‘Cro Cop’ scary to Barry on paper, in MMA cage

It’s quite rare, though, to grow up and have an opportunity to get paid to beat up one of your old poster idols.

Pat Barry has that chance Saturday when he faces Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic at UFC 115 in Vancouver.

“I had a poster of Mirko on my wall. I mean, he was in my top-five list of, like, scariest guys on the planet,” Barry said on a conference call. “This was before I had even started training. When my brother and I would just sit around watching K-1 fights and watching kickboxers, this was a guy that I idolized. When I started training, he was still one of my top-five favorites and still is.”

Filipovic is a natural role model for Barry, who like the Croatian began his pro fighting career as a kickboxer before transitioning to mixed martial arts.

A victory would propel Barry into the upper echelon of heavyweights in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, but it is only one of his two goals this weekend.

Barry said he has every intention of getting Filipovic’s autograph before the fight and knows he will have to deal with mixed emotions before attempting to knock out one of his idols.

“Is it difficult to separate star-struckness from it just being a regular fight? Absolutely,” Barry said.

Filipovic has hardly looked like the fighter who became one of the most feared strikers in the sport during his career in the defunct Pride organization in Japan, but Barry said he thinks Filipovic is as dangerous as ever.

“Anybody says that Cro Cop is out of his prime can feel free to fight him for me. I don’t mind,” Barry said. “I’ll defend that to the end. In my eyes, he is the man he’s always been. It’s just that everybody else has gotten better. It makes it a little more difficult nowadays.”

One facet Filipovic appears to have changed is his focus on fighting. Throughout his career, he has worked as an anti-terrorism police officer in Croatia and served a stint in parliament in his homeland. He says he has put those projects behind him and is entirely dedicated to training and fighting.

The fight is part of a card headlined by a matchup between former champions Chuck Liddell and Rich Franklin.

■ TUF 12 — With the 11th season of the UFC’s reality show, “The Ultimate Fighter,” set to wrap up next week, filming on Season 12 began Monday in Las Vegas.

Georges St. Pierre and Josh Koscheck are in town to coach their respective teams of aspiring lightweight fighters.

Filming will last about six weeks, with the first episode set to air on Spike (Cable 29) on Sept. 15. Koscheck will challenge St. Pierre for the welterweight title at the conclusion of the season.

The live Season 11 finale will take place at the Palms on June 19.

■ NUMBERS RELEASED — UFC 114 drew 14,246 fans and a live gate of $3,730,125, according to figures released by the Nevada Athletic Commission.

A total of 13,294 tickets were purchased, with 952 comps given out, for the May 29 card at the MGM Grand. Only 14 tickets went unsold.

The gate was the fifth highest for a UFC event at the venue.

Contact reporter Adam Hill at ahill@reviewjournal.com or 702-224-5509.