New Year's Eve

(Unless he's using it as a part-time chicken coop, what does Cro Cop want with a cage these days anyway?)

Our buddy Robert at FreeFightVideos has a report that suggests a return to the UFC for Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic might be as simple as a win over Hong Man Choi on New Year’s Eve.  Cro Cop has apparently been dropping hints lately that the fight at K-1 Dynamite will “end one chapter and start another” in his career, and insists he’s not retiring.  So okay, maybe he just means he’ll end the injury-riddled, lackluster performance chapter and begin another kicking ass chapter in 2009, right?

But Cro Cop has been increasingly vague about his plans for 2009, and when Dana White appeared on the “Best Damn Sports Show,” he stated that, “if [Cro Cop] wins, he will definitely be welcomed back into the UFC."

As Robert points out, Cro Cop still keeps a cage in his training facility, though he wouldn’t seem to have any use for it if he plans to keep fighting in Japan. Maybe the thing is just a pain in the ass to take down, or maybe he plans to come back to the UFC for some unfinished business.

Either way, does it seem odd to anyone else that a fight with Hong Man Choi, of all people, is the deciding factor in Cro Cop’s UFC career?  Choi is not really an MMA fighter.  He’s a kickboxer, in the loosest sense of the word, but mainly he’s a sideshow attraction. 

Everyone mocked Fedor for even taking a fight with Choi, and now it’s the fight that determines Cro Cop’s readiness to reenter the Octagon?  Why not ask him to beat Alistair Overeem to prove himself?  Or beat…anyone else, really.  Anyone with actual MMA experience, who isn’t wearing a mask at the time of the fight.  Then again, where is he supposed to find an opponent like that on New Year’s Eve in Japan?

('Do not mistake my kindness for weakness, my friend.')

Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic writes on his blog that he has signed the contract to make the rumored bout with Korean giant Hong Man Choi official.  It will be contested under MMA rules, not K-1 kickboxing rules, which is nice for Cro Cop, who is hoping to end this rough year on a high note:

I must say I'm happy with this opportunity to fight again in this year. This wasn't the best year for me and I'm hoping that I'll end it in a good spirit. I'm also happy to fight again in Japan at New Year's Eve, which is always truly a fantastic experience.

[…]

Although I'm still having some difficulties with my old injuries there won't be any excuses left in case of a bad result. I'll handle this issues in January, but against Choi I'll be ready and nothing will stop me this time. I'll just do my best and end this year with a win hopefully. Then I'll focus on 2009 and work on the further steps in my career.

You know something, it really has been a tough year for Cro Cop.  He’s struggled with injuries, got his testicles smashed by Overeem, had his training partner busted for being a serial armed robber, and then there’s that whole weirdo video game thing.  Fortunately, fighting a giant on New Year's Eve is an old Croatian folk remedy guaranteed to bring good luck.  It works best if you also sleep with a virgin on the same night, though isn't that the story with all Croatian folk remedies? 

But hold up, American fans, there’s a strong possibility we may not even get to see the big K-1 Dynamite show.  HDNet Fights CEO Andrew Simon tells MMA Fanhouse that since their contract is with K-1, and since Dynamite is not technically a K-1 show, it’s a bit of a tricky situation.  If HDNet isn’t showing it that means it may not air in the states at all.  Which would be, as the kids say, a total bummer.  Let’s hope they work something out.

(They aren't there to protect "Cro Cop" from you. They're there to protect you from "Cro Cop".)

Despite having one of his testicles relocated to the inside of his body by Alistair Overeem's low blows during their last meeting, Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic says when they go around again this New Year's Eve at K-1 Dynamite it's oddly not his junk that he's worried about. In an interview with a Croatian website, then translated on MMA Fanhouse, Cro Cop says his trick knee has been acting up and that he'll have to undergo another surgery on it immediately after the fight with Overeem:

"The advice I got from my doctors was that fighting Overeem only two months after my knee operation was a suicide mission. I already had missed the July bout and postponing my September bout was not an option for me. I have only myself to blame."

"I've had several operations this year, and I'll have to undergo another one straight after the NYE event. It's frustrating to have to undergo all these operations but that's the sportsman's life. Many others have had it worse then me.

"Sportsman" seems like an odd translation in this context. I have an uncle who's really into fishing. He calls himself a sportsman. Other than a love of pranks involving the threat of violence, my uncle and Cro Cop really have nothing at all in common.

('Bring me your tired, your freaks, your outmatched fools. I fight them on eve of the new year, yes?')

The official Dream website has posted an interview they conducted with Fedor Emelianenko, but unfortunately for me it's all transcribed in squiggly lines that I can make neither heads nor tails of. Good thing Suki came along to translate it, otherwise we might have missed this:

- Japanese fans are expected to see you fight in NYE in Japan again.

I want to fight in Japan again; however, I cannot control everything. God knows what will happen. Whether I fight or not in NYE depends on a negotiation between my manager and DREAM.

Perhaps Fedor is just blowing smoke here to keep his Japanese public happy, but that's a very different story than the one Tom Atencio is telling. He claims to have verification from Fedor's management that he absolutely, positively will not fight on New Year's Eve. So, assuming Fedor is not consciously lying in this Dream interview, this means:

1) Fedor's management is willing to rent him out to the highest bidder, regardless of whether they've already committed him to fight elsewhere.

2) Fedor's management doesn't necessarily tell Fedor everything that's going on.

3) There are some nuances being lost in translation.

The first option seems plausible because, well, Fedor is managed by crazy Russians, according Dana White. The second option is also not too unrealistic, for the same crazy Russian reasons. Option three is especially possible since Fedor's comments had to go from Russian to Japanese to English. In other words, yeah, we don't know what the hell is really going on. Which probably puts us in the same boat as Fedor.

('Look at that, same size I was in high school.')

Fedor Emelianenko loves three things: competing in Sambo tournaments, eating two ice cream cones at once, and fighting in New Year's Eve freak show matches in Japan. We know this about Fedor. We accept this about him. So that's why when he appeared at Dream.6 and made comments about a potential NYE fight in Japan, we naturally wondered what that meant for his participation in Affliction's second event in California. You know, the one that was "rescheduled" for January after a Fedor-less card failed to sell tickets in Las Vegas.

But Affliction VP Tom Atencio says not to worry. Fedor won't be fighting in Japan on New Year's Eve because Affliction has "extended his contract." When asked if that meant Fedor was a lock for January 19, Atencio dropped this minor shocker:

"The date and location are not official," Atencio said. "Everyone is tripping. Our next show will definitely be the 1st quarter of 2009 in January, possibly February. Nothing is confirmed though."

Wait a minute, we're tripping? Us, the people who think that maybe you should consider nailing down a venue, a date, and -- dare I say it -- even a fight card for the event you hope to sell tickets to? That's "tripping"? Since when did Tom Atencio become a college sophomore at a Dave Matthews concert? We don't mean to be a buzzkill or anything, but these are the kinds of details that could end up being pretty important down the road.