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.