Now depending on how you’ve been spending your free time since June (as certain ‘recreational activities’ have been known to diminish one’s memory), you may or may not recall Pat Barry dropping Mirko “Cro Cop” at UFC 115, only to let the legendary fighter get back to his feet. At the time many were perplexed by the fact that Barry didn’t swarm in for the finish, particularly because the bout soon turned in Cro Cop’s favor, who went on to tap out his younger opponent in the third round.
Well as it turned out, Barry had a pretty damn good reason as to why he didn’t swarm Cro Cop early in the bout; the punch that put Mirko on his ass also shattered Barry’s hand. We’re guessing searing pain like that justifies some hesitation…In an interesting interview with MMA Fighting Barry discussed not only breaking his hand in the fight, but also his foot, which apparently had Cro Cop wondering soon after:
“We were on the ground in the second and he was on top of me punching me and he asked me what was wrong,” said Barry. “He said, ‘What’s wrong with you? Why’d you stop fighting?’ I told him, ‘I broke my hand,’ and he was like, ‘Bullsh*t.’ I said, ‘No sir. My hand is broken. That hand is gone.’”
Wow. There’s some honesty for you. Maybe Barry’s injuries partially explain why Cro Cop has been humming and hawing about retirement; taking nothing away from the legend, but this does dampen the ‘Cro Cop’s back’ mood a little no?