Just watched the UFC 103 weigh-ins. Here's what I saw:
- Hermes Franca walked up to the stage with light-purple mop-top hair. Looked like a wig had been lowered onto his head. Maybe that's his plan - that could be one hell of a distraction in a fight. He also weighed in at 159 for the lightweight bout against Tyson Griffin, so the fight will be held at a catch weight of ... 159.
- Looked like the Texas Athletic Commission folks were having problems reading the scale. Don't have any evidence of this, other than it seemed they were taking longer to stare at it than other commissions at other UFCs.
- Frank Trigg seemed really nervous hopping on the scale, but was dead-on at 170. So was Josh Koscheck, who then held a fist under Trigg's chin and shook it when the two faced off.
- Paul Daley came out wearing an Affliction T-shirt. Not sure if this is the first appearance of the company since it folded its MMA division and was accepted back into the UFC sponsorship fold. Daley's opponent, Martin Kampmann, was all smiles as he looked out to the packed crowd.
- Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic paid homage to the organization where he had the most success - PrideFC, by wearing a Pride T-shirt. I guess that's OK with the UFC, since they own Pride now, right? Cro Cop weighed in at 226; Junior dos Santos was a full 10 pounds heavier, but that's usually been the case with Cro Cop - he really is a small heavyweight when you think about it.
- In the main event, Vitor Franklin stepped on the scale at 197.5 for his fight with Rich Franklin, set at a catch weight of 195. Vitor stays on the scale, since he is over, and the camera focuses in on this giant ring on his right thumb. He takes it off and hands it to Dana White. Then, they pull out the towel and Vitor drops trow. Looks like he's at 195.25, so he has two hours to lose the .25. Franklin's right on the money at 195.
A couple months ago, I blogged about a promotion that was planning an MMA event in Reading called "Crime and Punishment: Cops vs. Cons" and said I would reserve my judgment until after I spoke with its promoters, Ryan Kerwin and Raymond Gokool. Well, I spoke with Kerwin earlier tonight.
My first stop, however, was a call to Greg Sirb, executive director for the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission on Wednesday.
I asked Sirb what he thought of the event, was it going to be real cops taking on real cons inside a cage?
"That's just blowing smoke up your ass," he said. Sirb said that "not even one" of the fighters on the card is a real cop or real con. "It's marketing. There's no cops, there's no convicts. I have the freakin' line-up. Do you think I would let that go on?"
My next call, today, was to Kerwin, who said that yes, the title of the event is a bit of marketing to set himself apart from the other MMA events popping up all over the state. But contrary to what Sirb said, the fighters - at least those on the main card - are all cops or cons. "This isn't a joke," he said.
Middleweight bouts
Cop - Lamont Lister
vs
Con - Matt Masterson
Cop - Taylor Sensabaugh
vs
Con - John Bryant
Welterweight bouts
Cop - Chris Kennedy
vs
Con - Marcus Ajian
Lightweight bouts
Cop - Brian Smiley
vs
Con - Shannon Green
Featherweight bouts
Cop - Johnny Torres
vs
Con - Gabriel Greenberg
Thanks to mmasportsreport.com:
The UFC 103 press conference was held today in Dallas, preceding this weekend's event headlined by Rich Franklin and Vitor Belfort. The conference was brief with Franklin, Belfort, and Junior Dos Santos saying a couple things about their fight.
Santos' opponent, Mirko Cro Cop, was not present though which President Dana White touched on.
"Cro cop holds the second-best record for wins in pride, and he also holds the best record for most press conferences missed," White said.
He also discussed boxing going head to head with UFC 103, and in an uncharacteristically relaxed demeanor said,
"I don't think us going against boxing is a good thing [for the fans]..." but regardless of the outcome this week on who sells more pay-per-views White said (speaking about the bad economy), "boxing is in trouble. The show we just did in Oklahoma had 75,000 people on a Wednesday night, and people came early at 3 p.m... You can combine WWE and boxing this year, and we beat them both."
Someone in the media asked him what he thought about Quentin Jackson doing the A-team movie and if the fight with Rashad would still take place at a later date.
"When the movie star's done doing his movie we'll find out when that fights happening... " he said criticizing Jackson. "He [Rich Franklin] did a movie when he wasn't fighting, like Randy Couture did."
"The crazy thing about Rampage is he's giving away a lot of money to do the A-Team. You can't fix stupid."
Speaking about Franklin fighting Belfort and how they both seem to be stuck in between fighting at middleweight and light heavyweight, White was asked on his thought about adding a weight class (possibly 195 pounds). He said he was not at all interested and did not want to make the same mistake as boxing did by having too many classes.
