Yes, Junior Dos Santos is set to fight Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovoc at UFC 103
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Yes, Junior Dos Santos is set to fight Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovoc at UFC 103
emfleek
7/9/09 11:02:25AM
After conflicting reports and questions about Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic's standing with the Japanese-based DREAM organization and the UFC, the Croatian fighter is, in fact, returning to the octagon.
MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) first reported on Wednesday that Junior Dos Santos (8-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) had been pulled from a UFC 102 bout with Justin McCully, and sources close to the negotiations now tell us he is set to fight fellow heavyweight Filipovic (25-6-2 MMA, 2-2 UFC) at UFC 103.
STORY
MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) first reported on Wednesday that Junior Dos Santos (8-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC) had been pulled from a UFC 102 bout with Justin McCully, and sources close to the negotiations now tell us he is set to fight fellow heavyweight Filipovic (25-6-2 MMA, 2-2 UFC) at UFC 103.
STORY
postman
7/9/09 11:13:16AM
Wow I didn't think Dana would talk to him at all. I figurd that was the last we would see of Mirko in the US
DCRage
7/9/09 11:14:35AM
Then who is Mirko Filipovoc?
(Another funny typo, it's in the article title & link) Probably another one-fight deal considering this one isn't a given he'll win by any means.
(Another funny typo, it's in the article title & link) Probably another one-fight deal considering this one isn't a given he'll win by any means.
ncordless
7/9/09 11:42:06AM
Posted by postman
Wow I didn't think Dana would talk to him at all. I figurd that was the last we would see of Mirko in the US
Good thing Lorenzo is starting to run the show more and more.
Twenty20Dollars
7/9/09 12:39:10PM
Im hoping this is true and the ufc announces it soon, so it happens.
And I might be picking Junior.
And I might be picking Junior.
scobac
7/9/09 12:43:01PM
Im tired of the back and forth with this, I like mirko but IMO his stock has dropped greatly since he started in the ufc and why isnt the ufc handing out "offers fighters cant refuse" to fighters like mousasi, aoki, i'll say it-Fedor there is a ton of top talent out there and we have to keep going back and forth with mirko?
Brain_Smasher
7/9/09 1:50:26PM
Posted by scobac
Im tired of the back and forth with this, I like mirko but IMO his stock has dropped greatly since he started in the ufc and why isnt the ufc handing out "offers fighters cant refuse" to fighters like mousasi, aoki, i'll say it-Fedor there is a ton of top talent out there and we have to keep going back and forth with mirko?
I see your point with Aoki, Mousasi. But The UFC has went beyond fair to get Fedor. Fedor chooses not to fight in the UFC for many possible reasons. The UFC isnt one of them. The guy has been bought by Finklestien and pretty much isnt a free agent like people think. Fedor also likes to pick and choose when, where, and who he fights all the while other top fighters dont get that luxury to fight a HMC or other non contender as a way of getting a break or buying time.
Ask yourself this. Why would Fedor ask for 1 fight in the UFC? Why not 3? He would be done in less than a year if he wanted. Fedor has been playing games for years. Ever since he wont the Pride belt and GP he has done everything he could to make sure he didnt lose. He was always "hurt". even to the point of Pride asking to see proof and Fedor using only his russian Dr. as proof. Then refusing to sign contract so he can always be a free agent to have leverage to pick who he fights.
But back to the other fighters out there. Yes the UFC should try to get them. But you have to look at it their way. Why make them some huge offer when everyone else they brought in was a waste of money. Aoki doesnt have the skill set/style to be successfull in the UFC. He is BJ Penn with no striking and no takedown defense.
scobac
7/9/09 2:12:00PM
Posted by Brain_Smasher
Posted by scobac
Im tired of the back and forth with this, I like mirko but IMO his stock has dropped greatly since he started in the ufc and why isnt the ufc handing out "offers fighters cant refuse" to fighters like mousasi, aoki, i'll say it-Fedor there is a ton of top talent out there and we have to keep going back and forth with mirko?
I see your point with Aoki, Mousasi. But The UFC has went beyond fair to get Fedor. Fedor chooses not to fight in the UFC for many possible reasons. The UFC isnt one of them. The guy has been bought by Finklestien and pretty much isnt a free agent like people think. Fedor also likes to pick and choose when, where, and who he fights all the while other top fighters dont get that luxury to fight a HMC or other non contender as a way of getting a break or buying time.
