Sure, the South Korean Sanshou specialist was unbeaten and a pro and expected to hand Peter Barrett his fourth pro loss in their Contender Series bout last August, but New England’s “Slippery Pete” wasn’t going to leave Las Vegas without a UFC contract.

He couldn’t. He wouldn’t. 

“We had pretty much come to the realization that if I was gonna get into the UFC, it had to be last summer on that Contender Series, and I had to do everything possible to get myself on one of those episodes,” said Barrett, who watched as each of the ten episodes filled up, with no phone call for him to get his shot at fighting in front of UFC President Dana White and matchmakers Sean Shelby and Mick Maynard.

Then he got on the tenth and last episode.

“Nobody wanted to fight this kid from South Korea,” he said. “I guess everybody was ducking him and nobody would take the fight. But Sean (Shelby) called Kru Mark (DellaGrotte). It was kind of a hard sell because of my age. We knew that was working against me, we know it’s still working against me. So I took the fight that no one wanted.” 

Once he got it, the 33-year-old left nothing up to chance. There had been too much of that over the years, too many missed opportunities, too much bad luck. Now, he had one chance to get it right, because prizefighters approaching their mid-30s with a 10-4 record don’t usually get a shot in the big show. He had to make sure 10-3 became 11-3. He had 15 minutes to make it right. 

And if he didn’t?

“That’s not something I really spent too much time thinking about because it wasn’t an acceptable version of my future,” said Barrett. “My girlfriend is analytical, she’s a nurse, and she’s like, ‘You need a Plan B if this doesn’t work out.’ I said, no, everything goes into Plan A. There is no Plan B. This is the only option. I can’t spend any time thinking of another option because then that takes me away from my goal. It put a lot of stress on a lot of relationships, I put a lot of other things on hold to pursue this dream and this was the only version of that I could accept last summer.”

A Plan B wasn’t necessary, as Barrett decisioned Yoo and got his UFC contract. When looking back, the new member of the UFC’s featherweight roster simply says, “I stepped up and I produced.” 

It was more than that, a lot more, and Barrett knows it. He can’t forget what he battled through to get to this point, and it wasn’t pretty at times, as he lost his father and younger brother within two months of each other, their untimely deaths the cornerstone of a yearlong stretch when his pro MMA record went from 8-0 to 9-3.

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“I went through that slump and there was a time I could vividly remember being in the basement at Sityodtong after team training and just thinking to myself,” he said. “I was super depressed, it was terrible negative self-talk, and I was like, ‘This is why you didn’t make it.’ You had some terrible s**t go down in your life, it destroyed you and that’s the asterisk to your career and why you didn’t make it to the UFC. It’s not that you weren’t good enough; it’s because you were dealt this hand and it just destroyed you. It was a moment when I just accepted that as the reality of the situation.” 

Family and friends would ultimately drag Barrett out of the depths and back to a place where he always expected to be, and that was on the road to the UFC.

“I had some people close to me that never stopped believing in me that helped build me back up and get me in the right place mentally to go back, put my best foot forward and beat down this goal and make sure I made it a reality.”

After nearly a year away from the sport as he got his life back together, Barrett returned with a June 2019 win over Zach DiSabatino, then got his Contender Series fight. One shot to make it right, and he hit the bullseye. 

“It validated the last ten years of my life in such a way that all the sacrifices I made, all the relationships I walked away from, all the friendships that I never nurtured the way I should have, it was all worth it,” he said. “I was willing to sacrifice everything to see this goal through, and this is really just the beginning now that I’m here. I just need that first fight, I need to impress those people, they need to see how I can perform at that next level and still destroy people at 145.”

Ten pounds south of his Contender Series fight at lightweight, Barrett is determined to not just stay in the UFC, but to make a mark. He was scheduled to break his contract in a week from Saturday against Danny Henry, a fight he was more than happy to get for his Octagon debut.

“As far as I’m concerned, that is a great matchup,” said Barrett. “Him and I are very similar style-wise. It would have been a great fight for the fans, super exciting, and I anticipated that him and I were gonna sit there and see who fell first to the other one’s fists.”

It’s a fight that won’t be happening on April 25 due to the COVID-19 situation, but Barrett is staying ready in case the call comes for him to meet “The Hatchet” later this spring. That means setting up his basement with everything he needs to keep in shape while keeping his phone on.

“The biggest thing for me coming out of this is to keep the momentum going and to be ready so when they’re looking for fighters to start scheduling things, I can be on the top of that list.”

It’s a different world than it was a year ago at this time, not just for Peter Barrett, but for everybody. Yet you get the impression that Barrett wouldn’t have it any other way.

