Dean Barry to face Diego Flores in Karate Combat Debut

Image credit: Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC

Ireland’s Dean Barry is set to face Diego Flores in a karate bout in his Karate Combat debut on Saturday 27th August at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida. SevereMMA confirmed the matchup with multiple sources on Wednesday morning.

A multiple-time striking champion, Barry most recently competed in the UFC, losing via DQ in his debut to Mike Jackson. “The Sniper” was subsequently released from the promotion.

Following his UFC departure, Barry was booked to fight on Titan FC in June, but “The Sniper” was forced off the card due to a medical issue during his weight cut.

Karate Combat confirmed last week that Barry was heading for their pit, signing a multi-fight deal with the promotion. The 30-year-old Dubliner will compete in KC’s welterweight (165lbs) division.

Karate Combat President Adam Kovacs expressed his excitement for Barry’s promotional debut to SevereMMA:

“I’m really excited for this fight. This fight matches two very high-level guys who by coincidence have trained under two all-time great fighters from Canada: Dean Barry was a protege of Georges St-Pierre at TriStar and Flores is an understudy to former GLORY champion ‘Bazooka’ Joe Valtellini. Their striking pedigree speaks for itself and I think we’re going to see a great fight here.”

Karate Combat 35 will be headlined by a superfight between welterweight and lightweight champions Josh Quayhagen and Luiz Rocha.