UFC on ESPN 61's Danny Barlow admits pressure in being undefeated: 'I try my best to ignore the zero'

LAS VEGAS – Danny Barlow admits there is a lot of weight on his shoulders to keep his undefeated record at UFC on ESPN 61, but it’s important to not be consumed.

Barlow (8-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) will look to extend his unblemished record Saturday when he takes on Nikolay Veretennikov (12-4 MMA, 0-0 UFC) in a welterweight bout at the UFC Apex (ESPN, ESPN+).

The sport of MMA is extremely volatile with seemingly endless ways to lose. Barlow is aware of that, and it’s why he needs to keep himself in the correct mental space for as long as this perfect run lasts.

“I try my best to ignore the zero,” Barlow told MMA Junkie and other reporters at Wednesday’s media day. “That’s why it creates more pressure. But I know the strongest ones is those who break and rebuild. So it’s like, I focus in camp on not protecting the zero, but learning as many lessons as I possibly can. Humbly me being undefeated is me saying, ‘This is a real sport, this is real fighters and these are real people.’ They have real dreams. They really want to beat you.”

“You’ve got respect everyone you get in the cage with. And I’m the type of guy – you’ve got the fighters that just go out there and bang and the guys that don’t think too much about it. But you’ve got the guys who are overly intellectual about the sport and they worry too much, so their nerves get them. And I’m that type of guy. So I do go off a lot of calculations, brother. We do a lot of game planning. So when they switch up the opponent, I’m just used to it. I’m used to the pressure and I’m not afraid of what this sport comes with it. I’m that guy that has intellectually understood what this sport is.”

Barlow, 29, said he’s got a solid test ahead of him with Veretennikov, who is making his debut and eager to start his own story of success under the UFC banner. Barlow thinks that’s a dangerous type of opponent to be taking on, and he is excited to get in the octagon and find out what Veretennikov is all about.

“When you’re around the guy he looks good,’ Barlow said. “It’s going to be a good fight. I need to feel him. If I see something and it looks slow, but I want to feel it. I’m the type of guy who is the fan of the sport and fighting, but I’m also a fan of getting in there and learning.”

For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC on ESPN 61.