Mirko Crocop vs Sergei Kharitonov at Dream 4

According to the Sport Index at Index.hr, Mirko Filipovic will be fighting Sergei Kharitonov at the upcoming DREAM 4 event in mid June.

Olympia DREAM 4 will be the second round of the Middleweight Grand Prix which is stacking up to be quite a tournament. Some of the GP participants already slated for the tournament include Akiyama, Funaki, Sakuraba, Yoon Dong Sik, Taiei Kin, Oyama and Minowa.

According to the article, Crocop was suppose to fight Kharitonov at the recent DREAM.1 event but Mirko turned down the bout stating that Sergei would be too tough a match for him after a six month break.

The official announcement of the bout will apparently be made at DREAM 2 which is set to take place on April 29. Olympia DREAM.2 will be the first round of the Middleweight GP.

Mirko recently left the UFC after losing two fights in a row. He was considered the heavy favorite in both of those matches and was devastated to say the least. He cited a "lack of motivation" as the reason for losing the bouts and and faced a pivotal moment in his career. He decided he would leave the UFC temporarily and was quickly picked up by the upstart organization DREAM. He made his DREAM debut this past Saturday, easily defeating Tatsuya Mizuno via TKO in under a minute flat.

Sergei Kharitonov hasn't fought since September of 2007 when he took on Alistair Overeem at K-1 Hero's "Tournament Final". It was business as usual for the 6'4 Russian as he defeated Overeem via TKO at 4:21 in the first round. The victory tasted extra sweet for Sergei who had lost to Alistair at Pride 31 in the same fashion. Kharitonov is remembered mainly for his fights in the former Pride FC organization from 2003 to 2007. He holds a record of fifteen wins with only three losses.

The match up will be an absolute war. Both fighters carry extreme knockout power in all of their limbs. Crocop will have the edge on the feet and Kharitonov will have the edge on the ground. I highly doubt this fight will make it past the first round.

Source: www.redsweat.com