Ask yourself this. Why would Fedor ask for 1 fight in the UFC? Why not 3? He would be done in less than a year if he wanted. Fedor has been playing games for years. Ever since he wont the Pride belt and GP he has done everything he could to make sure he didnt lose. He was always "hurt". even to the point of Pride asking to see proof and Fedor using only his russian Dr. as proof. Then refusing to sign contract so he can always be a free agent to have leverage to pick who he fights.
But back to the other fighters out there. Yes the UFC should try to get them. But you have to look at it their way. Why make them some huge offer when everyone else they brought in was a waste of money. Aoki doesnt have the skill set/style to be successfull in the UFC. He is BJ Penn with no striking and no takedown defense.
I agree about Fedor, I just threw his name in there for the sake of mentioning top talent outside of the UFC. My point was more about why they (ufc) insist on having this back and forth with Mirko when the talent poll outside of the ufc goes way beyond him and his recent fights. There has to be a reason for it, it cant be based on his talent and certainly not performances in recent years? If it was there is plenty more deserving fighters out there that deserve this kind of special attention from zuffa.
cowcatcher
7/9/09 2:19:30PM
its simple really, the guy is a big draw worldwide, and they want to continue to expand. WE all know clay guida is a great fighter but he isnt going to sell tickets in much of europe or the far east.
on top of that CC can kick a guys head into the 5th row at any given time, and im sure they would love to have one of those on a UFC highlight reel.
on top of that CC can kick a guys head into the 5th row at any given time, and im sure they would love to have one of those on a UFC highlight reel.
Brain_Smasher
7/9/09 2:19:33PM
I like watching mirko fight but i see your point. He isnt very good. He will never be successful in the UFC. He dont deserve the attention he is getting. I hear he is very popular outside the USA. maybe thats why they got him. To sell the European cards.
What makes it more mind boggling the UFC would pursue Mirko so much is they way they have used him. If they think Mirko is such a draw why give him guys they know will beat him? They knew going in Gonzaga was a bad fight for him. Sachez was good, Mustafa was good. But now they went and got him again then it seems they are only going to use him to build Dos Santos into a star. Everyone else who has eat him have got automatci contender status. Kongo and Gabe. looks like Dos is next.
What makes it more mind boggling the UFC would pursue Mirko so much is they way they have used him. If they think Mirko is such a draw why give him guys they know will beat him? They knew going in Gonzaga was a bad fight for him. Sachez was good, Mustafa was good. But now they went and got him again then it seems they are only going to use him to build Dos Santos into a star. Everyone else who has eat him have got automatci contender status. Kongo and Gabe. looks like Dos is next.
scobac
7/9/09 2:34:15PM
I think after he "snubbed" the ufc they are planning on squeezing every drop out of him, they are going to feed him beast HW's and if he succeeds he will be a big star in the ufc(great for zuffa), if he fails he can crawl away and wont be worth anything to other orgs like dream, and all the while he fought in the ufc he was a big draw (great for zuffa). The UFC is goin to make damn sure no other org makes big bank off of him.
Brain_Smasher
7/9/09 2:45:05PM
Agree. Lorenzo Fertita may have wanted him and worked out a deal. But its Dana and Joe Silva who make the match ups and they are sending Mirko back to Croatia in a bloody Fed Ex box. LMAO.!
ncordless
7/9/09 3:19:23PM
We shall see. It seems to me that Dos Santos was one of the best style match-ups possible for Mirko. Dos Santos is improving, but his ground game is still weak which means we will probably see a stand up fight. If they wanted to ruin Cro Cop's career they could have placed him with someone who fights well from the clinch and top position.
postman
7/9/09 3:52:56PM
Posted by ncordless
We shall see. It seems to me that Dos Santos was one of the best style match-ups possible for Mirko. Dos Santos is improving, but his ground game is still weak which means we will probably see a stand up fight. If they wanted to ruin Cro Cop's career they could have placed him with someone who fights well from the clinch and top position.
