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Gilbert Yvel is now expected to face Ben Rothwell when the UFC comes to Vancouver for the first time at UFC 115.

Yvel had initially been expected to face Pat Barry at the event, but that bout was scrapped in favor of a match-up between Mirko Cro Cop and Barry instead. Now, it appears that Yvel and Rothwell have agreed to face-off against each other.

For both Yvel and Rothwell, this fight will have extra urgency, as each are coming off of a loss in their UFC debuts. Given the recent spate of UFC roster cuts for fighters who fall short, failing to secure a victory at UFC 115 is likely to spell trouble for either of them.

Yvel (36-14-1 1 NC), has had a very busy and sometimes controversial MMA career. Three of his losses have come by way of DQ, for biting, eye-gouging, and most infamously, punching and kicking a referee. Still, Yvel remains a very dangerous striker, with 31 of his career wins coming by way of knockout or TKO, and it has been more than five years since his last DQ. Yvel lost to rising contender Junior dos Santos by way of first-round TKO at UFC 108 in his first UFC appearance.

Rothwell (30-7) had gone 14-1 in his last 15 matches prior to joining the UFC, with his only loss during that stretch coming at the hands of former UFC heavyweight champ Andrei Arlovski. He had initially been expected to face Mirko Cro Cop at UFC 110 in Australia, but was forced to withdraw from that bout due to illness. Rothwell last fought at UFC 104, where he lost via second-round TKO to Cain Velasquez.

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Unexpected, but awesome, MMA news sure to leave fight fans anticipating the bout for months to come, was revealed today.

Former Pride Grand Prix champion Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic and Pat Barry have verbally agreed to face each other in a heavyweight bout slated for the main card of UFC 115. News of the bout was first reported by MMA Scraps Radio.

Barry was originally rumored to be facing Gilbert Yvel at UFC 115, however, the UFC was so impressed that Barry wanted to fight Filipovic on short notice, that they instead decided to make that fight instead.

Barry was one of several fighters contacted to fill for the ill Ben Rothwell to face "Cro Cop" at last weekend's UFC 110 event, however, he couldn't accept the fight due to a couple issues, obtaining a work visa, and his health.

At the post fight press conference for UFC 110, UFC President Dana White mentioned that Filipovic would likely face Rothwell next, however, those plans have apparently been shelved for the moment.

Barry (5-1) is coming off of a very impressive second-round TKO win over Antoni Hardonk at UFC 104 in October. The fight with Hardonk earned Barry two fight night bonuses totaling a staggering $120,000 in extra pay. Barry, along with his opponent, Hardonk, each took home $60,000, as they were awarded "Fight of the Night" for their exciting heavyweight battle. Barry pocketed another $60,000 for earning the "Knockout of the Night" bonus.

Prior to the win over Hardonk, Barry suffered his first career loss in his second fight with the UFC against Tim Hague at UFC 98 last May. He sports a 2-1 UFC record, with a win in his Octagon debut over Dan Evensen.

Filipovic (26-7-2) is 3-1 in his last four bouts, most recently scoring a second-round TKO win over late replacement Anthony Perosh at the aforementioned UFC 110 event on February 20. His lone loss over that four-fight stretch came in his previous outing against Junior dos Santos at UFC 103 in September.

Filipovic has put together an even 3-3 record in six fights with the UFC, with other Octagon wins coming over Eddie Sanchez and Mostapha Al-Turk, while suffering his other UFC losses against Gabriel Gonzaga and Cheick Kongo.

Though not yet officially announced, UFC 115 is expected to take place on June 15 at GM Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Injured Barca Players Recovering Well

Meanwhile FC Barcelona Midfielder Xavi Hernandez continued his recovery working with a fitness coach away from the rest of the squad. His recovery looks on track and we can expect to see him in action in two weeks time. Dani Alves is also working with injury concerns, and also jogged with and without the ball in the company of a fitness coach. Meanwhile Jonathan Dos Santos, Marc Bartra and Thiago Alcántara continued training withe the senior squad.

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Ben Rothwell and Mirko"Cro Cop" Filipovic are no strangers to pressure, but neither are feeling it in anticipation of their upcoming scrap this weekend at UFC 110, even though both fighters are coming off of big losses.

Rothwell (30-7) dropped his UFC debut to Cain Velasquez at UFC 104 about a minute into the second round via TKO. The stoppage was viewed as early by many ringside observers, but likely just hastened the inevitable, as Rothwell appeared clearly outclassed throughout the contest.

