crop crop screws UFC Notebook: Cro Cop leaves UFC

[Guest baseball25]

COLOGNE, Germany – Mirko “Cro Cop†Filipovic’s return to the Ultimate Fighting Championship was a short one.

Not long after stopping Mostapha Al-Turk in the first round of UFC 99 on Saturday at Lanxess Arena in his first fight in the UFC since back-to-back losses in 2007, Filipovic informed UFC president Dana White that he had signed a three-fight contract with the Japan-based DREAM.

White had signed Filipovic less than a month ago to a one-fight deal, the first time in more than nine years that he’d done that. He had worked out terms on two additional fights, but said he’d only put pen to paper for Saturday’s bout.

He brought Filipovic back because he knew the Croat is still very popular and Filipovic insisted he wanted to make a run for the title.

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That proved not to be the truth. After turning down much tougher opposition, including Cain Velasquez, who defeated Cheick Kongo later on the card, he wound up with the lightly regarded Al-Turk.

But instead of getting a shot at big names like Randy Couture or Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and fighting his way into title contention, Filipovic opted to bolt for Japan.

“Isn’t that a dirty [expletive] thing to do?†White asked rhetorically after being queried about Filipovic’s deal with DREAM. “He [expletived] me. The first time in the history of the company I do one over the phone. He promised me a three-fight deal and he [expletived] me.â€

Filipovic looked unsteady and hardly impressive in defeating Al-Turk, who is winless in the UFC. He never landed one of his vaunted kicks and the fight ended not from a punch but when he poked Al-Turk in the eye with his finger.

Referee Dan Miragliotta didn’t see the poke, so it was regarded as a clean blow and Filipovic won by stoppage.

Filipovic was fighting five months to the day after knee surgery, one of several injuries he said kept him from performing at his best in his first stint in the UFC. Before the fight, he called his 1-2 UFC record “the black spot†on his career.

While speaking with reporters on a prefight conference call, Filipovic enthused about his return and said he was gunning for a title shot. All the while, he apparently knew he was in it for a one-fight deal.

He texted White on White’s cellular phone and told him he wanted to return. White said Filipovic declined numerous opponents.

Apparently, Filipovic, who is from Croatia, wanted to fight in Germany and use the UFC bout as a tuneup. He did and is now Dream bound, but he’ll almost certainly never fight in the UFC again.

“He didn’t keep his word,†White said, who said he’d had a two-hour talk with Filipovic on the day Filipovic texted and asked to be able to return. “He talked about honor and all this other [expletive] and he [expletived] me.

“He fed me this bull [expletive] about wanting to take a run for the title, and what I think he did was, he went out and did this. He turned down every other [expletive] fighter I offered him, because I needed him to fight Cain. He didn’t just poke Al-Turk; he poked me, too.â€

As is his custom, Filipovic skipped the postfight news conference and could not be reached to comment on the DREAM deal.

Hardy played mind games: Dan Hardy won his grudge match against Marcus Davis, pulling out a split decision. He won 29-28 on the scorecards of judges Doug Crosby and Tony Weeks. Davis prevailed on Andy Roberts’ card by the same score. Yahoo! Sports also had it 29-28 for Davis.

There was bad blood between the two because of a war of words on the Internet. Hardy said he was just trying to provoke Davis because he figured correctly that Davis would take it seriously and that it might affect the way he fought.

“I used a lot of psychological warfare and it bothered him,†Hardy said. “My intention was to bother so it would have an effect on the fight.â€

Davis stormed from the cage and declined to shake hands with Hardy. He also failed to appear at the postfight news conference, though he issued a statement in which he demanded a rematch.

“He came into my dressing room to talk after and I said I won,†Davis said in his statement. “He said it was close and he wouldn’t argue. That took something, I guess, but he’s not apologized for going too far with the talking. I won the fight.â€

Bonus babies: Rich Franklin and Wanderlei Silva had an entertaining slugfest before the crowd of 12,854 and wound up winning Fight of the Night honors. They took home an extra $60,000 each for that.

