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UFC 115 was expected to feature two heavyweight battles in the form of Mirko Cro Cop vs. Ben Rothwell and Pat Barry vs. Gilbert Yvel. However, it appears the UFC has decided to shake things up and switch the match-ups around.

Pat Barry so badly wanted to fight Cro Cop at UFC 110 he was willing to hop on a plane to Australia on a day’s notice and fight Cro Cop in his jeans. It didn’t work out then because of visa issues, but the UFC apparently took note of Barry’s enthusiasm and offered him the fight for UFC 115.

A battle of former K-1 strikers has been lined up as rising star Pat “HD” Barry will face former Pride Grand Prix champion Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic on the main card of the Vancouver show.

Sources close to the fight on Friday confirmed to MMAWeekly.com that the bout has been verbally agreed upon. The fight was initially reported by MMA Scraps Radio.

Meanwhile, their former opponents, Rothwell and Yvel, will now face each other on the card instead.

Nice job by Joe Silva if you ask me. He managed to take two pretty solid fights and make them even better.

Anthony Perosh wasn’t too crazy at first about stepping in on two days notice to fight Mirko Cro Cop at UFC 110, but apparently the UFC was able to convince him to take it by offering him a four-fight deal in exchange.

It was not all bad news for Perosh though. He took a beating but he accepted the fight on condition that he get a multi-fight contract. He ended up with a four-fight deal, although there is nothing to say he will not be dropped if he loses his next clash.

Perosh took a beating and sustained a huge cut, so he definitely earned it, but if you ask Cro Cop, it could have been worse.

“I admire Perosh for accepting the fight. There were much better fighters there who turned it down but I understand why; they did not have time to prepare. [But] I am very sorry that I had to hurt Perosh. I tried to fight with as much consideration for him as I could. I even avoided the ground because I am 7, 8 kilos heavier than he is.

Filipovic added that UFC president Dana White had questioned why he did not finish Perosh off. “I just couldn’t do that to him when he was so bloody,” he said.

Meanwhile, Cro Cop’s original opponent Ben Rothwell is still in Australia recovering from the traveler’s flu.

“It was a really bad virus,” Roufus said. “He got really sick and lost a lot of weight and hadn’t eaten for 48 hours. He was still pretty crappy when I left.”

Bummer for Rothwell, but the good news is he’ll still get his shot at Cro Cop, possibly at UFC 115 in Vancouver.

Image via Sherdog

Well this sucks. The UFC just announced that Ben Rothwell and Elvis Sinosic will no longer be competing at UFC 110.

A shoulder injury suffered by Elvis Sinosic has forced the cancellation of his rematch with countryman Chris Haseman, and heavyweight Ben Rothwell has been sidelined by an illness, forcing him out of his bout with Mirko Cro Cop. Australian veteran Anthony Perosh will step in to face Mirko Cro Cop.

With the Sinosic-Haseman cancellation the card will now feature nine fights instead of ten. It’s unknown what kind of illness Rothwell has come down with.

As for Cro Cop’s opponent, he’s 10-5 with notable losses to James Te Huna, Christian Wellisch (UFC 66) and Jeff Monson (UFC 61). He hasn’t beat anyone you’ve ever heard of. Needless to say, we’re probably not going to get any answers about Cro Cop’s future this weekend.

Here’s Perosh’s fight against Te Huna, so you’re not completely unfamiliar with him. Perosh is in the white trunks.

Image via All Elbows

Mirko ‘Cro Cop’ Filipovic and Ben Rothwell meet in a heavyweight bout this Saturday, Feb. 20, at UFC 110.

MMA For Real and WKR have engaged in a little friendly debate over who’s on the chopping block at UFC 110. Wanderlei Silva, Stephan Bonnar, Keith Jardine, Mirko Cro Cop and Ben Rothwell are all coming off losses so they’re at the center of attention. That doesn’t necessarily mean all five are in danger of losing their jobs, but at least two of those fighters are approaching their fights with “must-win” attitudes.

