CroCop Returns To The UFC

[Marquis]

http://www.mma-id.com/CROCOP/?mod=blog&blid=1189

Its his official blog. There's some other sources around the net confirming it and apparently Dave Meltzer confirmed it also. Words can't describe how happy I am to read this. Mirko "CroCop" Filipović is hands down my all time favorite fighter. To see him make his return to the UFC is great. Rumors were he signed with Dream, and was gonna rematch Overeem since their fight ended in NC due to nut shots. As much of a CroCop fan I am, i didn't see him beating Overeem. Coming off his win over Hong Man Choi, I'm sure hes feeling confident. So hopefully he has a good showing at UFC 99. Since his previous fights in the UFC were horrid. He got head kicked by Gonzaga, and decisioned by Kongo. If he manages to make it past Al-Turk, i would love to see him rematch one of those two down the line. Gonzaga coming off a recent loss to Carwin, it would be perfect for him to rematch CroCop if he gets passed Al-Turk. UFC 99 was looking pretty meh, but now i can't wait for it.

*hopes the sources are true*

 

[jmt225]

I'm very, very excited about this. CroCop ranks right up there with Takanori Gomi as my all-time favorite PRIDE fighter. Gomi's had his streak of terrible luck lately, but he seems to have gotten back on track to becoming one of the top ranked Lightweights in the World again, finally. Hopefully with this fight against Al-Turk, Mirko can also start his path to making himself at the very least, a contender for the UFC Heavyweight Championship. I have all the faith in the World in him and if he has the right mind set, then he should have no trouble getting past this guy and many other Heavyweights the UFC could throw at him.

But the main reason I hope he does well is because I don't want to see his awesome career end on such a low note. It would've been such a shame to see him retire right now, but it's great to see his passion is back and that he wants to go back to the UFC, because there's no better place to rebuild your legacy than in the UFC.

 

[Y 2 Jake]

I like Cro Cop because Cro Cop kicks people really hard. I also don't see what's wrong with freak show fights. Shame UFC doesn't promote them anymore. If a Cro Cop fight ends with a hard kick to the head then it's a success.

But really, I think he's be better off in Japan where he can guzzle steroids and fight people with very little experience.

 

[jrcongine]

i think its always good to have cro cop in ufc. He always is going to be a draw, and have the excitement of his head kicks. Its just if your not won of dana's boys you get dropped and have to win constantly for your spot so good luck mirko.

 

[pampero firpo]

cro crop has wicked kicks.............. but has limited ground skills. hopefully he's more well rounded as a fighter now. thats why pride fighters havent had much success in the ufc...... they were too one dimensional. they were either great at standup or great on the ground. cro crop needs to be more well rounded to win in the ufc like shogun rua and rampage.

 

[Marquis]

http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/news;_ylt=Aub6FgpngOHn9AnrdtUEEhM9Eo14?slug=ys-mmaweekcc070909&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

So for those of you who don't know, i will give a quick recap of the situation. Mirko "CroCop" Filipović is a Pride FC legend, the now defunct Japanese company that Zuffa owns. Hes very popular in his country of Croatia, and in Germany apparently. Germany happens to have a good Croatian population that the UFC wanted to tap into for UFC 99. So they contracted CroCop for one match at UFC 99 hoping ticket buys would go up with his name value, which it did. Ticket sells did go up considerably when he was announced. So Dana wanted him to sign him to your typical UFC contract, since his first one was only one fight. Problem was CroCop didn't want too because he wanted to get as many fights as he can in this year. Something as we all know the UFC doesn't do ( A fighter usually only fights 3 times a year). Dream, a Japanese company, was offering him the amount of fights he wanted. So CroCop was split on where to go. A lot of his fans, including myself were quite unhappy with him. Its understandable he wants more fights, but it should be noted before UFC 99 when Dana contracted him, he started promising a title run in the UFC, and that he would make a huge comeback and avenge his loses in the UFC.

So anyway, Lorenzo Fertita one half of the owners of Zuffa, went to Croatia himself to talk to Mirko. Rumors are he convinced Mirko to return to the UFC and offered him a fight at UFC 103 against Dos Santos. This rumor is starting to seem even more true since Junior dos Santos was pulled off his scheduled bout coming up, and a interview he said it was probably because he will face off against Mirko.

Assuming this fight does go down, how do you see it playing? I see Mirko winning via round 2 KO. I'll give Dos Santos credit, hes a decent striker, but on the level of CroCop? doubt it. This fight will be real test for Dos Santos, it will show where his striking really is at. Dos Santos advantage in this fight would be his BJJ, hes a purple belt and trains with Noguiera, but i can't see him getting Mirko down. Mirko has a pretty good sprawl, well the Mirko of old. Hopefully the Mirko we've seen in pride shows up, not the Mirko who looked horrid in the UFC.

 

[jmt225]

You know, a friend of mine recently hyped up Junior dos Santos as the next big deal in the UFC Heavyweight division, over guys like Cain Velasquez and Shane Carwin. Because of this I went back and checked out Dos Santos' two fights against Fabricio Werdum and Stefan Struve and you know what? My friend had a point. Junior dos Santos is the real fucking deal. He really is. And not only did he look fantastic in those two fights, but the fact that he's a protege of Anderson Silva and Big Nog speaks for itself.

I love Cro Cop, but I think he's in big trouble come UFC 103. He's facing the future of the company, and someone who looks like he's on the verge of going on a serious war path.