Monday, March 17, 2008

DREAM Producers Planning Fedor vs Crocop 2 for NYE 2008


This is a story that comes from the mmanews.com forums, I don't really know who to give credit too except the guy that posted it because he didn't give any links. Here's the news, defenitely a fight I would want to see again.

The producers of DREAM, the new Japanese MMA promotion borne out of the ashes of PRIDE and K-1 HERO'S, have set forth their "dream" match for the annual end-of-year fight festival known as Dynamite: a rematch between former PRIDE aces Fedor Emelianenko and Mirko "CroCop" Filipovic.

CroCop fought most recently at the inaugural DREAM event, easily dispatching Pancrase veteran Tatsuya Mizuno via TKO in a mere 56 seconds. Emelianenko's last fight occurred at the Yarennoka New Year's Eve show, where he submitted 7'2" K-1 giant Hong Man Choi via arm bar in the opening round. Both matches were held at Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan, the former "home court" of PRIDE FC.

While the DREAM producers are excited at the opportunity to stage a rematch of one of the biggest PRIDE fights ever, the bout would be contingent on the success of each fighter during the interim. A source indicates that both Emelianenko and Filipovic are expected to compete at least once more for DREAM in the meantime.

Their original contest, staged at PRIDE - Final Conflict in August of 2005, became one of the most talked about MMA fights in history, as Emelianenko was able to back down the K-1 veteran with impressive striking, and apply his superior ground game en route to a unanimous decision victory.

After CroCop bounced back to capture the 2006 PRIDE Open Weight Grand Prix Championship, many expected he would be granted a rematch with Fedor in PRIDE. But the Croatian Sensation would surprise the MMA world by being one of the first top PRIDE fighters to cross over to the UFC.

On a Japanese TV special previewing the DREAM.1 event, Emelianenko was touted as one of the elite stars of the new promotion. CroCop appeared in a brief interview segment where he expressed his desire to reclaim his place among the top MMA heavyweights in the world and earn a second shot at Fedor, after his disappointing 1-2 run in the UFC.


Original Source

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Crocop does not deserve a rematch against Fedor whatsoever. First he needs to proove to the world that he is worth something.
After loosing 2 out of 4 fights(the only 2 significant ones) in the ufc, it leaves the public wondering if crocop is any good anymore. If Crocop suxesfully defeats fedor, fedor's reputation would loose all value. If Crocop looses Fedor's reputation will not go up anyways, because "everyone beats Crocop nowadays". The only fights that make sence against Fedor is Barnett, Couture or the winner of Couture vs Nogueria if in the ufc. Before Crocop should come Gonzaga, Werdum, Silvia, Barnett, Couture as a matter of fact anyone but Crocop.

Anonymous said...

I say they should try to create a HW tournament. If they can get

Sergei Kharitonov
Mark Hunt
Alistar Overeem
Mirko Cro Cop
Fedor Emelianenko
Alexander Emelianenko
Randy Couture
Josh Barnett
Andrei Arlovski

I know it won't happen but it's nice to dream...

Anonymous said...

...and Sylvia, too

Anonymous said...

you're an idiot. you cant even spell, let alone analyze mma match ups. keep your crappy opinions to yourself. i say crocop deserves a rematch. the first time around was one hell of a fight and i expect nothing less than that from mirko.