For undefeated Barrett brothers, tonight's CES MMA 39 is next step on path to shared glory

Fighting families aren’t necessarily a new thing in the MMA world. Mothers have competed at the same cards as sons. Brothers and sisters have been signed to the same fight organizations. And to the extreme degree, brothers have even faced off in the confines of a professional fight.

Mixing family with MMA has produced a bevy of different outcomes. The UFC’s Diaz brothers and Pettis brothers avoid fighting on the same cards while citing the emotional distraction that can come with watching a sibling compete. However, for Peter Barrett and Max Barrett, who both fight tonight on CES MMA 39’s AXS TV-televised main card, the opportunity has created only a closer bond.

Peter (6-0), who meets Jeremy Davis (3-0) in a 150-pound catchweight fight, and Max (3-0), who takes on Dan Dubuque (3-1) at 141 pounds, do nearly everything together. They live in the same house, work the same job and follow the same training schedule. Because of that, they both feel it’s natural to compete together, which happens for the fourth time in their amateur and professional careers with CES MMA 39, which airs on AXS TV from Plymouth Memorial Hall in Plymouth, Mass.

“We’re always excited to fight on the same night,” older brother Peter told MMAjunkie. “We love it. Other brothers like the Pettis brothers, Anthony wasn’t so thrilled about fighting the same night as his brother. But for me, it’s another day in the office. We love getting all our fans out there to the same shows. It makes selling tickets a little easier. If can get it all squared away to fight on the same card, that’s what we’ll do.”

Thus far, the formula of sharing the same fight date and card has worked out without flaw. Both fighters are undefeated in their young careers, so they have no reason to question the plan.

“We’re pretty used to fighting on the same card,” Max said. “It’s really not an issue or any different than spending all day training together. We go to the gym together and we work together, so we’re always together. It made our bond a lot stronger.”

Growing up, it was a constant competition

Peter Barrett

The Barrett brothers haven’t always been so close, but their relationship was always strong, they said. In a family that included 11 total children across multiple households, Peter and Max were the only two who gravitated toward martial arts. The journey began with taekwondo at a young age but eventually evolved into high school wrestling. Then striking and jiu-jitsu training. And finally, MMA.

Peter, the senior to Max by roughly two-and-a-half years, was the first to dip his toes in the MMA pool when he accepted his first amateur fight in April 2011. He was hooked immediately. At the same time, Max was finishing school in a different state and wasn’t yet involved in the sport. That changed when he moved home, though, and he saw what his brother was doing on a daily basis and wanted to try it for himself. By October 2012, he had stepped in the cage for the first time.

“When I moved home, I started training with him a little bit, and probably six months later, I took my first fight and fell in love with it,” Max said. “I did most of my learning in the cage in my amateur career. I only trained about six months for my first fight. I went from one school to training.”

As children, everything between Peter and Max was a competition of who was best. MMA allowed them to carry that brotherly rivalry into adulthood.

“Growing up, it was a constant competition for everything,” Peter said. “Who could make who cry fastest. Who could run fastest. Who could hit the other hardest. We were always competing. Getting into fighting just allowed that competitive side to grow and provide us with successful careers. We live together, we train together, and we work together. I spend more time with my brother than anybody else in the world. Not too many brothers can have that experience going through that much together.”

Although both men are thriving in MMA, they’re still not in a position to commit to the sport full-time. They work at an information marketing company to stay financially afloat as they look to climb the ranks and earn a living strictly from MMA, something that is a longterm goal for both. That requires winning fights, though, and it would seem opting to compete on the same timeline would be a good way to derail both if one goes off track.

They insist that’s not a concern. Other pairs of brothers may have dismissed the idea of sharing a card, but for the Barretts, it’s something they embrace.

“We’re both each other’s biggest critics, fans and support network,” Petter said. “If I’m fighting, it feels like he’s fighting, and if he’s fighting, then it’s like I’m fighting. When we’re looking into nutritionists, coaches, we’re always in communication of what we think would be best. He got into it a little later than I did, and I would be very involved in the process of who he would fight. We just have this incredible support network, and I think it strengthens our confidence going into the fights. I know what he’s going through and vice versa, really.

“It does get emotional. I do get a little worked up,” he continued. “He always fights before I do, so I kind of get to watch my brother go in there, handle business and use it for my fight. I know he’s going to go in there, and he’s going to win. It sucks watching your brother get hit or dropped or knocked down, but I know how he trains because it’s the same way I do, and I know our pursuit to be the best is a relentless pursuit. There’s no one that can get in our way. Having that mentality on fight night means I don’t have to get that emotionally invested in the process. When I see his hand raised, I’m ready to roar and smash the kid that’s in front of me.”

Baddest mother(expletive) in the building

As the younger and less experienced brother, Max is typically the first to compete on fight night, which sets the table for his family. He said there’s pressure that comes along with being in that position, but he said it’s easy to dismiss because he’s so confident.

“The pressure is always on me for my fight,” Max said. “He’s always fighting after me, so I get it going then I cool down and go watch him fight, and I get all jacked up again. He’s going into his fight jacked up from watching me fight. You try to stay as calm as you can before the fight. I try to just worry about myself and my responsibility for my fight. But there’s always that edge to want to start the night off right and add fuel to the fire.”

Fighting is an unforgiving sport, though, and while both men try to dismiss the reality that losing is a possibility, Peter said he feels confident enough that he could overcome the worst-case scenario of watching something unfortunate happen to his brother just minutes before he walks to the cage.

“My mentality on fight night? I show up, and I’m the baddest mother(expletive) in the building on that night,” Peter said. “I’m a (expletive) God, and I’m going to impose my will and make sure the world knows there’s no question. Regardless of how my brother performs, that’s my mentality anyway. I’m the baddest mother(expletive) on the planet on that night. No one can take that away from me unless I let them. My mentality is, ‘Barrett is bulletproof.’ I am able to separate those emotions when it’s time to fight.”

Although Max has been a pro only since January and has just three bouts to his credit, he said he’s thought about what the future holds for him and his brother. He wants to follow the path of Anthony and Sergio Pettis, Nick and Nate Diaz, Jim and Dan Miller and other brothers who have eventually landed in the UFC simultaneously. But, he said, MMA is not a sport in which beggars can be choosers, and they’d jump on any opportunities presented by larger organizations.

“You can’t turn down opportunities, but at the same time, we love fighting together, and we love training together,” Max said. “Even if it was for different promotions, we would still train together and prepare the same way for the fights. But we do like to stick together.”

They certainly do stick together, even to the point where they predict their fights to end in the exact same fashion. Peter and Max both said they will stay undefeated by putting their respective opponents away in the first round at CES MMA 39, but that’s not the burning question. Instead, it seems fans want to know how they would perform in a scenario in which they were pitted against each other. They can’t foresee anything such a thing happening outside of the training room, but if it did, both have some fairly bold predictions.

“I’d smother him,” Peter said. “I’d completely overwhelm him.”

“I think I’d beat him,” Max responded. “We just have two different mentalities, so I think I would take him out.”

For more on CES MMA 39, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.