Athletes
Danny Barlow: 'It Is A Memphis Thing'
Battling A Broken Arm In His UFC Debut At UFC 298, Danny Barlow Put The Welterweight Division On Notice With His Knockout Victory
For Danny Barlow, winning his first UFC fight with a broken arm was a Memphis thing.
“It is a Memphis thing, for sure,” Barlow laughs. “It comes from being in a lot of situations where, man, you’re scared, but you can't run. That's the number one unspoken rule. You can be scared, but you better not never show up. It's just something that you naturally grow up with. You get in so many moments where you got to have a good poker face, and it’s never the opponent, it’s always the opportunity.”
Order UFC 299: O'Malley vs Vera 2
This was a big one for the unbeaten 28-year-old. The welterweight was spectacular in earning his UFC contract on Dana White’s Contender Series last September, as he knocked out Raheam Forest in 79 seconds, and here he was in Anaheim on February 17, making his UFC debut against Josh Quinlan when…he broke his arm.
“I felt it,” he said of the first-round injury. “I knew it was broken; you could feel it shifting. I could just feel it because your arm don't move like that. (Laughs) You could feel the bone kind of grinding.”
Danny Barlow Octagon Interview | UFC 298
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Danny Barlow Octagon Interview | UFC 298
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Barlow could have looked for an exit and no one would have blinked. He thought of those long days in the gym back home that seemed like they would never end.
“It just went back to that time in the gym when you’re doing something, and it sucks but you’re going to do it anyway.”
This sucked.
“Am I going to stop fighting? Am I going to stop throwing it? And after I threw it kept throwing it, I was like, ‘Let's go.’ Do you want to cry about it? You want to quit? You want to tie it up and put it behind your back and use your other arm?”
There questions showed up in Barlow’s head in rapid-fire fashion and he blew them off just as fast. He was going to keep fighting.
“We were going to treat it like a regular day in the gym, and I was going to deal with it after the fight.”
Memphis, eh?
“Growing up you had to fight,” Barlow said. We didn't have gloves and we weren't controlled or trained to really be able to knock each other out, but we were trying to. We were going a good 30 seconds of just brawling and we did that every day. You had to do that with every kid in the neighborhood to see who the toughest kid in the neighborhood is. So, yeah, I never ran from any situation, I just don't have it in me.”
At 1:18 of the third round, Barlow stopped Quinlan. It was a dominant effort, despite the injury, and as he lifted his pro record 8-0 with six finishes, he left quite the impression. But in all the commotion, we forgot to ask if there were any first-time UFC jitters.
“They were there,” he laughs. “It’s just that I could kind of manage it because I have so much muscle memory on doing what I do good. But yeah, it was crazy. It almost makes you feel like you’re going to shake out of your skin trying to be controlled.”
Add in a broken arm and most couldn’t handle it. But Barlow did, and just like that, he’s a player in the always stacked welterweight division. Of course, “LeftHand2God” has to heal up, but when he gets the green light, he’s ready to build off his Octagon debut. And the time off comes with a warning to his peers that despite the injury, he’s still working.
“I don't duck no smoke at all,” he said. “But, right now, I feel like when I get hurt or when something is broken, that's just a sign that I need to focus on a different aspect of the game. So, as soon as I heal up, I'll be ready to jump back in there as soon as possible. I feel like I don't really have to wait on anything. If I feel like the time is right, it's going to be right every time.”
UFC 298: Volkanovski vs Topuria took place live from Honda Center in Anaheim, California on February 17, 2024. See the final Prelim & Main Card Results, Official Scorecards and Who Won Bonuses - and relive the action on UFC Fight Pass!
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