Yeah standing with Mirko is not the best place to be unless you kick him in the nuts!
cmill21
7/9/09 3:59:15PM
Cro cop isn't very good? Dos santo's is a perfect style for him? What? Dos santos has good boxing, cro cop has great boxing and even better kicks. Dos santo's ko'd werdum who is a mediocre striker at best. I love the one win and your a big dog additude.
scobac
7/9/09 4:14:35PM
Posted by cmill21
Cro cop isn't very good? Dos santo's is a perfect style for him? What? Dos santos has good boxing, cro cop has great boxing and even better kicks. Dos santo's ko'd werdum who is a mediocre striker at best. I love the one win and your a big dog additude.
Junior is 18-0 current brazillian heavyweight KICKboxing champ with a purple belt under Nog. CC hasnt been good latley, sorry bro you cant live in the past, it's always goin to be 'What have you done for me latley". Id love to see him take to the top again but he has to start doing something about it, all the wishfull thinking and nuthuggin isnt goin to change his current status.
CwB
7/9/09 4:50:44PM
Posted by scobac
Posted by cmill21
Cro cop isn't very good? Dos santo's is a perfect style for him? What? Dos santos has good boxing, cro cop has great boxing and even better kicks. Dos santo's ko'd werdum who is a mediocre striker at best. I love the one win and your a big dog additude.
Junior is 18-0 current brazillian heavyweight KICKboxing champ with a purple belt under Nog. CC hasnt been good latley, sorry bro you cant live in the past, it's always goin to be 'What have you done for me latley". Id love to see him take to the top again but he has to start doing something about it, all the wishfull thinking and nuthuggin isnt goin to change his current status.
I thought Cigano was 8-1 but anyways, cro cop has not been impressive lately and dos santos looks younger and faster
i will probably take dos santos in this fight
cmill21
7/9/09 5:00:01PM
Brazilian kickboxing champ? Woooow k-1 has nothing on that. I hope cro cop can get some decent stand up fighters to prepare him for this fight, dos has got to be light years ahead of remy and gilbert gilbert didn't look good against barney and remy barely beat overeem.
jay98107
7/9/09 5:02:03PM
Posted by scobac
Posted by cmill21
Cro cop isn't very good? Dos santo's is a perfect style for him? What? Dos santos has good boxing, cro cop has great boxing and even better kicks. Dos santo's ko'd werdum who is a mediocre striker at best. I love the one win and your a big dog additude.
Junior is 18-0 current brazillian heavyweight KICKboxing champ with a purple belt under Nog. CC hasnt been good latley, sorry bro you cant live in the past, it's always goin to be 'What have you done for me latley". Id love to see him take to the top again but he has to start doing something about it, all the wishfull thinking and nuthuggin isnt goin to change his current status.
If we're going to talk about HW kickboxing, being the Brazilian HW champ doesnt have a goddamn thing on Mirkos accomplishments in K-1.
scobac
7/9/09 5:12:13PM
Posted by jay98107
Posted by scobac
Posted by cmill21
Cro cop isn't very good? Dos santo's is a perfect style for him? What? Dos santos has good boxing, cro cop has great boxing and even better kicks. Dos santo's ko'd werdum who is a mediocre striker at best. I love the one win and your a big dog additude.
Junior is 18-0 current brazillian heavyweight KICKboxing champ with a purple belt under Nog. CC hasnt been good latley, sorry bro you cant live in the past, it's always goin to be 'What have you done for me latley". Id love to see him take to the top again but he has to start doing something about it, all the wishfull thinking and nuthuggin isnt goin to change his current status.
If we're going to talk about HW kickboxing, being the Brazilian HW champ doesnt have a goddamn thing on Mirkos accomplishments in K-1.
The timing does, Mirko is NOT a K1 kickboxer anymore. Based on that logic i pick Ken Shamrock to take the world by storm, once the king of pancrase always a badass!!
ncordless
7/9/09 5:25:21PM
Posted by scobac
Posted by jay98107
Posted by scobac
Posted by cmill21
Cro cop isn't very good? Dos santo's is a perfect style for him? What? Dos santos has good boxing, cro cop has great boxing and even better kicks. Dos santo's ko'd werdum who is a mediocre striker at best. I love the one win and your a big dog additude.
