Winners of Cro Cop/Overeem, Kharitonov/Mighty Mo to Fight for DREAM Heavyweight Title

by Chris Nelson on Sep 16, 2008 7:52 AM EDT in News Comment 19 comments

Earlier today, Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic appeared on Croatian channel NovaTV (a station who in the past has televised many of the Croat's bouts live for his home nation) and revealed future plans for the fledgling DREAM promotion's heavyweight division. User "loreia" on the Kakutougi forums broke the news with a quickfire translation:

From his interview for NovaTV broadcasted just minutes ago:

"Winners of two HW fights scheduled for Dream.6 will fight for Dream HW title. Those fighter will be: myself and most probably [Sergei] Kharitonov".

In other words, Mirko is expecting to kick the head off of Alistair Overeem on September 23rd, and thinks the returning Sergei has a pretty good chance against "Mighty Mo" Siligia. I don't necessarily agree with his assessment of either match, but any two out of those four fighters would make a nice marquee match-up for the Japanese fans and positively reeks of New Year's Eve. Also, if there was any doubt before, I think it's now pretty safe to assume that Filiopvic is never, ever coming back to the UFC.

HT: Nightmare of Battle

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Lord help us all if Mighty Mo becomes the DREAM heavyweight champ.

by George Lucas on Sep 15, 2008 6:18 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Cro Cop

I don’t see why Filipovic would not come back to the UFC down the line. Why is it “safe to assume” he would never ever return? It is not known how long Dream will be in existence, plus he has even said himself he was not happy with his performances there, and would like to return.

by Rob J Nathan on Sep 15, 2008 7:05 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

The UFC has virtually erased him from their memory banks since they released him (except when they need to promote Gonzaga). Who knows if they’d even want him back at this point? Their HW division is the hottest it’s been in a long time and even if they brought him in to presumably lose to someone like Lesnar, most fans only know him as the kickboxer guy who was supposed to be good.

He’s also injury prone and coming off a bunch of surgeries in the past year. He seems fired up right now and this Overeem fight should answer a few questions about what kind of Cro Cop we’ll see going forward, but regardless of the outcome I think the result can only take him further away from the UFC. If he wins, he goes on to fight for the title. If he wins the title, that keeps him in DREAM for the foreseeable future (and for all the talk, I think DREAM is gonna be around for another year or two at the least). If he loses either fight, well, it depends on how he loses but I don’t think he’s gonna come back to the UFC on a loss. I’d love to see the old Mirko back and kicking ass in the UFC, but I don’t see him making it past Overeem in this instance.

by Chris Nelson on Sep 15, 2008 7:39 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

It's too bad, since Mirko is one of the best characters in MMA.

But he really didn’t have a good showing in the UFC. He seems like the kind of guy who just started breaking down at the exact wrong time in his career, and it’s positive that the sport simply moved past him.

One-dimensional fighters are just screwed in today’s UFC. Filipovic is pretty much the definition of a one-dimensional fighter. His fight with Fedor was an awesome display of his ground skills at their best, but it’s not like he was any kind of threat in that position. Those punches from his back were the best I’ve ever seen, I’ll give him that.

Sucks for me, because I was really looking forward to him kicking heads off in the UFC.

There is no such thing as innocence, only degrees of guilt.

by misterjonez on Sep 15, 2008 8:46 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

first paragraph;

positive = possible.

There is no such thing as innocence, only degrees of guilt.

by misterjonez on Sep 15, 2008 8:47 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

One-dimensional fighters are just screwed in today’s UFC.

I dunno. Seems like Brock Lesnar, Chris Leben, and Wanderlei Silva are getting plenty of work.

by D.Capitated on Sep 15, 2008 11:46 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Brock Lesnar is not one-dimensional.

He would be one-dimensional if he were no threat to knock people off their feet with a single punch. As it is, he’s at least something of a credible threat on the feet, and a terror on the ground. That said, he’s 1-1 inside the octagon, and 2-1 for his ‘career.’

Chris Leben, meh. I’ll admit I don’t know enough about him. But he’s standing at .500 for his last six fights, and while that’s pretty much the definition of ‘holding your own,’ he’s not exactly lighting the world on fire.

Wanderlei Silva is a truly entertaining fighter, but he’s one for his last four, and three for his last seven. I hope he can make his ‘resurgence’ stick, but I’d say that equals screwed.

Ok, now that I’ve at least responded somewhat to those, even if it’s wholly unsatisfactory, let me say that it is my opinion that present-day UFC fighters are too good at exploiting one-dimensional fighters. Look at Rashad Evans KO’ing Chuck Liddell. I’m not saying this is indicative of future performances, but the simple fact that he was able to KO Chuck speaks massive volumes about his preparation and gameplan. Keith Jardine was able to out-game Liddell, for crying out loud. Forrest Griffin (who most people will agree is not in the same talent class as Chuck or Rampage) put together a winning gameplan against Jackson because Rampage was too predictable. Lyoto Machida makes every opponent look one-dimensional.