“It’s been a journey,” he chuckles as he awaits his fresh start as a UFC fighter. But is it a fresh start?

“I can’t go that far because I have to respect everything that I’ve gone through to get here, because without it, I wouldn’t be here,” he said. “I would like to think of this as maybe Part Two or Part Three of the same story, but definitely not a new book.”

How does the story end, though? 

“This story ends with me being a world champion and I really think it’s possible.”

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“I just burst into tears, and then I went to Smokehouse, and I had a big rack of ribs, big pints of cider, and then I went home,” McCann told UFC.com. “I woke up on Monday morning and just went to the gym as normal, did two sessions. I kind of went on with life as if I’m still in fight camp.”

McCann, who lives with her uncle and grandmother, is doing what most of the world is attempting at the moment: finding order amongst the chaos. 

McCann, to her credit, balances her attention well and explains her emotions about a four-month fight camp ending without a competitive resolution. While she might have to wait longer than anticipated to try to extend her winning streak to four, she feels the time isn’t wasted.

“That sacrifice and what I gained in that camp is all still with me,” McCann said. “It doesn’t just disappear into thin air, so it’s just more time until I get to showcase my talent. But it’s surreal. You know when you go on vacation and you exchange currency, so say I go to anywhere in Europe, they have Euros, when I have Euros, it’s not like real money so you just spend it like it’s nothing. This time I’m living in now is like that. It’s like it’s not real life. It’s just like we’re in some weird movie, and it’s just not real.”

To fill the extra down time, McCann set up a PlayStation and has taken to UFC 3, FIFA 20 and Call of Duty among her games of choice. 

But naturally, the Scouser has found plenty of ways to continue her training. Although getting all the materials necessary to train has been a bit tricky, local gyms helped her gather everything she needs. 

“It’s so funny how the community has come together to give me bits that I need,” McCann said. “It’s great. Another gym has given me battle ropes, Bulgarian bags, kettlebells, skipping rope, all little bits. It’s nice to know, as much as I try to give back to the community, they pay it forward to give it back to me tenfold.”

That connection to her city is something that has buoyed McCann throughout her journey. For the last seven years, McCann has called the Kensington area of Liverpool home, and she has enjoyed seeing the community pull together to help one another out where they can. McCann and her girlfriend Paige have helped, as well, grabbing groceries for people who aren’t able.

“It’s nice to know our sense of community, it’s like back in the old days where people used to sit on the stoop and hang out on the street. That’s where we’re at now where I am, and I love it.”

McCann’s link to the area and general attitude makes her an easy fan favorite, and she appreciated her local fans picking her up emotionally when her UFC debut ended in defeat. In the 10 months between her debut and second bout, McCann said she battled depression and anxiety, but having that foundational support allowed her to make the necessary adjustments and set herself up for victory. It paid off, and McCann became the first Englishwoman to win in the UFC, a milestone she takes some pride in but hopes more than anything it opens the door for more girls from England to take up the sport in the future the same way watching Ronda Rousey did for McCann. 

In the present, however, McCann was eager to accomplish another first: a finish. In addition to her first UFC win, McCann earned two wins in her first two bouts in the United States. Kicking off her 2020 campaign back home in England with a finish would’ve been a nice bookend to the run that now has her in the top 15 of the flyweight division.

The Iowa-born “Lil Heathen” has made the trek into the UFC cage 32 times, tied with Demian Maia for the second-most appearances in the company’s history, two back of joint leaders Donald Cerrone and Jim Miller, and one ahead of fellow stalwarts Diego Sanchez and Andrei Arlovski.

Stephens has been a Top 10 fixture in the featherweight division for nearly seven years and was a consistently entertaining, tantalizing young talent always on the cusp of breaking through during his lightweight run before that. He’s someone fans know will bring the goods every time he steps into the Octagon and that the results won’t change his approach.

Only certain fighters are capable of forging that kind of relationship with fans and career inside the cage, and Stephens is one of those select few.

Here’s a look at some of the key efforts that helped him reach that point.

These are the 10 signature performances of Jeremy Stephens’ UFC career.

UFC Fight Night 12 vs. Cole Miller
https://ufcfightpass.com/video/33224 

After registering his first UFC victory in his previous appearance, Stephens’ third trip into the Octagon came against Miller in January 2008 and provided the first “sit up and take notice” moment of his career.

Miller had been part of the amazing cast on Season 5 of The Ultimate Fighter and entered off back-to-back wins over fellow TUF 5 contestant Andy Wang and durable veteran Leonard Garcia. He too was one of numerous young lightweight talents looking to build some momentum and climb the divisional ladder, but Stephens was having none of it.

