Cro Cop Injury Postpones DREAM 4 Fight

A minor knee injury sustained by Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic during training has forced the postponement of his Dream 4: Middleweight Grand Prix 2008 Second Round fight with French kickboxer Jerome Le Banner. While not particularly serious, Cro Cop has been wearing a brace and wrap on his injured knee. He should be able to resume training within the next week or two and the fight has been moved to July 20th on the Dream 5: Lightweight Grand Prix 2008 Final show in Osaka.

Cro Cop returned to Japan after a disappointing and injury plagued three fight run in the UFC. After winning his first fight against game Eddie Sanchez, the Croatian striking sensation dropped his next two bouts — a thunderous KO to Gabriel Gonzaga followed by a listless decision defeat to Cheick Kongo. While Cro Cop’s handlers had a number of theories for their fighter’s struggles including discomfort in the UFC cage, eventually he had surgery to repair some sort of nasal problem that hampered his breathing. After taking some time to recover from his medical procedure he worked out a deal with Zuffa brass that facilitated his return to fighting in Japan.

The hope is that a return to fighting in a ring in front of adoring fans (Cro Cop is arguably the most popular foreign MMA fighter in Japan) would help spark a return to the form that saw him looking dominant in winning the PRIDE Open Weight Grand Prix in late 2006. His performance in the semi-finals and finals of that event saw him dispatch Wanderlei Silva and Josh Barnett via stoppage in the same night and had many suggesting that he may have supplanted Fedor Emelianenko as the sport’s top heavyweight.

Cro Cop’s first fight on his return to Japan took place on Dream 1: Lightweight Grand Prix 2008 First Round where he easily defeated overmatched Tatsuya Mizuno by early 1st round KO. Mizuno wasn’t named as his opponent until a few days prior to the fight and after deals with several higher profile fighters failed to materialize for one reason or another. Despite the easy victory and assurances that the “old” Mirko was back, the real test will come as he steps up in class.

The Croatian sports media initially reported the story and The Savage Science translator has provided a brief conversation with Cro Cop:

"Everything is alright, I only hyper extended ligaments, nothing is broken. In two weeks I’ll return to sparing, but for now I’m working on strength training and other things." He explains that he got the injury after falling and landing on his knee. He expected to fight at DREAM 4 but the fight has been postponed to 20 July.

For the DREAM promotion it could be a blessing in disguise. Due to the postponement of Shinya Aoki's second round bout in the Lightweight GP tournament they originally had, in essence, two main events for the June 16th Dream 4: Middleweight Grand Prix 2008 Second Round show. The postponement allows the promotion to guarantee a Dream 5: Lightweight Grand Prix 2008 Final main event that will generate significant fan and media interest.

Source: test.thesavagescience.com