In terms of pure entertainment value, it doesn’t get much better than this. At UFC 115, two of the best strikers in the heavyweight division will clash in a fight that’s sure to earn one of these guys a sweet “knockout of the night” bonus. Mirko “Crocop” Filipovic vs. Pat Barry – both of these guys are coming to bang and leave the other laid out on the octagon canvas.
Neither of these guys has a history of grappling and it’s highly unlikely that one of them will be shooting for a takedown. “Crocop” has been knocking guys out since back in his K1 days over a decade ago and Pat Barry, while less experienced, has an 80% knockout ratio in the few MMA fights that he’s had.
I was extremely impressed with Pat Barry’s performance against Anthony Hardonk back at UFC 104 and apparently Dana White was as well since he awarded Barry both the “knockout of the night” and the “fight of the night” bonuses.
Those bonuses put Pat Barry over the 6-figure mark for the outing and gave him the sort of “rags to riches” story that most people can only dream about. Prior to the fight, Barry was basically living on rice and ketchup with less than a hundred dollars to his name. Had that fight been cancelled or postponed, he would have been evicted from his apartment 6 days later.
Having been in that situation, and knowing what it’s like to go to sleep hungry, I can only imagine how it has impacted his work ethic. There’s no way that Pat Barry is going to come out and disappoint his fans (and especially his boss) and put on anything less than an amazing fight. He’ll be gunning for one of those bonuses again, that I’m sure of.
While Pat Barry is a rising star in the sport who’s coming off the biggest win of his career, Mirko “Crocop” has been in there with the worlds best and will be considered a legend of the sport once he decides to hang up his checkered fight shorts for good. Whether or not he’ll be pounded into retirement by Pat Barry, we’ll have to wait and see.
It’s been quite a while since we’ve seen the vicious Crocop from the PRIDE days that we’ve come to know and love. Since he made the transition into the UFC, he’s basically been one lacklustre performance after another. He looked dominant in his latest fight against Anthony Perosh but really, who’s Anthony Perosh?.. Other than a moderately talented, yet brave fighter who stepped into the cage with Crocop on extremely short notice that is..
Of course, you can never really count Crocop out of a fight as he’s always just one left high kick away from ending things. I would analyze their potential game plans here but I don’t think either of these guys is going to shy away from the style they’re most comfortable with – and that’s standing toe to toe and trading shots until the other drops. This is going to be sick.. Here’s what Pat Barry thinks of this opportunity..