The 21-year-old Stephens landed a clean right hand that turned Miller’s head around less than 30 seconds into the bout, but spent the majority of the opening round on the defensive after the jiu-jitsu practitioner brought the fight to the ground. After working free and trying to recoup some offense late in the frame, Stephens came out in the second and went on the offensive again, stinging Miller early before the duo once again landed on the canvas.

Miller continued to attack, first with a kimura, and then an inverted triangle choke, again forcing Stephens to defend. Despite getting stuck in some tricky spots, the powerful striker stayed calm, worked free and proceeded to unleash hell in the closing moments of the second, bloodying Miller with short elbows and putting him away with heavy ground-and-pound.

UFC 91 vs. Rafael Dos Anjos
https://ufcfightpass.com/video/30953 

Nearly a dozen years after it transpired, this remains one of Stephens’ signature victories and most played highlights.

Dos Anjos was 24 years old at the time and making his UFC debut. The future lightweight champion did well through the opening two rounds, getting the better of things through the opening 10 minutes, entering the third frame ahead on the scorecards. But as the final round got underway, Stephens still looked fresh and stalked Dos Anjos, looking for an opening.

An overhand right was partially blocked by Dos Anjos’ gloves, but the uppercut that followed looked straight out of Street Fighter II; all that was missing were the flames and the “SHORYUKEN!” A quick barrage of punches brought the fight to a halt and sent Stephens racing across the Octagon, where he crashed headfirst into the fence in excitement.

All these years later, you’ll still be hard-pressed to find too many knockouts that are better than this one.

UFC 113 vs. Sam Stout
https://ufcfightpass.com/video/31759 

Perhaps more than any other fight on this list, this one is emblematic of Stephens’ career as a whole.

Neither man was in the mix at the time — Stephens had just snapped a two-fight skid in his previous bout, while Stout was coming off a pair of good victories following twin losses — but as was always the case with both combatants, that had zero impact on their performance come fight night.

The durable sluggers went shot-for-shot for 15 minutes inside the Bell Centre in Montreal, with Stephens coming out on the happy side of a split decision verdict. They garnered Fight of the Night honors and a cool $65,000 for their efforts while further cementing their positions as two of the most reliably entertaining, hard-nosed talents in the lightweight division.

UFC 136 vs. Anthony Pettis
https://ufcfightpass.com/video/29429

What I’m about to say might sound strange to some given that this was Stephens’ 13th fight in the UFC and the 27th fight of his career, but this was the moment Stephens went from being a tough out in the middle of the division to the perennial Top 10 fighter he remains to this day.

After going 3-4 in his first seven UFC starts, Stephens entered this bout on the best run of his career to that point, having won two straight and four of his last five, with this Texas showdown opposite “Showtime” standing as the most high profile opportunity of his career. Pettis was less than a year removed from landing “The Showtime Kick,” but had lost his UFC debut four months earlier, making this a must-win pairing for the former WEC champion.

Stephens controlled the action in the first, and though he came out on the wrong side of the split decision verdict in the end, it was a performance where the 25-year-old really exhibited some crucial improvements and showed he could hang with someone as highly regarded and talented as Pettis.

Fans and observers often remember victories as the signature moments of an athlete’s career, but many times, the bigger breakthroughs and greater developments come during setbacks and that was the case here.

UFC 160 vs. Estevan Payan
https://ufcfightpass.com/video/30428

Following his loss to Pettis, Stephens dropped two more lightweight bouts before deciding to relocate to the featherweight ranks. This was his debut in the 145-pound weight class and it didn’t take long for the Alliance MMA product to make it clear that he was going to be a factor in his new division.

Payan entered having gone unbeaten in his last eight and Stephens ran right through him, opening Payan up with a sharp elbow midway through the first round en route to a three-round unanimous decision victory.

UFC Fight Night 32 vs. Rony Jason
https://ufcfightpass.com/video/34334 

If his first bout at featherweight showed he had the potential to eventually be a factor in the division, Stephens’ sophomore appearance in the 145-pound weight class served as an express lane to contention, as he ventured to Goiania, Brazil and starched the wildly popular Jason in under a minute.

If the Stout fight is representative of the whole of Stephens’ career and the Pettis contest was the one that set the tone for the last eight-plus years, this is the one that illustrates the explosive potential that has helped him remain a fixture in the Top 10 and someone fans always want to tune in to see compete.

Lots of athletes have power, but there is something different about the way Stephens can end a fight instantly. He possesses the kind of sudden, compact power that puts you on edge as soon as the fight begins because you know that at any minute, with any shot, momentum can shift or the fight can be over.

