UPDATE: Cro Cop lost his fight at Legends 2 against Alexey Oleinik via submission in the first round
According to MMA Mania, Former UFC and Pride heavyweight Mirko Cro Cop had choice words for a group of UFC fighters, including Jon Jones, who turned up at one of his press conferences.
In the opinion of the MMA veteran, the UFC’s light heavyweight champion, along with heavyweights Fabricio Werdum, Frank Mir and Alistair Overeem, should all be fired by the UFC for appearing at another organisation’s event in Russia.
The Croatian fighter is gearing up for the 42nd fight in his long career for new MMA outfit LEGEND Fight Show at its Legends 2 event in Moscow. Speaking candidly to a reporter in his hotel room, he said (h/t MMA Mania):
It’s nice that they came, that they graced us with their presence. But on the flip side, I think Dana White is going to grow his hair back when he sees them here. Jon Jones is the light heavyweight champion. Werdum is fighting Cain next for the heavyweight belt. Those are people under contract with UFC… They came over, sat in the front row at the press conference. Took photos. All of that sends a bad message. I would never do that, never.
The head-kick knockout specialist then went on an almost-five-minute rant as to why their behaviour was inappropriate.
In Cro Cop’s opinion, it was completely unprofessional for these men to stand at an event, with the logos and banners of a rival promotion behind them, while under contract with the UFC. He went on to say that UFC president Dana White would likely go mad when he found out, and that if he were in White’s shoes, he would fire them all.
This isn’t the first time LEGEND has called on Jones to help promote its event. Back in May, in the run-up to its first event, Jones was also invited to give a seminar. Second time around, the Russian promotion widened its association with some of the UFC’s top draws, with even more seminars featuring the heavyweights and light heavyweight.
Cro Cop said that while giving a seminar is one thing, doing extra publicity for the promotion, such as attending press events, was going too far.
The UFC is, indeed, strict with the kind of work fighters can do for other promotions, although no one has ever been fired for attending someone else’s press conference. It’s also unlikely that high-profile stars such as Jones, or heavyweight title challenger Werdum, will lose their jobs over this.
Cro Cop, meanwhile, takes on Alexey Oleinik this Friday at Legends 2. Other MMA fighters on the card include Paul Daley, who fights Alexander “Bad Boy” Yakovlev.
Pictures of Mir, Jones and Werdum teaching their seminars in honour of LEGEND Wednesday and Thursday can be seen across the net.
Below is the full video of Cro Cop making the comments in his hotel room.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com