Barrett survives detached retina to make it to Bellator 25

Bellator's heavyweight tournament really heats up Thursday night with two more matches in the quarterfinals. Last week, Neil Grove advanced by destroying Eddie Sanchez. Thursday night, the tourney's biggest name, Cole Konrad, is unveiled. The 2006 and 2007  NCAA heavyweight wrestling champ is off to a 4-0 start in his MMA career and has a target on his back. Scott Barrett is one of the guys who wants a crack at Konrad. Getting a fight with Konrad and winning the Bellator tournament would complete a pretty interesting journey for the stocky Barrett. After wrestling four years at Division II Carson-Newman, Barrett decided to pass on getting his master's degree in Special Education and try mixed martial arts. Things were going well, as he started out 6-0, and then a huge punch during a sparring session nearly ended his MMA career. Barrett was working with Brad Baker in Las Vegas. Baker broke his hand when he landed the big punch. Meanwhile, Barrett felt fine until he went through a prefight checkup. Said Barrett via Sherdog.com:     "I didn’t really think about the punch again ‘til one of the doctors at the pre-fight checkup asked me if my eyeball had recently suffered any unusual trauma."  The doctor told Barrett he'd suffered a detached retina. "These prefight checkups are usually just a formality," sighed Barrett. "And because my vision wasn’t compromised, I had absolutely no idea that my eye was damaged. [...] Yeah, I was more than heartbroken – I was devastated." Barrett certainly couldn't fight with the eye injury. One more shot to eye could cause permanent blindness. So he had to go in for laser surgery to fix the issue.  "It was a little spooky ‘cause you’re awake the whole time during the operation,” remembered Barrett. "You sort of stare off at the wall while they burn your retina back into your eye. Immediately afterwards I thought I had gone blind because I was so heavily dilated. But fortunately, the operation was a complete success. My eye’s as good as new now." Barrett (10-1) lost his next fight but has reeled off four straight wins since. His last seven wins have come by stoppage via TKO. He has the look of the underdog, at only  6-foot tall but Barrett walks around in excess of 275 pounds. He takes the big step up Thursday night against Damian Grabowksi, who is considered by some as the best heavyweight prospect right now out of Europe. Bellator 25 weigh-in (Courtesy MMA Junkie)Fox Sports Net Televised Card (8 p.m. ET) Brad Blackburn (169) vs. Dan Hornbuckle (170.5)Cole Konrad (265) vs. Rogent Lloret (250)Damian Grabowski (240) vs. Scott Barrett (263)Jessica Pene (114) vs. Zoila Frausto (115)Non-TelevisedShonie Carter (176.5) vs. Torrance Taylor (171)Brian Gassaway (171) vs. Kevin Knabjian (170)John Kolosci (170) vs. Kenny Robertson (170)Keoki Cypriano (155.2) vs. Eric Kriegermeier (155.5)

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