Cro Cop (25-7) has gone 2-3 in the UFC, with his most recent loss to Junior dos Santos after calling called it quits in the third round. Soon after, the famous Croatian publicly questioned whether he still had the will to fight, a statement he later retracted, confirming desire to fulfill his UFC contract and regain the enormous success he enjoyed early on in his career.

"To be a successful fighter now, you have to go to a camp," Cro Cop said. "For all my career I [was] training at home, sparring with friends who were there to help me as a friend, doing me a favor. There were not A-class fighters. It was a mistake of mine to train like that, with friends, at home. It was a handicap I should not have given myself. In Croatia, we do not have big camps like in other countries, but I was not willing to go away to train."

A disappointing UFC run was enough to finally convince Cro Cop to bring his training up to date. He now routinely spares with "A-class" fighters looking to knock his head off.

"Now, I am making myself do this," Cro Cop said. "I wish I had done this a long time ago. I went to Holland to train with K-1 fighters for over a month for this fight. It was very hard, very new to me. Now I am training with sparring partners who are nice people, sure, but not my friends. These are sparring partners who want to knock me out in sparring. In the Croatian media they said it was 'life and death' sparring -- it was not quite life and death, but it was all out fighting, very hard. For every round, I had A-class fighters trying to knock me out."

In any event, Rothwell believes that the legendary Pride Grand Prix champion still has quite a bit left in the tank and he won't be taking the former Croation police officer lightly.

"This is not an opponent you take lightly, and would be your mistake to do so," Rothwell said. "Dos Santos said it best when he said the guy still has a lot of fight left in him. That's it man. I had to start training hard. He's gonna always bear down and stick to what he likes to do and that's his left side. He likes to do the southpaw stand-up fighter. But, then you see against Dos Santos he tried to go for a takedown. Anything is possible. He's brought in huge monster's of guys so he's obviously very worried about my weight. Things of that nature, so I'm just going to go in there and do my thing."

Doing his thing consists of working his standup and looking for knockouts, and at 6'5" 265-pounds the former IFL champion enjoys a distinct size advantage over the 6'2" 226-pound Croatian. A point not lost on Cro Cop.

"He is a big guy, much bigger and taller than I am," Cro Cop said. "He is very tough as well. But I am ready. I don't think anyone should underestimate me. When you have a self-made fighter like I am, with the PRIDE belt, it's not good to underestimate me."

Both MMA veterns for 9 years, Rothwell and Cro Cop bring a wealth of experience to the table, with Rothwell going undefeated in 9 fights with the IFL; and Cro Cop winning Pride's Open-Weight Grand Prix tournament on his birthday in 2006. This won't be an easy task for either fighter.

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A welterweight bout between UFC newcomer Daniel Roberts and John "Doomsday" Howard is now in the works for UFC on Versus 1 after Howard's original opponent Anthony Johnson was forced to withdraw from the event due to a knee injury.

The Boston Herald was the first media outlet to confirm the change in opponents yesterday.

The UFC has yet to confirm the new bout and there has also been no word if the Howard vs. Roberts bout will remain on the televised main card as the previous fight was scheduled.

Roberts most recently defeated Anthony Macias at a 5150 Combat League/XFL co-promoted event last month. He has competed for other notable organizations such as Bricktown Brawl, Extreme Fighting League and Freestyle Cage Fighting.

Roberts has put together an undefeated 9-0 MMA record since turning pro in September 2007, with seven of his wins coming by submission. He holds other notable career wins over the likes of Brandon Gaines, Levi Avera and Mike Jackson.

Howard (13-4) is coming off a dramatic come-from-behind third-round knockout win over veteran Dennis Hallman at TUF 10 finale. The win moved Howard to a perfect 3-0 with the UFC, with wins in his first two UFC bouts against Chris Wilson and Tamdan McCrory.

Prior to joining the UFC, Howard fought mostly on the east coast for notable promotions such as; the IFL, Combat Zone, World Fighting League, Ring of Combat and Cage Fury Fighting Championships.

The UFC on Versus 1 event takes place on March 21 at the Odeum Colorado in Broomfield, Colorado, and is headlined by a much anticipated light-heavyweight bout between Jon Jones and Brandon Vera. In addition, rising contender Junior dos Santos will take on former UFC heavyweight title contender Gabriel Gonzaga in the night's co-main event.