Monday Morning Hangover: Pat Barry suffers second straight knockout loss, is a move to light heavyweight in order?

Another weekend of fisticuffs has come and gone as UFC Fight Night 33 blew the roof off the Brisbane Entertainment Centre last Friday night (Dec. 6, 2013) in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

Many combatants were left licking their wounds after a wild night of fights, including James Te Huna, who was viciously knocked out by a resurgent Mauricio Rua in round one (highlights here). And Mark Hunt, as well as Antonio Silva, who are likely a bit sore following their epic five-round war that ended up in a majority draw (see the video here).

But, which fighter is suffering from the worst post-fight hangover now two days removed from the show?

Pat Barry.

"HD" headed to "The Land Down Under," reluctantly, in order to erase the memory if his previous first-round knockout at the hands of Shawn Jordan at UFC 161 by attempting to pick up a win over a red-hot Soa Palelei.

Unfortunately for Barry, he'll now be having more nightmares to deal with because "The Hulk" smashed his way to his tenth straight victory by knocking out the heavyweight striker with some vicious strikes from mount.

From the onset, it was obviously Soa wanted the fight to hit the ground attempting two early takedowns, landing one of them. Once the action hit the Octagon floor, "HD" tried a kimura to no avail, which allowed Palelei to obtain top control.

It was all she wrote from there, as the Aussie proceeded to use his size advantage to unleash some fast and furious ground-and-pound action which put Barry to sleep, handing him his second consecutive knockout (KO) loss.

So, what went wrong for Barry?

It's simple: He's a small heavyweight fighting in a land occupied by towering giants that outweigh him night in and night out. Standing at 5 ft., 11 in. and weighing in at 237 pounds, Barry is easily one of the smallest and lightest fighters in the 265-pound division.

Sure, the former kickboxer has enjoyed success in the past, knocking out bigger men while in K-1 and winning five bouts in the weight class since making his debut in 2009, but losing six of his bouts to much bigger men such as Stefan Struve, Lavar Johnson and Cheick Kongo aren't doing him any favors if he wants to continue his career inside the Octagon.

No one can deny the tenacity and striking power that Barry packs in his compact frame, but if he wants to find some success and end his woes inside the cage, a change must be made.

Having said that, Barry needs to take a page out of Daniel Cormier's book and consider a drop to the light heavyweight division, a place where he won't have to worry about being outweighed by 30-plus pounds come fight night.

If anything, he'll likely be one of the hardest punchers in the division if he can cut the weight properly while not losing a lot of his strength.

Furthermore, the behemoths that call the heavyweight division home aren't getting any smaller and I shutter to think what will happen if he finds himself locked inside the cage against monsters such as Alistair Overeem, Antonio Silva and Junior dos Santos.

Is it time for a change, or time to hang 'em up?