Wayne Barrett (photo credit: Ed Diller / GLORY)

By Kelsey Mowatt

When Wayne Barrett steps into the ring at Glory 18 Friday night, once again, the top ranked middleweight will face an opponent who has competed in many more pro bouts than him. It’s a situation the American fighter has grown accustomed to, since he was signed by Glory after competing in just one pro fight.

Barrett is scheduled to battle Jason Wilnis on November 7th, who is carrying a pro record of 22-4-1 heading into the scrap. Barrett is 5-1 as a pro.

“As a fighter, and I tell all the guys, it doesn’t matter to me what the record is. He’s a fighter, I’m a fighter,” Barrett said on a recent episode of Full Contact Fighter Radio. “I absolutely believe, whether you have one fight or a hundred fights, if you can fight, you can fight. No one can take that away from you.”

“(Bodgan) Stoica had more fights; Stoica had 35 fights where Jason has like 26 or 27…,” furthered Barrett, who KO’d Stoica in the third round at “Last Man Standing” in June. “The number of fights doesn’t matter. He (Wilnis) does bring some good things to the table. A good overhand right, he’s actually one of the few guys that uses his jab, good inside kick, and keeps his hands up when he kicks. He keeps that shell like defense.”

Barrett (photo via GLORY World Series.com)

Of course, when a fighter has fought many times, particularly as a professional, the chances are there is much more footage of him for opponents to study.

“I absolutely agree with that, absolutely,” said Barrett, who went 19-1 as an amateur. “I’ve been able to watch a ton of him. I’ve watched him prior to even being in Glory, and he does a lot of the things the same, but he’s been trying some new things. Leading with like lead uppercuts, and doing the little tap, tap, tap on the inside and still ripping the kick. So, he’s trying to evolve and he’s still doing a lot of the same things. Next week, it’s time to stop talking and put all that homework to work.”

While Wilnis has an impressive record, only six of the Dutch fighter’s 22 victories have come via knockout or TKO.

“I saw that too and I was really shocked,” Barrett said. “They call him the Mike Tyson of the sport and I was like ‘oh’. But from watching him, you know, he has power. He’s most dangerous in the first round, but I think what it is is that he throws more aggressively than he’s actually strong. So what I mean by that is when he throws his shots, he looks like it’s with bad intentions, but I don’t believe he follows through all the way, because he’s always setting up for that kick.”

Friday’s bout will mark the first time Barrett has fought since “Last Man Standing”, when following his win over Stoica, he dropped a split decision to Joe Schilling. Currently Barrett is ranked #2 in Glory’s middleweight division and Wilnis is sitting at #9.

“Not really surprised. I figured I was going to fight any of the guys in the top ten,” Barrett said, when asked for his reaction upon finding out he’d face Wilnis. “So, I’m just ready.”

Glory 18 will be hosted by Tulsa, Oklahoma’s Grand Casino Hotel Resort and will be broadcast on SPIKE.