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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Mirko Cro Cop isn't retired just yet.
Despite Dana White stating that he didn't think he'd get much opposition from the Croatian in ending his career following a second straight knockout loss to Brendan Schaub in March, the UFC President now says that Cro Cop will get another fight in the UFC.
Speaking with ESPN.com, White revealed that Cro Cop still wants to fight, he has another fight under contract with the UFC and they will honor it.
"This guy wants to fight again and I owe him another fight," White said. "He's a grown man. If he wants to continue to fight, that's his right and he still has a fight with me."
That doesn't mean White's necessarily thrilled with putting Cro Cop back into the cage after the back to back knockout losses to Frank Mir and Schaub, and White said if he was making the call Cro Cop would hang them up. Nevertheless, White doesn't think Cro Cop is too the point he felt Chuck Liddell was at the end, and will allow him the final fight on their agreement.
"Do I think he should've retired? Yeah," White said. "I don't think he's in one of these situations like a Chuck Liddell though, where I thought he needed to retire right then.
"'Cro Cop' and I made a deal and he wants to fight again. I'm going to honor that deal."
There's no word on when he'll return to the cage or who he'll face off against, but fans will see Cro Cop back in the cage again.
Penick's Analysis: I can't say I'm entirely surprised, but I don't think anyone's going to be clamoring to see Cro Cop take another fight in the UFC anytime soon. After a terrible fight with Frank Mir, he looked decent against Schaub for a bit in their fight, but he was knocked out cold for the second straight fight. With each successive fight that he takes, the legend of his days in Pride continues to be more and more of a distant memory, and if he goes out and gets knocked out again it will be a more unfortunate ending to his career than he was already at with these most recent knockout losses. If he can win the fight, maybe he can go out on a high note, but that will likely lead to him wanting to keep fighting after that.
Topic Question: Who do you want to see Mirko Cro Cop fight in what will likely be his final MMA fight? Web visitors, comment below in our new Reader Comment Area (linked to Facebook). App users, send us your thoughts at mmatorch@gmail.com or visit our desktop website to comment.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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