Junior is 18-0 current brazillian heavyweight KICKboxing champ with a purple belt under Nog. CC hasnt been good latley, sorry bro you cant live in the past, it's always goin to be 'What have you done for me latley". Id love to see him take to the top again but he has to start doing something about it, all the wishfull thinking and nuthuggin isnt goin to change his current status.
If we're going to talk about HW kickboxing, being the Brazilian HW champ doesnt have a goddamn thing on Mirkos accomplishments in K-1.
The timing does, Mirko is NOT a K1 kickboxer anymore. Based on that logic i pick Ken Shamrock to take the world by storm, once the king of pancrase always a badass!!
So is Dos Santos still an active kickboxer?
scobac
7/9/09 5:36:29PM
Posted by ncordless
Posted by scobac
Posted by jay98107
Posted by scobac
Posted by cmill21
Cro cop isn't very good? Dos santo's is a perfect style for him? What? Dos santos has good boxing, cro cop has great boxing and even better kicks. Dos santo's ko'd werdum who is a mediocre striker at best. I love the one win and your a big dog additude.
Junior is 18-0 current brazillian heavyweight KICKboxing champ with a purple belt under Nog. CC hasnt been good latley, sorry bro you cant live in the past, it's always goin to be 'What have you done for me latley". Id love to see him take to the top again but he has to start doing something about it, all the wishfull thinking and nuthuggin isnt goin to change his current status.
If we're going to talk about HW kickboxing, being the Brazilian HW champ doesnt have a goddamn thing on Mirkos accomplishments in K-1.
The timing does, Mirko is NOT a K1 kickboxer anymore. Based on that logic i pick Ken Shamrock to take the world by storm, once the king of pancrase always a badass!!
So is Dos Santos still an active kickboxer?
I doubt he is active in kickboxing, more recently than CC in K1, but he is currently whoopin ass in the ufc.
gnl68
7/9/09 6:22:33PM
I have had the pleasure of being able to have watched Mirko for 4-5 years.From when he fought K1 and kickboxed in Europe,then the transformation to mma.He has all the tools to fight and beat anybody.Its his mental and physical game that have been weakened over the years.He has fought and beaten alot deeper talented guys then his next apponent JDS.I just hope that he still has some more in the tank,cuz his last few fights have really showed just a shell of his former self.If he loses against JDS,he is on his way out.I say this cuz he looked just average at best against Mus Al Turk.Nothing would be better then a come from behind left high kick ending,i can dream,right?
Rush
7/9/09 7:06:58PM
Posted by scobac
I doubt he is active in kickboxing, more recently than CC in K1, but he is currently whoopin ass in the ufc.
He has 2 wins in the UFC. One of them is against an established fighter and the other is against a guy that only had one win in the UFC. IF he gets to 5-0 then I'll consider him to be whoopin' ass, but until then, I still consider him a reletively unproven fighter.
scobac
7/9/09 9:17:17PM
Posted by Rush
Posted by scobac
I doubt he is active in kickboxing, more recently than CC in K1, but he is currently whoopin ass in the ufc.
He has 2 wins in the UFC. One of them is against an established fighter and the other is against a guy that only had one win in the UFC. IF he gets to 5-0 then I'll consider him to be whoopin' ass, but until then, I still consider him a reletively unproven fighter.
read my post from the start of this thread and look at the point im trying to make, it's not that Santos is a world beater or that CC is a can. I got to involved in irrelavent post that had nothing to do with the topic, but look at what im trying to say from the begining please, I dont want to start arguing about Santos being a superstar now, because he is not and that is not what Im saying. everybody wants to point out something in the post besides the overall point being made.
Rush
7/9/09 10:42:50PM
Posted by scobac
read my post from the start of this thread and look at the point im trying to make, it's not that Santos is a world beater or that CC is a can. I got to involved in irrelavent post that had nothing to do with the topic, but look at what im trying to say from the begining please, I dont want to start arguing about Santos being a superstar now, because he is not and that is not what Im saying. everybody wants to point out something in the post besides the overall point being made.
Actually it is totally relevant to what you were trying to say. Your first few posts aside, because they had nothing to do with Jr., said that we should look at what a fighter has done recently.