This was one of those moments where that sharp, dynamic power was on full display as he quickly closed the distance and silenced the partisan crowd, walking Jason down and flattening him with a right high kick as the Brazilian looked to throw an overhand right.

This might have been the quickest I’ve ever heard a crowd go from chanting “Uh Vai Morrer” in full throat to being completely speechless.

UFC 189 vs. Dennis Bermudez
https://ufcfightpass.com/video/37121

Another quality offering in the Jeremy Stephens “Sudden Displays of Power” exhibit is this effort at UFC 189 against fellow Top 10 staple Bermudez.

Stephens had dropped two straight after earning victories in each of his first three featherweight appearances, while Bermudez had his seven-fight winning streak snapped in his most recent outing. They were each hovering in the middle third of the featherweight rankings and eager to secure the kind of victory that would keep them in marquee fights going forward, and that showed through the opening 10 minutes as they engaged in a tight, competitive back-and-forth battle.

With the outcome hanging in the balance as the third round began, Bermudez looked to be the aggressor, backing Stephens into the fence. Suddenly, Stephens elevated in place and caught Bermudez on the chin with a knee, kicking off the sequence that would bring the fight to a close seconds later.

This was the kind of victory Stephens could just never quite get during his lightweight run — a memorable triumph over a ranked opponent that solidified his place in the pecking order — and it remains one of the best performances of his lengthy career.

UFC 215 vs. Gilbert Melendez
https://ufcfightpass.com/video/58926

Stephens entered this meeting with former Strikeforce lightweight champ Melendez on a two-fight slide. Not that either of the performances were particularly bad — he’d lost to Frankie Edgar by unanimous decision and Renato Moicano by split decision — but he was in need of an effort that would re-affirm his standing as one of the best fighters in the featherweight division.

To this day, this remains my favorite performance of Stephens’ career.

His knockouts of Dos Anjos, Jason, Bermudez and others are etched in my brain, but when I think of the fight where Stephens looked his absolute best from start to finish, this is the one. After 29 fights and a decade after making his UFC debut, Stephens walked into the Octagon in Edmonton and delivered a patient, measured, dominant performance.

From the outset, Stephens attacked Melendez’ lead leg, chopping him down with kick after kick after kick. Rather than chase a knockout or press to create an opening that wasn’t there, Stephens stayed on task, landing kick after kick after kick for 15 minutes, emerging victorious with scores of 30-26, 30-25, and 30-25 in his favor.

UFC Fight Night 124 vs. Dooho Choi
https://ufcfightpass.com/video/62386

When the dust settles and the smoke clears, this might be the performance Stephens is most remembered for once he’s hung up his gloves.

Choi had won Fight of the Year honors with Cub Swanson in his last appearance at UFC 206 and was coming back following more than a year on the sidelines, while Stephens was fresh off his victory over Melendez and serving as the A-Side of a main event for the first time in his career. Everyone expected a wildly entertaining battle as soon as this one was announced, yet somehow, these two still managed to exceed expectations.

What’s crazy is that the first four minutes of this fight were largely tactical. They were trading strikes and each man landed a couple quality shots here and there, but it wasn’t until the final minute or so where they started throwing some bigger, harder, “trying to get you outta here” shots, which then carried over into the second round.

Though both remained technical, the force of their blows was ratcheted up to start the second, with Stephens putting a little more mustard on everything he threw and Choi struggling to cope with the power coming his way. After “The Korean Superboy” connected with a front kick to the face early in the round, Stephens took control, dictating the terms of engagement and marching down Choi, picking him apart with stiff strikes before eventually dropping him with an overhand right.

A quick flurry of ground-and-pound followed and the fight was halted, giving Stephens his second consecutive marquee victory and the one that could very well end up being considered the signature win of his career when all is said and done.

UFC on FOX 28 vs. Josh Emmett
https://ufcfightpass.com/video/62863

Stephens was back in the Octagon six weeks after his victory over Choi, facing off with Josh Emmett in a second straight main event assignment that promised to be explosive and that delivered on that promise.

Emmett was two months removed from a vicious first-round knockout win over Ricardo Lamas that catapulted him into contention in the featherweight division, while Stephens was looking to continue the best run of his UFC career.

Both men looked to pick their spots, stick-and-move through much of the first round, with Emmett dropping Stephens with a heavy counter right along the fence with just over a minute remaining in the frame. Much like in the bout with Choi, Stephens came out in the second and answered back, clipping Emmett with a quick left hook after an exchange that put him on the deck. Moments later, the fight was over, and Stephens had another knockout and bonus check.

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