uh on that matchup um? I think he has really solid. Jiu-Jitsu. Obviously, he’s one pan am brown belt um, but i think his striking sucks and he is game – he’s dangerous, but you know in his last fight we were really able to witness and see that with a solid, you know sprawl anti-jiu-jitsu approach. You can keep that fight. Standing and punish him do you think it’s harder to prep for a fighter like that? I mean. Obviously you know what he’s going to do he’s going to try to take you down um, but is it? Is it easier? Is it more difficult to fight someone who’s such a specialist uh? No, not really. I mean, i know, he’s gon na be looking for my legs, we’ve been we’ve been drilling and covering that position a lot making sure that you know i have you know a game plan for any situation that arises. You know if this is, if this is where he attacks. This is my defensive. This is where he attacks. This is my defense uh, so we’re just we’re just really learning those situations in those positions a lot and then you know starting to roll from from those positions. So it’s giving me the ability to explore and see the limits of what’s safe in every direction. So in that respect, no, i think it makes it a little bit easier, because we can, we can grab some low-hanging fruit of the most dangerous situations you can put me in and prepare for him and then outside of that just get really crisp on my striking And on my stand up because you know his up is lazy, he throws really long ones and twos and falls in you know he strikes and falls and strikes and leaves his chin out. I mean he gets hit a lot and he takes a lot of takes a lot but uh. That’S that’s the opportunity that we’re going to capitalize on staying inside of that jab and really putting a beating on them. You have to imagine working with a guy like joe lauzon um. You know when you go from from you know, wrestling and uh enrolling with joe lauzon there’s not really much that he could offer that you aren’t seeing day in and day out. So how significant has joe been not just for this fight, but throughout your career, oh, i mean joe’s been awesome. I linked up with joe let’s say two years ago, and i’ve been going over there a few times a week, working with him one-on-one. Obviously, when everything was open, i was at classes regularly, but uh he’s been very instrumental in the second half of my careers fighting as far as as far as like you know like that, neuroplasticity, and remembering that i can learn new things and see my progress on The ground impacting my progress on my feet because you know my brain is just in this really like state of learning. You know if you learn in one area, you learn in another, because i just feel like that’s the way your brain works. So by adding him in later uh. It really helped. You know reinvigorate certain things um, you know i’m sure you’re gon na dissect, this fight inside and out and i’m sure he’s going to do the same with your zalal fight. I want you to break down that fight um and what’s the biggest lesson you learned from that from that loss, i i would say the biggest thing that i learned from the zalal fight. Is that you’re going to need a gun to stop me um, because i don’t know too many people that would be able to get back up and fight for three rounds after after a spinning heel? Kick like that uh! You know i mean i i i know i’ve got big balls, i’m strong, i’m tough. You know it takes a lot to stop me uh yeah i mean but yeah. That was. There was a lot of little things that i did really well in that fight too. Like he’s, what ten and one ten and two ten and three maybe uh, he’s 10 10 wins somewhere or another, and a lot of those are submission wins, and i did a really good job defending all of his submission attempts. I did a really good job defending him uh when he was on my back. You know my jiu-jitsu game stepped up really hard for that fight, especially where it was a last-minute thing where we focused on on on some really specific things for him that have just carried on into into my everyday practice and all my grappling so tough as [ __ ] and a lot of a lot of good work with someone you know backpacked on me attacking my deck. I want to talk about that area. I mean there’s so much. There’S like this crazy wave, that’s coming out of new england right now with guys like calvin cater rob. Does that, like add a little bit more motivation, a little fuel to your fire going into this one, seeing the success of that region? I i mean it’s always yeah, yes, and no i mean to live comparatively is no way to live, but to try to ride on someone else’s. Momentum is always a good idea. Um i mean there’s a lot of talent up here, we’re finally getting the the recognition that we deserve and, like you know, rob calvin randy emrod um. You know even kyle bochniak he’s not in the ufc anymore, but he was recently. I mean everybody we’re putting names up there, so uh we’re finally getting the respect that we deserve, which is nice. I want to talk a little bit about your uh your early days in your career. I mean you were: how old were you when you got signed to the ufc? Was there a time where you were like? Maybe this isn’t going to happen and uh, or was that dream always still there uh, regardless of the age um, so i got signed last summer after fighting on the contendership series, so i was 33 32 right before i turned i know i had just turned 33 Um but yeah i mean there was a lull there when i went to eight no and then and then fell to ten and three i mean that was that was a pretty harrowing spot in my career. That kind of really made me second guess everything, but you know the this. The people that i keep around me kept me motivated and helped. Keep me focused to keep me on the path to get me here. What ultimately, dr drew you to the sport, i mean when i, when i think about uh what got me into it. It was rampage jackson tearing down the door. That was the step. That was the moment that was like okay. I like this, these guys, but was there one one moment where you’re like okay? This is this is the road i want to take with my career, uh yeah. I mean it was probably right. After my first amateur fight that i lost uh, you know a decision to, and it was just like it just lit a fire underneath my ass and like i wanted to fight again that night, like it was it just it just lit a fire under my ass. I don’t know how else to explain it just it just. I knew that that’s what i was here to do and that’s what i wanted to do and then i could just put everything into it and push forward for it when uh, i kind of built this platform at the beginning of the pandemic by by making matchups