Mirko ‘Crocop’ Filipovic vs Pat Barry review

Two of the UFC’s heaviest hitters faced off last night in a fight to be remembered as ‘The Night That Pat Barry Should Have Won”.

Crocop is a machine. A relentless head kicking, Wanderlei knocking out, Fedor facing, Croatian MACHINE. He picks his opponents off, strikes fear into them with his infamous left leg – even going as far as labelling his right leg ‘Hospital’ and left leg ‘Cemetary’ and countless opponents will agree. A former member of the Crotian Parliament and their Special Forces Unit, Crocop has famously beaten huge competition in the likes of K1 and the now defunct Pride Fighting Championships.

Last night he faced Pat Barry, a fresh faced up and comer with heavy hands and lethal leg kicks. Everytime Barry lands a leg kick in America, it causes a typhoon in Japan. Barry has won three quarters of his fights via kick, whether it be high kick or demolishing his opponents with leg kicks.

I was sceptical about the match up from the start after watching the pre fight press conference held by the UFC. During the press conference, Pat Barry was on the verge of helping Crocop drop his pants and service him, the whole thing was a fine line between respect/great sportsmanship and idolising your opponent. Numerous times Pat Barry stated that Crocop was someone he looked up to, “I made a list of 5 fighters I would never fight and Crocop was on that list”. I thought Crocop would have downplayed it and been his usual moody self but no. Crocop was NICE. Even cracked a couple of jokes about wearing a Pride t shirt as he entered the ring and about the upcoming fight.

DURING the fight, Pat Barry drops Crocop TWICE and refuses to follow Crocop to the floor and finish (later it is revealed by Barry that he had broken his right hand in the first round and his foot in the second). During the fight after landing sweets hots he high fives Crocop and HUGS him… during the round, which Crocop returns. He had walked Crocop down in most of the fight and failed to fire. In the third round, Barry did very little to defend the rear naked choke which ultimately finished him. There was no hand fighting, no pulling the arm off round the neck, no turning into the Crocop – nothing. He simply LET Crocop choke him.

Post fight, the new, seemingly funnier Crocop makes more jokes aimed at Dana White about how the rear naked choke funish should be ‘Submission of the Night’ or at ‘Fight of the Night’. A submission which his opponent didn’t defend and where the choke wasn’t applied fundamentally clean i.e hooks in, hips in.

A fight that Barry should have won if he didn’t let the status of Crocop get to him.

On a separate note, did anyone notice the Japan flag on Crocop’s shorts? (Classy move by the way, Crocop has always shown great respect to his Japanese fans, never forgetting that it was K1 and Pride who put him on the map). And what happened to his vale tudo trunks?

RIP Pride FC

0-1-1 in Thailand

So after what people told me was a ‘great fight’ and that I was ‘winning the fight all the way’, the bout was stopped midway through the 3rd and final round.

Scott dropped me with a hard right body kick which made me take a knee and get up on the 6 count but the referee called it off. A few people afterwards approached me and told me the fight shouldnt have been stopped as I got up and wanted to carry on but after giving it a couple of hours – my ribs are well and truly done. Im restricted in my movement side to side and Im struggling to tense my core. I’ve taken 2 strong Ibuprofen along with alternative heat/ice and I still feel like I want to vomit.

I’ve watched the video back and it looked like a good fight but you are your worst critic, more work could have been done on my behalf and I should have listened to my corner. Taking Ray Elbe’s advice, I scored 2 big knees during the fight and should have continued to throw them but didnt. I should have circled away from his right leg but didnt. I should have been more aggressive but wasnt and I should have fired the right hand when he dropped his guard but it didnt happen.

My warm up was fine if not a little longer than expected. Thai people always have a different concept of time and I fought 20 minutes later than I was advised but no harm done. It’s all experience and Paule Marchant from Peacock Gym in London did a great job in helping me warm up pad wise and Des was great in carting me around afterwards looking for pain relief!

All in all, a good night, a lesson learned and I take a loss in Thailand.

T Minus 120 minutes

As I lie down in my oversized bed, the buzz in my stomach and the increased heart rate stops me from getting any sort of last minute rest before I step in. Since 10am the buzz hasnt disappeared, it merely gets stronger and stronger and I know I should be embracing it rather than fighting it off, it’s not the first time I’ve had it and I guarantee it wont be the last.

Every scenario, gameplan and technique runs through my head but I shrug it off – I know nothing about this guy and vice versa. He’s a couple of kilos heavier and his hands look decent when I saw him on the bag but anyone can hit a bag. I look like Roy Jones on a bag but the reality is different. “It’s not about how hard you can hit, it’s about how hard you can GET hit and keep going” and I’ve been hit hard plenty of times. I train and spar with some of the best people in the UK, I know my strengths and I know my weaknesses better than anybody else. No stranger can beat me at what I’m good at.

Negative thoughts flow through my head, I have no team mates here. I have friends I’ve made along the way but nobody who really knows me. My brother isn’t here to offer me any last minute advice, Karl isn’t here to shout A class instructions, Garvey isn’t here to put my mind at ease, Anna isn;t here to make me laugh and Inman isn’t here to remind me without speaking that I can hang with people. “Winning is good, losing is bad”. I ran through a trial warm up last night at 7.30pm which is around the time I’ll be throwing down… it took me 20 minutes or so to peak. Static to Dynamics, showdowboxing, loose padwork and more static to dynamics.

No new techniques here, I have the tools… I just need to use them like I normally do.

As I wait for 7pm to approach so I can drink my coffee and get some fast acting carbs I think: Fundamentals. A straight line beats a curve every time without fail. No peacock. Chin down, hands up. Jab at distance and hook in range. Uppercut when he ducks his head down. Parry the jab and come over the top. Give him something to think about. Never let him settle. Accelerate.

Saturday 19th December 2009

Me working Fred's corner

Saturday 19th December had me cornering 2 fights at BBQ Beatdown, an unofficial ‘Smoker Fight’ event held every month at Tiger Muay Thai. With UFC names such as Roger Huerta, Chad Reiner and Dave Menne making appearances to referee and judge, the camp was almost full with people from the camp.

Skipping through the Thai fights, Brian Hyslop from Dinky Ninjas Fight Team, Glasgow was up against my neighbour and friend Frederik Jostelius. Both guys have fight experience with Fred having more so and a title holder back in Sweden.

Luke showing Brian some support!

DNFT and SBG have a good working relationship back at home and Ididnt want Brian going in there surrounded by people but feeling alone with no coaching so offered to help him out. Cornering Brian, I was a little flustered to say the least as I knew very little about both fighters except Fred was a talented wrestler and Brian, coming from DNFT and training with Paul McVeigh, had good hands and BJJ.

Me and Brian

The second fight was Fred Harrington and South African, George. With this fight, I knew Fred had better stand up striking and having fought Amateur rules at home in excess of 10 fights, he wouldn’t be bad on the ground. I knew george wouldn’t want any of the stand up so told Fred to keep it standing. Throw shots from inside clinch and to hit on the break… NOT to let it go to he ground. If somebody WANTS to take you down, chances are, they’re gonna be quite good.

Afterwards was unexpected. A trip to Patong which led us to Suzy Wong’s, an infamous strip bar where they handed you foam bats to spank the girls with. Hold on, not spank… HIT. Spanking would imply some sort of holding back. There was no holding back. The funniest thing about the whole thing was when we left and we were sat in another bar wondering why we left, so we went back. Such a great night, especially when witnessing one of the other customers go down on one of the girls… why would you go down on a woman in public? Not even that, why would you go down on a hooker?

Headcount before Patong

Christian, Brian and Me in Patong