Belfort spoke about his fight and said that he likes Franklin and the fight "is going to be a classic"
Thanks to Robert K. from BigOddsMike for the story, which he gleaned from Croatian site index.hr. Make sure to go there for all your UFC 100 odds.
After making a successful UFC comeback against Al Turk, Mirko Cro Cop's next fight will most likely be on September 19th , at UFC 103, in Dellas, Texas. Although we're still awaiting an official confirmation, Mirko's opponent will likely be 24-year Brazilian Junior Dos Santos.
The rising star exploded into the heavyweight division against former UFC contender Fabricio Werdum. The fight lasted only 81 seconds.
Dos Santos, known as "The Gypsy" in Brazil was set to fight in August, but UFC organizers cancelled the bout planned for UFC 102 in favor of a possible main event with the Croatian.
"I think I'll fight September 19. They took me off the August 29 show," he said, also announcing he will no longer be facing the same opponent. "My opponent's changed. I'll probably face Cro Cop. If I beat him I'll be in really good standing. If that's truly the case, I'm guaranteed on the main card and in the main event of the evening. If I were to fight now it wouldn't be on the main card," he said
Thanks to Robert K. from BigOddsMike for the story, which he gleaned from Croatian site index.hr. Make sure to go there for all your UFC 100 odds.
After making a successful UFC comeback against Al Turk, Mirko Cro Cop's next fight will most likely be on September 19th , at UFC 103, in Dellas, Texas. Although we're still awaiting an official confirmation, Mirko's opponent will likely be 24-year Brazilian Junior Dos Santos.
The rising star exploded into the heavyweight division against former UFC contender Fabricio Werdum. The fight lasted only 81 seconds.
Dos Santos, known as "The Gypsy" in Brazil was set to fight in August, but UFC organizers cancelled the bout planned for UFC 102 in favor of a possible main event with the Croatian.
"I think I'll fight September 19. They took me off the August 29 show," he said, also announcing he will no longer be facing the same opponent. "My opponent's changed. I'll probably face Cro Cop. If I beat him I'll be in really good standing. If that's truly the case, I'm guaranteed on the main card and in the main event of the evening. If I were to fight now it wouldn't be on the main card," he said
After UFC 99, Mirko Cro Cop Filipovic drew the ire of the MMA community when he announced he was leaving the UFC, although it had been reported he was supposed to fight several more times there. Most speculated he was jumping back to DREAm, the Japanese promotion he had fought under after leaving the UFC the first time. here's an exclusive from Robert K from Big Odds Mike who translated an article from the Croatian site index.hr.
Exclusive UFC owner visiting Cro Cop in Croatia
Index understands that Lorenzo Fertitta, the head honcho and part owner of the UFC flew to Zagreb with his own private jet earlier this morning. He was driven to Mirko's residents shortly after, where he stayed for two hours talking with the Croatian fighter. He returned to the airport afterwards, smiling, where his private jet flew off in to an unknown destination.
After UFC 99, Mirko Cro Cop Filipovic drew the ire of the MMA community when he announced he was leaving the UFC, although it had been reported he was supposed to fight several more times there. Most speculated he was jumping back to DREAm, the Japanese promotion he had fought under after leaving the UFC the first time. here's an exclusive from Robert K from Big Odds Mike who translated an article from the Croatian site index.hr.
Exclusive UFC owner visiting Cro Cop in Croatia
Index understands that Lorenzo Fertitta, the head honcho and part owner of the UFC flew to Zagreb with his own private jet earlier this morning. He was driven to Mirko's residents shortly after, where he stayed for two hours talking with the Croatian fighter. He returned to the airport afterwards, smiling, where his private jet flew off in to an unknown destination.
One of the top MMA Web sites out there, bloodyelbow.com, ran a post featuring a few MMA artists, including Al Youl, whose work can be seen on this Web site. Al has done some work for Hanover-based fightwear company Tap or Sleep. Here's the drawing Al did of Pennsylvania welterweight pro Charlie Brenneman:
Charlie's next fight is headlining the WKU Warrior Challenge in the Poconos later this month.
Here's the one bloodyelbow featured, of Cro Cop:
By the way, looks like the rumors are true - Cro Cop, who skulked out of the UFC like a thief in the night, does have a fight in Japan.
by Kevin Iole, mmajunkie.com:
COLOGNE, Germany - Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic's return to the UFC 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 Japanese-based DREAM organization.
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.