Posted by scobac
Junior is 18-0 current brazillian heavyweight KICKboxing champ with a purple belt under Nog. CC hasnt been good latley, sorry bro you cant live in the past, it's always goin to be 'What have you done for me latley". Id love to see him take to the top again but he has to start doing something about it, all the wishfull thinking and nuthuggin isnt goin to change his current status.
So, what has Jr. done recently? He has beaten 2 guys in the UFC (as I said). Big deal, so has a lot of other fighters. Cro Cop has 3 wins in the last year or so. That means nothing as well as to whether he will win or not.
What means something is that CroCop has shown everyone that he can end any fight at any time. He has shown that he can hang in there and keep going when it is an all out war. Has Jr. shown us that? Not really as far as I am concerned.
AS much as everyone putting so much stock into Jr. doesn't want to admit, if he didn't KO Werdum, we wouldn't be having this conversation because Jr. would be an underdog in this fight. To me everyone is hanging on to that win and trying to support it with other information that has little relevance.
Regarding Cro Cop not being good. HE has had 3 fights where he lost or was considered losing.
Overeem- He got hit with an illegal blow. Judge the fight how you want up until that point, but he didn't lose
Kongo - lost a UD, but really he lost a one more round than Kongo. This was all despite the fact that he took 3 low blows in the fight
Gonzaga - I would say that without question this was a legitimate loss for CroCop and currently the highlight of Gonzaga's career at this point.
CroCop then followed up with three wins. One against a D level fighter and the other two against B level fighters. He was injured in one fight and not fully recovered from surgery in the other. It still doesn't mean anything regarding whether he will beat Jr., but I think when you look at the details it does not look like Cro Cop is not a great fighter right now.
Brain_Smasher
7/10/09 9:30:06AM
LOL
Noone is claiming Dos is a world beater over 2 fights. Unlike some of the people on this thread who dont give Dos any credit because "he only has 2 fights". Some of us actually have seen more than 2 fights. How about actually watching his fights before commenting on his skill level. Who he has or has not beat has no berring on what his skill level is. He was good before he beat Werdum. You dont get better by winning fights. Winning just reaffirms the skills you have to yourself and to others. But you get better in training. Just because Sherdogs fight finder doesnt make it easy for you to judge his skill level. Dont mean others dont have a pretty good idea of his skills by actually watching him fight.
Imagine if the UFC couldnt see skill, ability, talent, technique and waited until the fighter "actually beat someone" before bring them in. They would lose out on all the top prospects when other promotions beat them to the punch.
Dos has a half dozen OTHER fights out there on the web. Watch them before commenting. Im not saying Dos has no weakness. All fighters do. Im not saying he is going to be champ. But he has shown that he is very skilled and very well rounded. His fight with Werdum was not a fluke. Dos threw a powerful, fast, and crisp strike and Werdum coward away from the stand up and ducked his head and had his hands down. Dos did everything right. Werdum did everything wrong. You can shoulda, woulda, coulda all you want. There is no way to know what happens if Werdum isnt a sleep.
Noone is claiming Dos is a world beater over 2 fights. Unlike some of the people on this thread who dont give Dos any credit because "he only has 2 fights". Some of us actually have seen more than 2 fights. How about actually watching his fights before commenting on his skill level. Who he has or has not beat has no berring on what his skill level is. He was good before he beat Werdum. You dont get better by winning fights. Winning just reaffirms the skills you have to yourself and to others. But you get better in training. Just because Sherdogs fight finder doesnt make it easy for you to judge his skill level. Dont mean others dont have a pretty good idea of his skills by actually watching him fight.
Imagine if the UFC couldnt see skill, ability, talent, technique and waited until the fighter "actually beat someone" before bring them in. They would lose out on all the top prospects when other promotions beat them to the punch.
