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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
A hard hitting heavyweight bout is heading to the UFC's first card in Vancouver according to multiple published reports, as Pat Barry and Gilbert Yvel are set to square off at UFC 115.
The bout was originally reported by The Las Vegas Sun, and MMAJunkie.com reported that bout agreements had already been signed.
Barry most recently defeated Antoni Hardonk at UFC 104 in October, a second round knockout that earned him double "Fight Night" bonuses for "Knockout of the Night" and "Fight of the Night." Coming in at $60K for each bonus, Barry increased his "to show" salary nearly tenfold.
Yvel made his UFC debut earlier this month at UFC 108, losing by TKO to heavy handed contender Junior Dos Santos. That debut came after a 2009 knockout over former UFC Heavyweight Championship challenger Pedro Rizzo.
The UFC 115 event comes live on pay-per-view on June 12th at the GM Place in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. No headliner is set at this time, though the third meeting between Chuck Liddell and Tito Ortiz could be coming to this card following The Ultimate Fighter's eleventh season.
Penick's Analysis: This will be a really fun fight for the Vancouver fans, as well as the pay-per-view audience. Both fighters bring a K-1 background to their MMA style, and though Yvel's got the definite edge in experience, Barry has shown himself to be quite a capable hand in the Octagon. Yvel doesn't present the type of ground dominance that will give Barry fits this early in his progression as an MMA fighter, though he will have a major size advantage to go along with a much more dangerous striking game than Hardonk presented. This is another bout like the one Yvel had with Dos Santos where you can very well expect one of them to get knocked the hell out. It should be more than fun to watch.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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