This Saturday, at UFC 115, living legend Mirko “Cro Cop’ Filipovic takes on kick-boxer Pat Barry and attempts to bat better than .500 in the UFC.
While there is a majority of MMA watchers assuming this is Barry’s coming out party, I couldn’t disagree more.
Mirko has fallen from the great heights since 2006 but he is still a level above a lot of the heavyweights in the UFC, including Pat Barry.
In his bout with Junior dos Santos last September, Mirko fought competitively, even winning the second round on many scorecards, before catching a punch to his eye rendering him unable to continue.
Junior dos Santos is considered one of the hottest contenders in the UFC right now and arguably the best striker in the UFC heavyweight division.
If Cro Cop can still hang with him, then what has fans so sure that Barry is going to mop the floor with the Croatian?
Isn’t Barry’s record 2-1 in the UFC?
Barry was submitted by Tim Hague in the first round prior to his recent win over Antoni Hardonk. The same Tim Hague that was knocked out in seven seconds by Todd Duffee, and then lost consecutive fights to Chris Tuchscherer and Joey Beltran.
Are people that impressed with his win over Hardonk?
The same Hardonk who has gone 3-4 in the UFC and has been stopped in his last two.
I imagine Cro Cop would have an easier time with Hardonk than Barry did.
Cro Cop will not just obliviously take the leg kicks that Barry delivered on Dan Evenson.
Cro Cop was an elite kick-boxer before many of us were even watching MMA.
Mirko took an amazing amount of punishment towards the end of his fight with dos Santos and never went down.
His toughness is not in doubt.
Cro Cop may have more miles but he’s seen a better version of everything Barry has to offer along the way.
The betting odds show Barry as the favorite. I say, this looks like an opportunity.
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