UFC confirms the return of Cro Cop at UFC 99 on June 13
by Jesse Holland on Jun 1, 2009 12:33 PM EDT
44 comments
Pride FC 2006 Open Weight Grand Prix winner Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic (24-6-2) — who is on a speedy recovery from knee surgery following his technical knockout win over Hong Man Choi at Field’s Dynamite!! on New Year’s Eve — will return to action against Mustapha Al-Turk on June 13 from the Lanxess Arena in Cologne, Germany.
The UFC officially announced Filipovic's participation earlier today.
The Croatian striker had fallen on hard times since his tournament-winning performance over two years ago, losing two of five fights and looking listless in the process. He started things off with a bang, stopping Eddie Sanchez in his UFC debut, but a highlight reel knockout loss to Gabriel Gonzaga and a rib-crushing defeat to Cheick Kongo put his UFC career on ice.
Cro Cop vowed to one day return and finish what he started (and few believed him). Now he looks to make good on that promise with one last run at heavyweight glory.
After two wins in Dream (and a no contest with bitter rival Alistair Overeem), the former Croatian Cop elected to have knee surgery to correct a nagging injury and now declares that he is free of the physical and mental distractions that have plagued him over the past few years.
And a dominating performance over Al-Turk would go a long way to prove it.
Al Turk — who was originally slated to face undefeated American Top Team (ATT) heavyweight Todd Duffee, fights out of the famous London Shoot gym in the United Kingdom.
He came up short in his debut against Cheick Kongo at UFC 92 after a successful run in Europe on the Cage Rage circuit. In fact, he has six wins in seven attempts for the promotion and was riding a two-fight win streak before getting dismantled at "The Ultimate 2008″.
He is a pretty well-rounded fighter with serviceable boxing and solid grappling skills -– good enough to earn him the British Cage Rage heavyweight title.
UFC 99 will be headlined by former middleweight champion Rich "Ace" Franklin taking on ex-PRIDE smashing machine Wanderlei Silva in a 195-pound catchweight bout. Cheick Kongo and Cain Velasquez as well as Mike Swick and Ben Saunders are also expected to hook ‘em up.
For more on UFC 99 click here.
0 recs |
44 comments
Email
Print
Comments
I will again try to root for him like I did against Gabriel. He let me down then. But looses to him and Chieck are not bad looses. He needs to rebound.
by iagoof22 on Jun 1, 2009 8:58 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
im really hoping to see a focused and healthy crocop here…i will be forever rooting for cc…i dont want to talk bwt anything prior to this fight..but we will see
war croatia!
by gaara on Jun 1, 2009 11:43 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
LOL @ pic.
Good to see Cro Cop back in the UFC.
Hopefully he can string together a few good wins…
But, at this point in his career i just don’t see him taking out the upper eshelon; Brock, Mir, Kongo, Randy, Gonzaga…..
He better hope Overheem doesn’t sign!
by SoCalStunNa on Jun 1, 2009 12:40 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
I think he wins by forcing al-Turk to say matte.
by PW on Jun 1, 2009 12:45 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
hOpefully after he beats up this can…They match him up against Dos Santos! I would actually love to see Cro Cop kick MIr’s head off after Brock makes him irrelevant again!
by john on Jun 1, 2009 3:54 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Man the one thing that sucks about this is gambling that can’t take place now that Al turk isn’t facing duffee. They had Todd Duffee at +300 against al turk. We could have all cleaned house with that or on parlays the sick multipliers we could have gotten. I just cringe because we never usually see lines this ridiculous. Why cro cop, why couldn’t you debut against hardonk?
by NameNotRequired on Jun 1, 2009 6:09 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Hardonk vs. Cro cop is a great idea. Dont know much about dufee!
by john on Jun 1, 2009 8:15 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Beast kid out of ATT, coming out party was beating up assuerio silva one like two day’s notice in Jungle Fight last year. In fact, i remember the thread he started on the UG coz he was so psyched to announce to everyone that he just beat up silva.
by NameNotRequired on Jun 2, 2009 12:15 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Isn’t this a scene from Kickboxer? Jean-Claude anyone? LOL
by Cole on Jun 1, 2009 2:05 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Sit like that for too long your bound to kicked in the nuts :cool:
by McArthur on Jun 1, 2009 12:46 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Maybe having CC back in the UFC might bear some fruit – he could be matched up against Chuck for one last fight for “Iceman”. Liddell talked about KO’ing Mirko in the past, and both of them are past their prime, so it might make some sense.
by Drake_Labatt on Jun 1, 2009 12:56 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
i don’t see dana letting chuck fight a dangerous striker at this point, he’ll give him a 1 dimensional wrestler
by randy murders on Jun 1, 2009 1:05 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Who’s more one dimensional than cro-cop?
by --utaptout-- on Jun 1, 2009 2:24 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Liddell is an excellent wrestler. He doesn’t use it unless he has to, but Liddell is more well rounded than CC.
