PRIDE and UFC veteran Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic will take on Ralek Gracie in a special grappling match at Dream 4: Middleweight Grand Prix 2008 Second Round on June 15th according to Nokaut.

According to the report the match will “take place under modified Abu Dhabi rules: two five-minute rounds with no point system. The only way to win will be via submission. Should the fight go the distance, it will be declared an automatic draw.”

A decorated striker, “Cro Cop” won the 2006 PRIDE Open-Weight Grand Prix and has faced some of the worlds best fighters defeating notables Josh Barnett, Wanderlei Silva, and Aleksander Emelianenko while suffering notable losses to Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Fedor Emelianenko, Mark Hunt, and Kevin Randleman. After posting a UFC debut win over Eddie Sanchez, “Cro Cop” was defeated by Gabriel Gonzaga and Cheick Kongo in back-to-back bouts. In his DREAM debut, Filipovic defeated Tatsuya Mizuno via first-round TKO in March.

Gracie is a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and is 1-0 in his MMA career, defeating Katsuyori Shibata via first-round submission in his MMA debut at a HERO’s event in mid-2007.

Filipovic was originally scheduled to face Jerome Le Banner at DREAM 4 but that bout has been rescheduled for DREAM 5 in July.

Source: www.mmafrenzy.com