Tuesday, March 9, 2010

UFC 115 Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic Vs Pat Barry

Official!
A pair of heavyweight strikers collide in June at UFC 115 now that Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic (26-7-2 MMA, 3-3 UFC) and Pat Barry (5-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC) have agreed to a matchup.

Barry initially was expected to fight Gilbert Yvel (36-14-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) at the June 12 event.

Although not officially announced by the UFC, UFC 115 takes at GM Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

With Barry now fighting Filipovic, his original opponent, Yvel, instead fights Ben Rothwell, as MMAjunkie.com first reported.

Barry's opponent, Filipovic, recently evened his UFC record to 3-3 with a second-round TKO of late replacement Anthony Perosh at UFC 110. (Perosh replaced Rothwell, who was forced off the card due to traveler's flu.) Although sometimes slow and sluggish in the bout, Filipovic nevertheless controlled the pace of the fight and staked claim to the win, which moves him to 4-1 (with one no-contest) over his six fights, which have come in the UFC and DREAM.

A former World Combat League regular and former K-1 kickboxer (with an 18-6 record), Barry transitioned to MMA in May 2008 with the help of famed kickboxer turned MMA trainer Duke Roufus. After just three pro MMA bouts, he made his octagon debut and scored a devastating TKO of Dan Evensen via leg kicks at UFC 102.

Barry then got caught via guillotine choke by Tim Hague at UFC 98 but recently rebounded for a second-round TKO of Antoni Hardonk that earned him the night's "Knockout of the Night" award at UFC 104.

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