by --utaptout-- on Jun 1, 2009 4:36 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Mark Coleman and Kevin Randleman = one dimensional
by Nick on Jun 1, 2009 5:28 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
liddell has decent wrestling and basic karate kickboxing. hardly well rounded. cro cop has better jits way better striking and better sprawls than chuck. chuck is just good at getting back up in the scrample his sprawls only work against bad wrestlers. anyway chuck is finished at this level. give him eric schaffer or tom lawler or mark coleman. when cro cop ko’s al turk give him justin mccully or denis stojnic or dos santos
by the heat on Jun 1, 2009 8:41 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Cro cop has better SRAWLS than Chuck? LOL you just made yourself look clueless Thats Cro Cops down fall not his strength
by lokie on Jun 1, 2009 11:34 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
stoked for this card but im becoming more worried for cc everytime i look at the ufc hw roster shane warwin, gonzaga, dos santos, kongo, lesnar, velasquez.. new comers like tim hague who are standin n bangin with good young strikers like pat barry. i hope cro cop at atleast at some point considers a run at 205 and not going after fights with herring, mir, couture, nog…
by butters on Jun 1, 2009 1:13 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
I almost forgot about dos santos too!!
by Nor-Cal Mexican (formely phlicutioner) on Jun 1, 2009 1:34 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Sweeeeet! i’ve been waiting for CC to get back to the ufc to finish what he started. he really didn’t seem like himself the first time around. lets hope we see a bit of the CC from pride
by MDR on Jun 1, 2009 1:23 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
this card is shaping up to be really nice. i would say this is the best card in the last three months compared to ufc 98 and 97. 6 televised fites that all have the possiblity of being fite of the nite. im getting pumped for this one!
by bobby o'shea on Jun 1, 2009 1:28 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Not according to the UFC website. He is on the main card which includes 6 fights. Gaurenteed 6 fights is a first I think.
by BNF on Jun 1, 2009 2:14 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
i bet hell get a rematch with gozanga soon but not kongo…bad match up for him
by buckmarley on Jun 1, 2009 1:48 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Gonzaga is a much worse matchup for Cro Cop than Kongo is…
It’s common knowledge that Cro Cop isn’t the best on the ground, where Gonzaga is a beast. Kongo on the other hand, sucks on the ground.
Kongo vs Cro Cop would stay standing, where Cro Cop has every chance of winning, or Cro Cop could take it to the ground, where, although he isn’t amazing, he is certainly better than Kongo.
Gonzaga however, is good standing and on the ground. If Cro Cop was beating him on the feet, he’d take him down and own him there, just like he was doing in their first fight.
by HeroOfTime on Jun 1, 2009 2:17 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
Kongo’s ground game has gotten much better. The guys one of those freak athletes that learns at a ridiculous rate. He’d probably bully CC from the top postion. As far as the first fight, no one ever seems to mention that CC took at least 2 severe knees to the grapes from a huge kickboxer. That would end anyones night, no matter who you are. CC dominated in the first round against Kongo, and he might be able to win a decision in a stand up batlle if it happens again.
by --utaptout-- on Jun 1, 2009 2:23 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I’ve got 3 words for Mirko…two-O-five. He’s far too small for the UFC’s HW division, and a cut to 205 wouldn’t be too difficult. Face it CC, you’ve never been a HW champ, and you’ll never be one. A cut to 205 and a return to previous form, with those kicks and takedown defense sets up some seriously intriguing matchups. CC vs. Liddell, CC vs. Shogun, CC vs. Franklin…etc. Maybe Machida if he does well, and a war with him and Anderson would be pretty awesome.
by --utaptout-- on Jun 1, 2009 2:18 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
crocop vs. machida would be awesome. probably the 2 most accurate and strategic strikers in the game today. no bigger than machida is i’d have to give the edge to crocop, his kicks would brutalize machida
by deuce 4 on Jun 1, 2009 3:44 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I have to disagree…CroCops game is all forward forward forward when he wins. Machida’s style is best suited to that, so I’d predict Machida winning this one, probably by KO.
by --utaptout-- on Jun 1, 2009 4:34 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
I dont think he’ll get anywhere against the top guys, but its fun hes back I suppose – some interesting match ups.
by UK_Chris on Jun 1, 2009 2:59 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
“Cro Cop vowed to one day return and finish what he started”
He also vowed he’d rematch Overeem, fight JLB in a K1 match, and numerous other things he never intends to do.
I’ll believe it when I see it, but still think Al-Turk is going to beat him, because I still don’t think Cro-Cop is “back”.
by DirtyML on Jun 1, 2009 3:43 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Have faith dude – CroCop is back. Just watch his straight left from now on, not the left high.
by Insain on Jun 1, 2009 3:54 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
is this fight in the undercard?!?!
by im_the_Juggernaut_bitch on Jun 1, 2009 4:32 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
It is on the UFC website that this fight is on the MAIN card.
by stevo on Jun 1, 2009 6:52 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs
you all dont get it do you?? this is a pr move not pro cro cop or anything …he has stunk over in japan too!
It’s that he has a hudge fan base out of germany, so does randy c.
The ufc is all politics u all know it
by brendan on Jun 1, 2009 6:19 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Certain photos copyright © 2009 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