Like, after every event, i’d be like so and so should fight so, and so that being said, uh is there a matchup that i know you’re, probably not going to look past chase hooper, but is there a match up in the division or outside of the division? Whether it’s realistic or not, realistic, a guy who used to fight that you like one day, would be like you know what i’d love to fight that guy, whether it’s someone you idolized someone you disliked, i mean i haven’t i’ve, never really thought that way about it. So if i, if i were to get him right now, it would really be on the spot, but you know my game plan coming into it was, you know, get my first three or four fights out of the way rack up some wins and then start calling People out so i haven’t even really put too much thought in or or time or energy into that building. On that note that you just you just pointed out, you wanted to get some wins. Do you? I’Ve had about a conversation with guys like kyle nelson, and they said that they don’t feel like they’re part of the ufc roster until they get that w. Do you feel that way? Man kyle’s a good dude? I know kyle me and him trained together back at uh team alpha male a few years ago. He’S the kid from canada right he’s a lightweight featherweight yeah. We actually we stayed. We lived together for a week while we were out there he’s a super cool dude but yeah, absolutely like i’m in the ufc, but i don’t have a win yet. It says you know my record ufc on one. I need that thing to say one and one two and one three one: four one: five and one six and one hey, look at this guy he’s here to stay. You know so um definitely it’ll be it’ll, be better, with a win most definitely be better after i put chase away and uh, i couldn’t ask, couldn’t go without asking this. This question i mean you’ve got one of my favorite nicknames in the sport. How did that? Come about so slippery pete uh, it came about. Uh came from my stepdad. Actually we were. We had like a family party over at my mom’s and we had been drinking eating good food. You know having a grand old time and we were recounting and reminiscing about all these about all these vacations that we had been on and one of my step sisters. You know she was like. Oh, i remember this one, this one that one this one that one i remember all these times, that we went away as a family, but i don’t remember peter being there my stepdad and he was a little bit older and at this time he’s since passed away. Um – and you know he – we had been drinking wine all night, he looked up and he goes who slipped repeat. He was always there, but he was out chasing the women, so that happened, it was you know. Hilarious. I went back to the gym on monday was telling my buddies, the story that i trained with about it and they were like dude. I think that’s it that we’re gon na we’re gon na stick with that one and uh. That’S how slip repeat was created man. I love that story. You know you usually hear about. You know the way you fight or something like that and the fact that it it originated. Based on that was uh yeah. I was a. I was quite the man when i was younger and apparently everybody thought it was hilarious and that’s that’s where it came from. Oh that’s, great man. I love that. I love that there’s a uh there’s a big fight coming up at the end of the month, and i i can’t go without asking your predictions for it: uh davidson, figuero versus alex perez. Have you had the opportunity to meet either of those guys and and uh? What’S your prediction for man, um, honestly, no, i haven’t and i and and i’m just hoping that they both bring a high level game. So we are all entertained. You know the horses when you get too high-level, guys that are afraid of each other and they’re not willing to put their to risk it to to win the fight. And then you end up with two guys that stalk each other for five rounds, not two guys that beat the [ __ ] out of each other for five rounds. So i just want to see a high level fight and and an enjoyable fight at that all right, i’ll. Ask you uh i’ll, ask you one last question and then i’ll uh and i’ll. Let you go for people who haven’t seen. You maybe didn’t! Watch your here’s! A law, fight or didn’t watch you on the contender series. What’S one thing that you could say about your style that uh separates you from from a lot of the guys that are in the 45 division? It’S some highly calculated violence. I mean i like to get in there and i like to put a beating on the guys that i’m fighting uh my best fights are when i come out hot. You know the slow starts are the ones that have you know, haven’t necessarily gone the best way for me much like the zalal fight uh. But when i come out firing guns blazing you know, the dudes are normally put away real, quick and that’s what i’m looking to bring with hooper. I love it man. Thank you so much for the time and uh. If this is the chance uh, can you plug your uh, your social media or anybody any sponsors out there? You want to shout out yeah for sure get out. Uh get after me on instagram at slipperyp145. You can follow my gyms uh. It’S sit, boston, syt, boston, uh, lauzon, mma, skill of strength, uh, a couple of sponsors, chief underwear. That’S also how i uh connected with kyle nelson he’s got a good sponsorship with them too she’s been awesome for us, um butcherbox, usually hooks it up. I always sell my t-shirts if you guys want to get in on some of my on some of my merch. Let me know uh, it’s always affordable and dude. Just follow me on instagram. I keep it hilarious. All right, i will uh i’ll, definitely be reaching out for you. I want one of those uh. I want one of those sweaters man i like it and uh thanks again man. I appreciate the time and the best of luck in december. Most definitely i appreciate it all right all the best, please all right there you have it man, slippery pete, barrett i’ve been a fan of his for uh for a long time. Um also make sure you guys donate if you haven’t for prostate cancer, i’m wearing this thing literally to raise money for uh for prostate cancer. So without further ado man, if you guys can like comment and subscribe it’s the least you can do. I have to wear this. At least you can do is like comment and subscribe subscribe until uh until the next time in uh see you guys later all the best

Sergio Pineiro

Sergio Pineiro is the Founder of FighterPath.com and host of the Quarantinecast podcast. Based in Canada he is both a sports journalist and MMA enthusiast. He practices the sport but has a passion for the individual stories of training, fighting and living the fighting lifestyle.

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