If you like a good stand-up war, you’re probably going to see a few this weekend at UFC 110. Wanderlei Silva, Keith Jardine and Mirko Cro Cop all face opponents with decent ground games, but if have anything to say about it, there’s going to be a lot of standing and banging going on at UFC 110.

He’s a solid fighter, perhaps more than solid. I never heard about him before I came to the UFC, and before I saw his fight against Arlovski. He was fighting in US shows, very experienced with 37-40 fights? He has some 10-15 kilograms on me, some height too. I’ve seen some of his fights, i focused on the last two. He lost both, but that doesn’t mean anything, he lost against Arlovski, he gave him a very hard time. He’s dangerous on the ground, I’ll have to avoid going to the ground with him, not because of the submissions, but because of his ground and pound. He’s very good at that. he landed a few nasty blows on Arlovski, I’ll have to be on the lookout for that. The rest of his game… he’s not a kicker, although I’ve seen one high kick attempt from him, he is a good boxer, charges forward. His tempo’s not so good… we’ll see. I’m ready and I can’t wait for the fight…Yes it does. that’s how it is, there are fighters like Barnett i can beat 10 times out of 10, but on the other hand, there are fighters that don’t suit me well and can always beat me. But I believe Rothwell is a good match up for me.

—Mirko Cro Cop in an interview with Nokaut, via Fighters Only, talking about his upcoming opponent, Ben Rothwell, at UFC 110

Cro Cop seems to know what he has to do at UFC 110 to “justify his reputation” as he put it in the interview. He seems to have put in all the hard work in the gym. On paper, he should beat Ben Rothwell. He just has to go out there and execute. Problem is it’s never that simple with Mirko which is exactly why I’ll be watching the fight like this.

It took me all this time to realise that it is impossible to prepare properly without a real good camp and authoritative coach. That was the main fault in my career, I was too lazy to go away to a respected team. Now, I have Hyppolite destroying me on the pads and then I spar six minute rounds with three fresh opponents…The problem before was that I was sparring with friends who were doing me a favour by being there and so I could not go so hard on them, looking for the knockout. In Amsterdam, it was a struggle of life or death. I was looking for the knockout and so was my opponent. In future I will spending a full month in Amsterdam.”

—Mirko Cro Cop in an interview with Sportal.hr translated by Fighters Only talking about his new training camp

After suffering another heartbreaking loss in the UFC last September, Mirko Cro Cop fired his entire training camp and hired a new one led by Muay Thai trainer Ivan Hyppolite to help him prepare for his upcoming fight against Ben Rothwell at UFC 110. At this point, I don’t think anyone is getting their hopes up that a different camp is the magic solution to Cro Cop’s problems in the cage, but he seems convinced that getting rid of all the yes-men who didn’t push him was exactly what he needed. I still think the majority of Mirko’s problems reside in his head, but hopefully this will give him the confidence he needs to start pulling the trigger again.

Image via Sherdog

A rumor surfaced on the Underground yesterday that Mirko ‘Cro Cop’ will be taking on Ben Rothwell at UFC 110 in Australia, and today Sherdog is reporting the match-up as “likely.”

Mirko Filipovic and Ben Rothwell have been scheduled to meet Feb. 21 in Sydney, Australia, according to multiple sources with knowledge of the bout.

Skill-wise, Cro Cop should be able to take Rothwell, at least on the feet, but man, we just never know with Cro Cop anymore, do we? To be honest, I don’t like the fight. Rothwell will have a significant size advantage, and I don’t know about you, but I’m just not interested in watching Cro Cop get pummeled again by someone substantially larger than him. Is it too much to ask for Cro Cop to take on someone his own size?

Maybe if Cro Cop gets his head right with that sports psychologist he talked about seeing, the fight will play out differently than we’ve come to expect, but really, I don’t see any reason to get our hopes up.

Image via Sherdog