Nokaut.com is confirming that Mirko "CroCop" Filipovic will take on Yoshihiro Nakao in his DREAM debut on March 15th. Sounds like a real can fight for Mirko to dominate and get himself back on track for. Here's the kiss of death from Nakao to Heath Herring:

This should be a fairly quick and easy win for Mirko "CroCop". Hopefully he regains some much needed confidence and makes a resurging effort to defeat some of the best fighters back in the UFC.

The Lightweight Grand Prix event set for March 15th, 2008 from the newest Japanese MMA promotion is starting to get really interesting. Here's the updated card from their official website:

Tatsuya Kawajiri vs. Kultar "Black Mamba" Gill
Kazuyuki Miyata vs. Luis Buscape
Joachim Hansen vs. Boku Koutetsu
Shinya Aoki vs. Gesias "JZ" Calvancante

These are the only four fights that are currently confirmed on the card for the Lightweight Grand Prix. Rumored fights and fighters include:

Mirko "CroCop" Filipovic vs. Mighty Mo
Andre Dida
Mitsuhiro Ishida
Caol Uno
Gilbert Melendez
Artur Oumakhanov
Jung Bukyung

You can now mark Andre Dida as having his matchup for the Grand Prix, and it's a bit of a surprise. Andre Dida will take on newly acquired ProElite fighter Eddie Alvarez on March 15th in the first round of the tournament.

This is great news for people who have been interested in seeing Eddie Alvarez finally step up to the plate. He's a very well-rounded fighter and can be a significant load for any lightweight out there. Cutting the weight will be a difficult task for the welterweight fighter, but he should be a bigger lightweight that could smash and thrash opponents in DREAM. It's an interesting new challenge for Alvarez who has really needed to step up the level of competition he has been facing.

Dida will be no easy task either. Dida's striking is devastating, and it could prove to be Alvarez's downfall. The potential matchups in future rounds of the GP should also prove to be fantastic. I'm really liking where this GP could end up... making significant impacts in the rankings.

In brief: UFC allowed Mirko to go, but under one condition - that he returns when he’s ready. And Mirko plans on coming back to UFC.

Cro Cop: “I left cause I couldn’t wait any more. I asked to fight as soon as possible, even on March 1st, but UFC offered me a fight in May or later. I wanted a rematch with Gonzaga in Zagreb, but after his loss to Werdum that option was off. I’m in shape, I have 105 kg and I want to fight. last two fights I was in some sort of mental blockade, before fights I was empty, depressed, full of self-hate.”

Losing is not an option. After 3 wins, all options will be open for Mirko. He wants to come back to UFC, and he wants it to be on some show in England. “I’m sorry I let down english fans who welcomed me like a king. That’s why I wanna come back there. I can’t turn back time, but my time will come again.”

Under one condition, Mirko must return to the UFC. I'm sure that the UFC also had him sign a contract stating that he would be back in the future, and hopefully in full fighting capacity to destroy the division. This is good news for the fans. Sure, Mirko is moving on to Japan, but hopefully for a short stint in the ring to get his legs back and get some good confidence boosters under his belt.

It also seemed evident from CroCop's quote that the UFC didn't have much in line for him in the coming months. Maybe this was the classic example of the UFC blackballing Mirko for not signing a lower contract, but then again, he has been allowed to head overseas to fight in DREAMS. What is the UFC's thinking here?

Of course, just like every other news item that hits the 'Net, there are underlying factors that we haven't been privy to yet. I'm sure the UFC has other reasons why they allowed Mirko to head over to Japan. Nonetheless, it should be interesting to see how Mirko does, and who the UFC plans for Mirko when he heads back to the cage.

 

CroCop officially "let go" from UFC contract, signs on with DREAMS

It's official. Mirko has been let go from the UFC and has now signed with the new FEG/DSE promotion, DREAMS. The official announcement was made today in Tokyo, Japan at Metropolitan Edmont Hotel at a press conference that also went over other participants in the event as well as an event schedule. As mentioned in our previous article today, DREAMS has a solid lineup of Lightweights already on board. It looks like it will be the official comeback of the PRIDE-like format, as well as the PRIDE roster of fighters.

It also looks like the UFC was unable to renegotiate Mirko back down to a lower amount of money, so they let his $350,000 salary leave the promotion. Unfortunately for the UFC, the amount of heavyweight talent that has crept away from the promotion is becoming significant, and it could lead to another promotion picking up the pieces. Japan has 2 or 3 solid promotions now that are looking for more fighters to bring over. The UFC has some new competition.

