MMAConvert.com

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.

Rumors that the UFC offered Rampage Jackson and Randy Couture the opportunity to step in and fight Mirko Cro Cop at UFC 110 proved to be false. That doesn’t mean Anthony Perosh was their first choice though. They offered Pat Barry the fight first and he was more than willing to take it.

Heavyweight kickboxing specialist Pat Barry was one guy considered. On Wednesday, he was asked by his trainer Duke Roufus if he was interested.

“He asked me if I wanted to step up and take the fight,” Barry told Cagewriter. “I said absolutely. I told them I would fly in the day of the fight and fight him in my jeans.”

“Of course I’d love to have that fight. If I had more notice that would’ve been awesome,” said Barry. “I [expletive] wanted that fight so bad, bro. I told them ‘y’all don’t even have to pay me. Really! All you have to do is send me a plane ticket.’ Either way I win.”

“I haven’t trained in three months. I’ll fight the dude in my jeans,” Barry sounding like the WWE’s John Cena or Uncle Elmer. “I would’ve fought him while I’m fat.”

Unfortunately, Barry was unable to obtain a work visa in time and couldn’t make it, so the UFC had to go with a local fighter. Still, Cro Cop vs. Barry would be a badass fight. If Cro Cop manages to keep it together, it’s a fight I hope the UFC makes in the future.

Inside MMA airs on HDNet every Friday night at 9PM ET.

Inside MMA Archive

More segments after the jump.

The only story better than a broke Pat Barry winning $120,000 in bonus money is a broke Pat Barry trying to deposit $120,000 in bonus money. From MMAScrapsRadio (transcript via MiddleEasy):

It wasn’t until Tuesday when I got back home that I got a knock on the door, a special delivery for me. I opened it up and when I saw it, I was like, ‘What the…’ They weren’t joking man they seriously sent me a check for $120,000. I wrote to Joe Silva and said if this was an April Fool’s joke, let me know because I’m about to jump up and down and take off my clothes and run around the street naked. They said it was real man, it was real.

I walk outside to get my car and my car doesn’t start so I’ve got on a t-shirt and I’ve got some pink stripy shorts on, some flip-flops and a black eye. So I’ve got to stand in the street and flag people down, and I’m sweating…I’ve got to flag people down with a black eye and sweat marks to try to get me a jump.

I finally get this guy and I say ‘Yo man, I have a $120,000 in my pocket…can you give me a jump?’. Hey was like ‘Yeah man I’ll give you a jump’. It looked like ‘Hey man can you help me jump start this car I’m trying to steal right now’. I go to the bank, I’m sweaty, I’ve got the black eye, I haven’t shaven in two days, I’m strung out because I haven’t slept, I have green circles under my eyes so I’m like ‘Can I have a deposit slip mam?’. She gives it to me, I fill it out hand it to her. She looks at the deposit slip, then the check, then looks at me and says ‘Excuse me I’ll be right back’. Then a manager comes out, a guy in a suit and says ‘What seems to be the problem?’. I was like ‘Well I have a black eye, that’s the only problem I know this looks really ridiculous’. So he asks me for my ID, I hand him my license an he’s like ‘Your license says Pat Barry, but this check was written to Patrick Barry’. So I decided to be funny and tell him Pat Barry is in my trunk right now. He didn’t laugh. [Ed note: I did] So I told him take your time man do whatever you need to do because I have no where to go and my truck probably wont start when I go outside so you can just do whatever you need to do. An hour later he came back and everything was fine, the check was in my bank account.

How do you not love this guy?

Ariel Helwani joins Mike Straka and crew on Fox Fight Game to break down the UFC 104 main event and talk about Cain Velasquez’s big win over Ben Rothwell.

It’s nice to see the prelim fighters win the UFC pay-per-view bonus money. They need it a lot more than many of the guys on the main card who are making well into the five, six and seven-figures per fight.

The CSAC has released the fighter payouts for UFC 104. Keep in mind, these figures represent the base contracted pay the fighter receives from the promotion. These figures do not include any additional “locker room” bonuses, pay-per-view revenue sharing, or sponsorship money, which in many cases exceeds a fighter’s base pay. These numbers also do not account for taxes, insurance, and license fees.

UFC 104 post-fight press conference videos and interviews via Fanhouse & Fox Fight Game. Fight Opinion has a look at some of the interesting statements made by Joe Stevenson (Fisher was “slippery”) and Chael Sonnen (Okami drags his opponents down) in the videos below.

Video of the UFC 104 post-fight press conference can be seen on UFC.com. Here’s a rundown of news and notes from the conference (paraphrased, not quotes).

UFC 104 pre-fight interviews with Joe Stevenson, Spencer Fisher, Pat Barry, Chael Sonnen and Josh Neer via Fanhouse, Cagewriter and Fighters Only.