Is the UFC eliminating Fedor’s potential competition by re-signing Cro Cop?

Published on: 4th July, 2009

Is the UFC eliminating Fedor's potential competition by re-signing Cro Cop? | read this item

I was just thinking about the UFC’s decision to continue chasing after Mirko Cro Cop. The million dollar question over the UFC’s decision to chase someone who seemed to have burned them a few weeks ago for DREAM is “why?”

Let’s be honest Cro Cop has not been the same since he finished Josh Barnett at PRIDE’s Heavyweight Grand Prix. He finished Eddie Sanchez like we all expected, but even then he looked like he struggled to find his comfort zone in the Octagon. He got Knocked out by Gonzaga in one of the worst knockouts in UFC history. Then got his balls smashed by Cheick Kongo adding insult to injury.

He then came over to DREAM beat “Generic-Japanese-sacrificial lamb clone 5″. He then let Alistair Overeem get in his head mentally before the fight, then got his balls smashed a bit more in their fight. Then got gifted when Overeem was eliminated, which overshadowed the fact he was getting his ass kicked the entire fight.

At this point Cro Cop wasn’t really a hot commodity on the free agent market, so why the sudden interest from the UFC?

First thought, European interest? Possible. Future German shows? Likely. Best choice: Eliminate Fedor’s potential opponents if he beats Josh Barnett at Affliction “Trilogy”, Ding, ding ding. Cro Cop spoke about possibly fighting Fedor in a rematch in a interview with Index.HR.

“I am a big star in Japan and I can be on every card I want there (in Dream). I have a lot of fans there who want me to return, they (Dream) offer me way more fights and more often. There is also always a possibility that a fight with Fedor could occur, that is my top priority”.

Vitor Belfort also made a pitch to fight Fedor in a best of three series which he claimed Fedor’s agent loved. No one expects Vitor to win that fight, but why give Affliction options? Dana White did say he has interest in bringing back the former 205 pound champion.

Sylvia, yeah right. Arlovski ruined his shot when Rogers juggled his head. Rogers is in StrikeForce, so is Overeem. So the aggressive pursuit of Cro Cop may be so the UFC eliminates any big shows for Fedor outside their promotion.

The only possible big name is Bobby Lashley and he is not ready for Fedor yet, but he is ready to sell pay-per-views. If that doesn’t work we can always call on another legendary Heavyweight: Ray Mercer, LOL.

Thoughts?

Narcisist is the Co-owner of UR Dirt and is the designer, editor and author. URDirt.com is a MMA blog that covers the UFC, WEC, StrikeForce, DREAM and several other Mixed Martial Art promotions. Read more from this author

Readers Comments

Narcisist says:

July 4, 2009 at 1:06 pm Narcisist(Quote)

Sorry, for the slow updates today. Nelo and I were a little busy, we are on now and got some good shit to post.

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Fujita says:

July 4, 2009 at 3:29 pm Fujita(Quote)

NP, this site will always rock.

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- Hellboi says:
  
  July 4, 2009 at 3:33 pm Hellboi(Quote)
  
  @Fujita, agreed what I love is I come back and find 5 new things in a matter of an hour at any given time.
  
  This makes a lot of sense for the UFC to do but I think they want Crocop cause they think he can get some more Left high kick KO’s out of him before he retires
  
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  - Hellbow says:
    
    July 4, 2009 at 9:55 pm Hellbow(Quote)
    
    @Hellboi, Crocop has value overseas if the UFC does some shows in Japan so does Uno and Okami
    
    Reply to this Comment
  - Fujita says:
    
    July 5, 2009 at 3:00 am Fujita(Quote)
    
    @Hellboi, Honestly I think it’s the zuffa curse.
    
    I’ve watched many pride & ufc shows & the ufc main events have always had some sort of debacle.
    
    vitor wins by eye thumbing, guys getting kicked in the nads like every other show. Dozens of shows that have eye gouging.
    
    Almost every ufc main event I watched got ruined by the zuffa curse.
    
    I’m wondering if either mir or Brock will win an honest fight or if it will be one more decision contested for all times. It’s like that over & over. I can’t pay 50 for that.
    
    Pride was the pinnacle of judging & restarting in the center & yellow cards, prompting guys to stand up & not LnP.
    
    When Pride died the sport died a little. Even affliction will never measure up.
    
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Tbag420 says:

July 4, 2009 at 9:56 pm Tbag420(Quote)

Smart post this is something Dana and the shady UFC would do too

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Joe says:

July 6, 2009 at 2:45 am Joe(Quote)

Cro Cop is going to go where he can win. Japan seems like his best bet, unless the UFC offers him McCully, Eilers and then Couture to get him in line for a title shot. The only reason to pursue Cro Cop is to pad him into a big fight with Lesnar (ideally) or Mir which would still sell PPVs. In Dream it’s a bunch of simple garbage fights. Since Cro Cop and Fedor stand to sell a lot of tickets in Japan, I doubt it would happen under the Affliction banner.

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- Fujita says:
  
  July 6, 2009 at 3:42 am Fujita(Quote)
  
  @Joe, Isn’t Eilers dead from his mom’s BF shooting him.
  
  Joe, read this link, sad news.
  http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/12/27/justin-eilers-ufc-fighter_n_153669.html
  
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