Dos has a half dozen OTHER fights out there on the web. Watch them before commenting. Im not saying Dos has no weakness. All fighters do. Im not saying he is going to be champ. But he has shown that he is very skilled and very well rounded. His fight with Werdum was not a fluke. Dos threw a powerful, fast, and crisp strike and Werdum coward away from the stand up and ducked his head and had his hands down. Dos did everything right. Werdum did everything wrong. You can shoulda, woulda, coulda all you want. There is no way to know what happens if Werdum isnt a sleep.
cowcatcher
7/10/09 10:01:31AM
Posted by Brain_Smasher
Dos has a half dozen OTHER fights out there on the web. Watch them before commenting. Im not saying Dos has no weakness. All fighters do. Im not saying he is going to be champ. But he has shown that he is very skilled and very well rounded.
i think the point is that even though he may have looked well rounded and very skilled, you dont REALLY know how good he is when hes fighting mediocre fighters. he deserves credit for the werdum win, hell fabricio is fighting for the strikeforce HW belt soon so obviously JDS has some skills. the thing is a lot of guys look much better against poor competition, a guys hand speed can look phenominal if hes fighting a slouch, and when he fights against a top level fighter it looks like hes punching in quicksand. both of your points are valid, but i dont think im going out on a limb when i say that next to no one though JDS had a chance against werdum because werdum was a proven commodity and JDS wasnt no matter how good he looked on film. when i dont know a new fighter to the ufc i always look for their fights, and you can learn some things, but how they look against an established fighter can be completely different, because those guys can make people that looked good on film look bad.
Rush
7/10/09 10:30:36AM
Posted by cowcatcher
i think the point is that even though he may have looked well rounded and very skilled, you dont REALLY know how good he is when hes fighting mediocre fighters. he deserves credit for the werdum win, hell fabricio is fighting for the strikeforce HW belt soon so obviously JDS has some skills. the thing is a lot of guys look much better against poor competition, a guys hand speed can look phenominal if hes fighting a slouch, and when he fights against a top level fighter it looks like hes punching in quicksand. both of your points are valid, but i dont think im going out on a limb when i say that next to no one though JDS had a chance against werdum because werdum was a proven commodity and JDS wasnt no matter how good he looked on film. when i dont know a new fighter to the ufc i always look for their fights, and you can learn some things, but how they look against an established fighter can be completely different, because those guys can make people that looked good on film look bad.
I think you are wasting your time cowcatcher. I have been typing this on pretty much thread about this fight and these guys just don't seem to get it.
Brain_Smasher
7/10/09 10:46:00AM
I agree. You never never tell exactly what level someone is at something. But you can see what they can and cant do. You can see wether they are good at something or bad. Maybe not how good or how bad to you see them step up the comp. But Dos has shown he has good wrestling. Not college level. But for a non wrestling stylist he is pretty good. In his fights verses other Brazilians who have a pretty good BJJ understanding. He dominates top position. Often you see 2 BJJ guys who have no wrestling just flop around back and forth. But Dos gets top about every time and keeps it verses all of the Brazilians he fought. He did the same vs Struve. All the while having an active top game with effective GnP. We all saw he has at least decent power. And he has very good speed for a HW.
What i think he may lack is enough wrestling to defend verses better wrestlers or bigger guys. Even though he is a BJJ guy and a small HW which helps when on your back. He may not have the finishing skills from the bottom. SO if he gets taken down by a good wrestlers he may be in trouble. We havent seen much of his chin. But he has shown more than enough to give Mirko fits in many areas.
I dont buy into counting a fighter out just because they havent beat a big name. I picked 9 of the first 12 upsets last season while picking at 80%. I didnt do it by not picking someone because they didnt beat a big name. If that was the case i would never have picked Jones to beat Bonner, Grant to beat Chonan, Belcher to beat Kang, and Dunham to beat Eklund.
There is more than enough to show Dos isnt a bum. He may not be the next champ. But he is a legit threat to Cro Cop.
What i think he may lack is enough wrestling to defend verses better wrestlers or bigger guys. Even though he is a BJJ guy and a small HW which helps when on your back. He may not have the finishing skills from the bottom. SO if he gets taken down by a good wrestlers he may be in trouble. We havent seen much of his chin. But he has shown more than enough to give Mirko fits in many areas.
I dont buy into counting a fighter out just because they havent beat a big name. I picked 9 of the first 12 upsets last season while picking at 80%. I didnt do it by not picking someone because they didnt beat a big name. If that was the case i would never have picked Jones to beat Bonner, Grant to beat Chonan, Belcher to beat Kang, and Dunham to beat Eklund.
There is more than enough to show Dos isnt a bum. He may not be the next champ. But he is a legit threat to Cro Cop.