OFFICIAL RESULTS from mmajunkie.com:
Rich Franklin def. Wanderlei Silva via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Cain Velasquez def. Cheick Kongo via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)
Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic def. Mustapha Al-Turk via TKO (strikes) - Round 2, 3:47
Mike Swick def. Ben Saunders via TKO (strikes) - Round 2, 3:47
Spencer Fisher def. Caol Uno via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Dan Hardy def. Marcus Davis via split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)
Terry Etim def. Justin Buchholz via submission (D'Arce choke) -- Round 2
Denis Siver def. Dale Hartt via submission (rear-naked choke) - Round 1
Paul Taylor def. Peter Sobotta by unanimous decision
Paul Kelly def. Roli Delgado via unanimous decision
Stefan Struve def. Denis Stojnic via submission (rear-naked choke) - Round 2, 2:37
John Hathaway def. Rick Story via unanimous decision
By GREG BEACHAM
AP Sports Writer
Mirko Filipovic joined the UFC two years ago amid more hype and expectation than perhaps any fighter in mixed martial arts history - and Cro Cop flopped.
After three desultory fights forced Filipovic into a yearlong retreat for mental adjustments and knee surgery, he returns to the octagon at UFC 99 on Saturday night in Cologne, Germany, against Mostapha Al Turk. The former anti-terrorist policeman in his native Croatia should have plenty of countrymen cheering the start of his second run toward the UFC heavyweight title.
from mirko's Web site:
These days the boys from Cro Cop team are training in full force. After a long break and highly demanding recovery process, Mirko Cro Cop is ready to fight in MMA again.
All problems with injuries are history and Cro Cop is very optimistic to start another chapter in his career:
"I feel great, the recovery process is going well and we train at high intensity now. I never had such a strong desire to prove myself and I'll climb up again, or die trying."
Mirko's next fight is set for June 13th in Germany, which means that he's back in the UFC, a place that he didn't have his best moments:
"I decided to fight in the UFC again, because of the stronger competition in the heavyweight division. My next opponent will be Mustapha Al-Turk. I didn't do well in my first three appearances - I wasn't myself. By returning to the cage I want to prove that I can still fight at highest level, no matter when or where," he said.
UFC 99 will be Cro Cop's first fight this year with the possibility of three fights coming by years end.
"It's hard to talk about concrete plans, but I would really like to fight at least three times this year. I wish to fight against quality opponents and to fight my way up to a title shot but for now, I'll focus only on my next fight and after that we'll see what's going to be on the menu next," says Cro Cop.
Although the UFC 99 card looks stacked, it seems that the UFC officials can see the benefits of hiring a top European fighter for their first ever UFC show in Germany.
"I want to say thank you Mr. Dana White for your interest and for an invitation back to the UFC. I owe you a lot from our first deal, and I'll make it up to you," promises Cro Cop.
All news related to Mirko Cro Cop's career are posted on Mirko's official MMA-ID profile on http://www.mma-id.com/CROCOP and Mirko's official homepage http://www.mirko-crocop.com.
Yours truly,
The CROCOP Team
from mirko's Web site:
These days the boys from Cro Cop team are training in full force. After a long break and highly demanding recovery process, Mirko Cro Cop is ready to fight in MMA again.
All problems with injuries are history and Cro Cop is very optimistic to start another chapter in his career:
"I feel great, the recovery process is going well and we train at high intensity now. I never had such a strong desire to prove myself and I'll climb up again, or die trying."
Mirko's next fight is set for June 13th in Germany, which means that he's back in the UFC, a place that he didn't have his best moments:
"I decided to fight in the UFC again, because of the stronger competition in the heavyweight division. My next opponent will be Mustapha Al-Turk. I didn't do well in my first three appearances - I wasn't myself. By returning to the cage I want to prove that I can still fight at highest level, no matter when or where," he said.
UFC 99 will be Cro Cop's first fight this year with the possibility of three fights coming by years end.
"It's hard to talk about concrete plans, but I would really like to fight at least three times this year. I wish to fight against quality opponents and to fight my way up to a title shot but for now, I'll focus only on my next fight and after that we'll see what's going to be on the menu next," says Cro Cop.
Although the UFC 99 card looks stacked, it seems that the UFC officials can see the benefits of hiring a top European fighter for their first ever UFC show in Germany.
"I want to say thank you Mr. Dana White for your interest and for an invitation back to the UFC. I owe you a lot from our first deal, and I'll make it up to you," promises Cro Cop.
All news related to Mirko Cro Cop's career are posted on Mirko's official MMA-ID profile on http://www.mma-id.com/CROCOP and Mirko's official homepage http://www.mirko-crocop.com.
Yours truly,
The CROCOP Team
Thanks to Robert K from www.betwwx.com for the translation:
"Cro Cop: I'll revenge Overeem in July"
Despite being out of the action for all of 2009, Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic is getting more offers than ever before in his career.
A total of five MMA organizations (Two Japanese and three American) would like to see Cro Cop fight for them. Cro Cop, for now, is leaning towards Dream. He wants to return to the ring as soon as possible but all options remain on the table.
