According to the Croation News site Dnevnik.hr, Mirko Filipović will be fighting September 23rd against Alistair Overeem. DREAM has confirmed the report.
"For ‘Cro Cop’ this will be his first fight after five months and a victory against Mizuno. He has fully recuperated from knee surgery that caused him to miss two fights this summer.
However, Cro Cop is ready and confident of victory. Previously, only to the New TV, said that his objectives are to capture the belt in Dream, and hopefully a possible fight in December - with Fedor."
This is definitely good news for 'Cro Cop' fans as many rumors of late from other fighters stated he was unwilling to take several fights offered to him in DREAM.
I hope we see the old Cro Cop. If we do, we'll see a sweet knockout...even if he's still struggling I'm sure he can pull through against Overeem. I wasn't really impressed with how he looked against an ill prepared Hunt last fight.
This is good news, let's just hope it doesn't get cancelled for whatever reason. I was looking forward to CroCop vs LeBanner more than this, but I guess you can't get everything you want.
I wouldn't get my hopes up, with the way things have been going with Mirko, we should expect him to fight someone like Shungo Oyama at the very last minute.
All about if Mirko wants it, he can knock out Overeem but if he comes out passive/soft he's done. Alistair can control him in tight and push him back with body kicks like Kongo did.
All Mirko Cro Cop had to do was confirm he will fight at Dream 6, on September 23rd, for rumors to surface regarding his adversary. According to information published in the Japanese press, Dream is already airing a series of ads on Japanese television dealing with Cro Cop’s return to the ring, and suggest giant Dutchman, Semmy Schilt, three-time K-1 GP champion, could be his opponent. “In a fight, Pride champion Mirko may have to deal with the man to knock out K-1 champion Mark Hunt,” says one of the promotional pieces. Although there is no direct reference to Schilt, it was the Dutchman who knocked Hunt out at last April’s K-1 event.
The matching of the Cro Cop vs Schilt bout shows how important it is for Dream to achieve good audience numbers for its next event. In recent months rumors abound that the organization is having financial problems, and only a public success may off set the danger of bankruptcy.
S-O that's kinda what got me a little confused- the difference of finishes in those Hunt fights or if this was a just translation thing.
This added to it: http://www.fightlinker.com/?p=3002
That was reported today(on all three) and if the Overeem fight is official I'm wondering why 3 different sites are talking about this and not the Overeem fight. I guess we'll have to wait and see.
Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem (Pictures) confirmed to Sherdog.com that he will meet former Pride Open Weight Grand Prix winner Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic (Pictures) at Dream 6 on Sept. 23 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.
“The fight is definitely happening, and I’m really glad,” the 28-year-old Dutchman said. “I am already training very hard, and I’m 100 percent certain that it will not go the distance. I don’t care if it is going to be by knockout or by submission, I don’t want the fight to go to a judges’ decision. I want to finish Mirko Cro Cop.”
Overeem would not divulge if he had received a contract yet for the heavyweight bout.
Should the fight come to fruition, it would be Filipovic’s first appearance inside a ring since his first-round obliteration of overmatched Japanese grappler Tatsuya Mizuno (Pictures) in March. Overeem, meanwhile, has stayed busy in recent months, as he knocked out Korean Ssireum fighter Tae Hyun Lee (Pictures) in June and submitted dangerous New Zealand kickboxer Mark Hunt (Pictures) in July.
The rivalry between Cro Cop and Overeem turned personal when the Dutchman started calling out Filipovic publicly, beginning with an interview on Sherdog.com on June 12. Overeem has remained persistent about making the bout happen, challenging the Croatian on the house microphone after each one of his wins.
After a proposed fight with Jerome LeBanner (Pictures) and grappling match with Ralek Gracie (Pictures) failed to materialize this summer, Cro Cop -- who turns 34 in a little more than two weeks -- opted to have surgery on his knee and elbow in early July. Following six weeks of rehabilitation, Filipovic traveled to Amsterdam, Holland. There, he began preparing for his Sept. 23 bout with Overeem, working alongside Remy Bonjansky, Gilbert Yvel (Pictures) and legendary trainer Ivan Hyppolite at Vos Gym.
Struggling to keep its television ratings on TBS respectable, the Japan-based Dream promotion hopes the Filipovic-Overeem match can help meet the demands of one of the country’s major commercial broadcasters and its advertising partners.
This is a pretty good match up since both fighters are good strikers. Hmm. Well I guess Cro Cop has the striking advantage. IMO, Cro Cop should be more careful on his stand up game because he was knocked out twice already (correct me if I'm wrong). Cro Cop should also avoid being too defensive because during those times where he got too defensive, he lost via decision (vs. Kongo and Fedor).
I would love to see Cro Cop slug it out with Fedor for the second time. I think Fedor would still win (probably by submission or decision). But who knows, Cro Cop's head kicks can turn the tables around any time. Let's all wait for the coming matches!
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man i wish he comes back in ufc , and fights brock lesnar! that would be sick! cro cop HK ing lesnars head to the oblivion
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