So my point stands. One-dimensional fighters are just screwed in today’s UFC. You may be able to enjoy success, because anything is possible inside the octagon with those tiny gloves, but ultimately you have to be able to fight anywhere in order to be an offensive force.

There is no such thing as innocence, only degrees of guilt.

by misterjonez on Sep 15, 2008 11:59 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Lesnar’s landed all of one strike and it wasn’t even as if it was as impressive as Erikson/Randleman. He’s a one dimensional wrestler. A very good one dimensional wrestler, though.

by D.Capitated on Sep 16, 2008 11:06 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

You forget him putting Mir on his ass

with a lone, poorly aimed punch.

I’m not arguing that he’s a wrestler through-and-through, of course he is. But he possesses enough power in his right hand to make him a credible threat in the stand-up game. He’s demonstrated it in both of his UFC fights, albeit more spectacularly against Herring.

There is no such thing as innocence, only degrees of guilt.

by misterjonez on Sep 16, 2008 11:37 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Well, he’s up to two strikes, neither of which was a KO blow. Again, Tom Erikson was as good a striker as Lesnar, probably better (particularly given how Randleman looked after he hit him). Doesn’t mean he wasn’t one dimensional.

by D.Capitated on Sep 17, 2008 11:19 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Leben has a underrated groundgame…he just chooses to stand and bang.

http://mma4real.net/

by Tha Realness on Sep 16, 2008 8:13 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Cro Cop Drop Topped?

Hi Chris, as far as I remember, Cro Cop wasn’t released by the UFC (i.e fired), he actually ASKED to be let out of his contract! Dana was all too happy to do that, due to the dollars they were currently paying him and in Whites opinion he wasn’t good value for it! However the door was left open for a return, as you probably know.

I agree though, if he does win the title it would be unlikely he would return for the foreseeable future. Overeem is a very tough fight for Mirko at this current moment, it’s gonna be interesting next Tuesday!

by Rob J Nathan on Sep 16, 2008 6:14 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Chris Nelson has spoken the correct.

http://mma4real.net/

by Tha Realness on Sep 15, 2008 8:10 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Kharitonov = best heavyweight most MMA fans have never seen

Dude is a multiple Russian Army Sambo champion. I think he’d be top five in the UFC, and might end a guy like Kongo’s career with a sub. Here’s hoping he jumps the pond someday.

by subo on Sep 15, 2008 9:39 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

is he still all that though? I thought his best years were behind him?

by Benicio on Sep 15, 2008 10:17 PM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

He really pi$$e$ me off

I am a huge fan of Crocop’s, but I don’t think I could get any madder or more disappointed in him than I am now. I really wanted to believe him when he gave his word he would be back. I have called him out before about this on another site. I truly think he should be ashamed that he ran like he did and is not trying to get back to the UFC to finish out his contract. I just want a 5 minute conversation with the man. I have so many questions……..

by Nick Travaglini on Sep 15, 2008 11:58 PM EDT reply actions 0 recs

Fighting Overeem and the winner of a “Mighty Mo”/Sergei fight is running?

by Tonley on Sep 16, 2008 12:36 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Don't feel too bad Mr. Nick

CroCrop is the same as he ever was. A guy who’s trying his best. He tried his best against the grapplers in the UFC and they just happened to be better than (and likely inspired by) the grapplers CroCrop faced in Japan. MMA seems to be a highly iterative process where you get to the top with some nice skills, and when you get there you meet the guys who’ve been studying your skills during your development. I think this sport is going to continue in exciting cycles, constantly weeding-out the ones who won’t adapt as their opponents do so unto them. Think of Wandy and Chuck, both in different stages of the same process.

From the looks of CroCop’s ground game over the years, and the fact that he’d even go near Sergei suggests he’s not going to be left behind any time soon. He fighting through and I’m sure he’ll need your support in the future.

by asa on Sep 16, 2008 11:05 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs

Nice post, asa.

The constant evolution of strategy in MMA is one of the biggest reasons I watch. We get to see new approaches to old problems all the time, and the adaptations spread like wildfire. Once a guy shows a gameplan to beat someone, everyone adopts and adapts that same gameplan into their own if/when they face him.

Filipovic is certainly capable of continued growth. He just has some work to do in order to ‘catch up’ to the top level talent in the UFC. It’s possible he’ll never get there, but he really seems to be the type of guy who can and will give it maximum effort.

There is no such thing as innocence, only degrees of guilt.

by misterjonez on Sep 16, 2008 11:40 AM EDT up reply actions 0 recs