Mike Swick, who stopped Ben Saunders in the second round, won Knockout of the Night. The Submission of the Night went to Terry Etim, who defeated Justin Buchholz with a D’Arce choke. Swick and Etim also earned an extra $60,000.

Big fights: Swick said he was looking for a big fight after scoring back-to-back wins over Jonathan Goulet and Saunders in fights in which he was the bigger name and had the most to lose.

He said he’d like a fight with former welterweight champion Matt Hughes, saying it would be an honor for him.

White had another suggestion since Swick kept talking about big fights.

“Swick is going to fight Rich [Franklin] next at 170,†White said, jokingly, since Franklin fights at light heavyweight

[venom33]

hasnt he been fighting for dream?????  i read that last night, from what i understood they only have a signature on that one fight but discussed two others with the ufc. seems dana got a little of his own medicine.

i think crocop has unfinished business with overeem that he wouldnt be able to settle in the ufc.

[Guest baseball25]

crop crop is a pansy. overeem will dominate him.cro crop wanted to fight a nobody because he knows he cant beat a contender in the ufc so he faces a scrub

[venom33]

i agree, i think he wanted a tune up fight before he fights overeem again just to see where hes at with the"comeback"... but i think overeem has rogers to worry about before anyone else. i guess time will tell....

[Guest baseball25]

At UFC 99 in Germany, Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic made history, accomplishing something that no other fighter has ever dared to try and do: he screwed UFC president Dana White, the UFC, and the MMA nation. White went on record and told the media that he has never done a one-fight deal – ever. White knew Filipovic wanted to fight in Germany, and "Cro Cop" had the UFC exec convinced that he wanted to make an impact in the UFC's heavyweight division. Filipovic lied the whole time. The UFC needed him to fight Velasquez, and instead he wanted to fight a lower-skilled Mostapha Al-Turk to gain some exposure and have a tune-up match. "Cro Cop" had already signed a three-fight deal with DREAM and had plans to immediately bolt from the UFC over to Japan. The whole charade that Filipovic pulled off is a true disgrace for our great sport – and his reputation.

[venom33]

ive been reading a few other sites and i cant understand why all of the ufc huggers are so butt hurt over what crocop decided to do for his future... theyre acting like scorned women! honestly how many times have you heard dana doing this and other garbage to fighters and dana finally gets a dose of his own medicine. crocop is the only one that is financially stable enough to not have to bow down to dana if he doesnt want to! they had a one fight deal and crocop honored that contract. what if he wouldve lost the fight do you think for one second dana wouldve honored their verbal agreement for two other fights???

as a fan he didnt hurt me at all, i dont give two craps where he fights i will tune in...  JMO

[Guest baseball25]

I think crop crop is a pansy, he knows he can't handle the UFC mentally and physically, so he wants to go fight in a organization that has who RAY MERCER LoL i mean come on, I'll say this I bet FEDOR is in the UFC in a yr or so....

[silentassasin]

I love the UFC and Dana has done what he had to do to get them to the top of the food chain, but you don't do that without making some enemies.

I am a big believer in what comes around goes around and Dana has had some rumors flying around that he does not treat all the UFC fighters the same, but irregardless I believe what Cro Cop did was immature and unprofessional, based on what the reports are saying.

Now obviously I was not there when they spoke on the phone so I don't know if a multi fight deal was implied by CroCop or not. But if I were in his shoes based solely on what we are seeing I would not have done the same thing. I would have stayed in UFC.

[venom33]

I think crop crop is a pansy, he knows he can't handle the UFC mentally and physically, so he wants to go fight in a organization that has who RAY MERCER LoL i mean come on, I'll say this I bet FEDOR is in the UFC in a yr or so....

mercer is fighting for dream now??? 

[silentassasin]

I am starting to become more of a fan of Dream now that I have HDNET channel. I also get a chance to see other fights that normally we would not see.

[venom33]

I am starting to become more of a fan of Dream now that I have HDNET channel. I also get a chance to see other fights that normally we would not see.

do you have time warner or dish???  time warner took hdnet a few weeks back and i was hoping maybe you knew something i didnt.  :'(

[silentassasin]

Direct TV with HD package.