MMA legend Mirko Cro Cop Filipovic is set to take on Frank Mir as a late replacement for Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira on September 25, 2010 at UFC 119 and many MMA fans are intrigued by the match up. Cro Cop is known for his impressive striking, but opponent Mir has been showing a strong ability to strike lately himself, though most would definitely give the stand up edge to Filipovic. While some might expect Mir to try and out strike his opponent, Filipovic himself seems to think that Mir will try to bring the fight to the ground. He recently spoke of the matchup, via Fighters Only:
He is a very good fighter. First-class grappler, solid striker – nothing special, but solid – but a first-class grappler. Definitely he will try to take me down. He had a longer time to prepare but it doesn’t have to mean anything. The moment I accepted the fight, there are no excuses for me. Its my problem and I don’t want people to think I am searching for some alibi or something. I only stated a fact, that it was summertime, I was taking a rest from my last fight, I was recovering. But it has nothing to do with anything; that moment I agreed to the fight, that’s it, we are even. There is no more to be said.
You would have to think that Frank Mir’s career would suffer greatly with a loss to Cro Cop, while a win by the Croatian would certainly boost him higher into the upper echelons of the UFC elite heavyweights. Vegas odds makers are giving the edge to Mir, but anything can happen, as we all know. This should be interesting.