World Victory Road announces Gomi vs. Ludwig, two other bouts

Takanori Gomi's first bout back after his long hiatus was announced this week. He'll take on Duane "Bang" Ludwig in what looks to be a standup war between the two fighters. It should be a decent battle even though Ludwig does have some weaknesses in his game that Gomi could potentially exploit. He's also considered to be the #1 Lightweight in the world.

Two other bouts were also announced. Bodog Champion Nick Thompson will take on Brazilian Fabricio Monteiro, and Ryo Kawamura will take on Antonio Braga Neto. Kawamura is a straight knockout fighter with some great ability to excite a crowd, and Neto is an undefeated prospect coming out of the Fury FC promotion. Thompson will finally move away from BodogFIGHT talent and take on someone talented in the 16-6 Monteiro. Two solid bouts that are decent undercard battles for WVR. The event is shaping up to be a quality card.

Check out our review of the DREAMS Lightweight Grand Prix as well.

According to Nightmare of Battle, the DREAMS Lightweight Grand Prix will feature the following list of talent that should get your mouth drooling in anticipation:

HEIWA DREAM.1 Lightweight GP 2008 Opener
Date: March 15th, 2008
Place: Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan

LW GP 1st Round Fights:
J.Z. Calvan vs. Shinya Aoki

LW GP Participants:
Andre Dida
Mitsuhiro Ishida
Tatsuya Kawajiri
Caol Uno
Joachim Hansen
Gilbert Melendez
Luiz Azeredo
Artur Oumakhanov
Koutetsu Boku
Jung Bu-Kyung
Kazuyuki Miyata
Luiz Firmino

They have only confirmed one of the first round fights, but there will surely be more matchups made from the list of participants. It's unfortunate that Calvancante and Aoki are battling it out in the first round right off the bat, but with names like Dida, Ishida, Kawajiri, Hansen, and Melendez, fireworks should fly. The promotion has yet to name all of the participants as well. Melendez could very well get his rematch with Ishida and take on Kawajiri again. T-Blood vs. Cesar Gracie.

Also on the card is Andre Dida, a very good up-and-coming striker with good power. Look for him to make some waves with his presence as he does have the ability to ruin someone's push for the title.

Although many fans are weary of the FEG/K-1/Former DSE coalition to produce these events, the end product should be great. Let's hope the behind the scenes aspect of the promotion doesn't fall to Yakuza ties and screw up the end product for all the fans.

It's a true MMA fan's nightmare when hitting their favorite MMA related websites and seeing that the UFC released one of the most dangerous strikers in Mirko "CroCop" Filipovic from his contract. Sam Caplan passed on the rumor from his blog at ProElite.com this morning, and I must say, it's disheartening to the fans of Mirko. So, why would they let him go?

His pay was likely the ultimate determining factor in this decision. It can be perceived that the $350,000 per fight that Mirko was making in the UFC was a direct result of his reputation before he hit the Octagon. There is a major flaw in that logic though. Mirko had yet to fight in a cage. Of course, he most likely demanded a high value for his reputation.

He defeats Eddie Sanchez with some surgical striking -- an expected outcome. He takes on Gabriel Gonzaga, another expected win for Mirko, and gets knocked out cold from a head kick. This wasn't a win-win for the UFC because of the amount of money they had sunk into Mirko. We took it as a fluke win by Gonzaga, and inexperience of being hit with elbows by Mirko. We all moved on. He was matched up against a very large Frenchman in Cheick Kongo in his next bout. What did the UFC expect in this fight? Mirko was outsized, unable to get inside, and couldn't kick Kongo in the head without leaving himself wide open. Mirko did impressively work Kongo in the first round once he got him to the ground, but Kongo's pure size wasn't something that Mirko could easily push through. He now stands at 1-2, and was making a huge amount of money for those losses.

So, why all of the sudden the releasing of CroCop's contract? Sure, 1-2 is a slow start, but we are still talking about a very dangerous fighter. It seems to have been purely a business decision. Paying a guy $350,000 to win high profile fights all the way until he was the champion was exactly what the UFC thought Mirko "CroCop" would do. Unfortunately, it didn't work out so well, and now the fans must suffer.

Instead of seeing Mirko grace the Octagon again, he has moved to the former DSE/FEG/K-1 coalition promotion known as DREAMS. He stands to make some big money in Japan with his popularity from PRIDE, but also his marketability as a fan favorite. Undoubtedly, he'll be able to obtain sponsors as well. It's a shame to see Mirko move away from the UFC. I always thought that he would eventually be back to his old ways, but we'll never find out now. It's obvious that CroCop would not take the paycut to try to prove to us that he could comeback strong. Another heavyweight off the UFC's bandwagon, it really does look like the division is slipping away.