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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief The Mirko Cro Cop drama with the UFC is over, at least for now. Kevin Iole at Yahoo! Sports reported Monday that Dana White has said Cro Cop has signed a three fight extension to stay with the UFC, and he will return to action at UFC 103 in Dallas, TX.
After he agreed to a verbal deal to rejoin the UFC fold at UFC 99, many reports then came out after the event that the Croatian superstar had bolted to sign a contract with Japan's DREAM promotion. At one point it was stated he was set to face off against "Mighty" Mo Siligia on DREAM's upcoming July 20th event and was even briefly advertised on their website.
But apparently he never signed on the dotted line for DREAM, either. Reports last week stated that Lorenzo Fertitta personally flew to Croatia to meet with Cro Cop to hammer out the terms of a new deal, and it seems he may have done so. His point of contention had been an apparent desire to fight multiple times throughout the remainder of the year, and the UFC's original plan was to have him return later than he had wanted.
Now he'll take on Junior Dos Santos on September 19th, a promising prospect with a 2-0 record in the UFC. Dos Santos was originally scheduled to face Justin McCully on the August 29th UFC 102 card, but will instead take a decidedly more prominent spot on the 103 card against Cro Cop. Dos Santos, of course, made a huge splash into the UFC heavyweight division with a first round KO of Fabricio Werdum late last year.
UFC 103 is set to take place at the American Airlines Arena in Dallas, TX, on September 19th, possibly headlined by a bout featuring Rich Franklin.
Penick's Analysis: I like this fight a lot, though not as a main event, so hopefully they find somewhat of an acceptable opponent for Franklin here. As for the Cro Cop saga, it seems he got his wish and he'll get to fight more often, which in all honesty is good for everyone involved. The bout with Dos Santos gives him a chance to take out a young gun that has shown himself to be a good striker in his first two UFC bouts, but it also gives Dos Santos a chance to prove he's got what it takes to be mentioned in that upper level of heavyweights in the UFC. It should be a very exciting bout and a much more interesting one than was the Al-Turk fight.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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