Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic enlists the help of former Croatian basketball player Franjo Arapovic to help prepare for his end of year showdown with Korean giant Hong Man Choi.

A long-rumored heavyweight rematch featuring Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic (23-6-2) and Alistair Overeem (40-11) tentatively scheduled for K-1 DYNAMITE!! 2008 on December 31st in Saitama, Japan has been postponed.

Fields Dynamite FEG executive Sadaharu Tanigawa officially announced that the bout had been delayed at a press conference earlier this week.

UFC and PRIDE veteran Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic will require another surgery to repair an injured knee, but will postpone the surgery until early-2009 to rematch Alistair Overeem at K-1 Dynamite!! 2008 on December 31st in Japan.

“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,” said “Cro Cop”. “The fear of defeat is major motivation for every fight — not necessarily wounds or physical pain. It can become an issue when you’re on a losing streak.”

DREAM has finalized the fight card for DREAM 6, which takes place on September 23rd at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan and airs live in the US on HDNet.
The now-complete fight card features:

Winner of Manhoef-Mousasi vs. winner of Galesic-Souza
Middleweight Grand Prix Final
Melvin Manhoef vs. Gegard Mousasi
Middleweight Grand Prix Semifinal
Zelg Galesic vs. Ronaldo “Jacare” [...]

WAMMA heavyweight champion Fedor Emelieanenko will be healed from his recent hand injury in time to compete by New Years Eve, reports Sports Illustrated.
“I think definitely by New Year’s Eve I’ll be ready to go,” Emelianenko told SI. “My desire at this point is to meet with the winner of the fight [between Arlovski and [...]

During a recent media confrence call EliteXC confirmed that popular but controversial heavyweight Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson will return to the cage in the fall, most likely in September or October on a CBS televised card, but his opponent for the bout has not yet been determined.
“The Ultimate Fighter 4″ runner-up Chris Lytle has signed [...]

Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic has been forced off the July 21st DREAM 5 card due to elbow and knee injuries, according to his official blog:
Unfortunately I have some bad news– I won’t be fighting at DREAM 5 at all. I was about to face Jerome LeBanner but he decided to fight in K1 against Schilt. [...]

Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic has withdrawn from a scheduled grappling match against Ralek Gracie at DREAM 4 due to undisclosed injuries.
A former PRIDE and UFC fighter, “Cro Cop” was to face Gracie in a two round submission bout at the June 15th event in Japan.
Despite withdrawing from the bout due to injuries, which are rumored [...]

PRIDE and UFC veteran Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic will take on Ralek Gracie in a special grappling match at DREAM 4 on June 15th according to Nokaut.
According to the report the match will “take place under modified Abu Dhabi rules: two five-minute rounds with no point system. The only way to win will be via [...]

Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic will face off against highly accomplished kickboxer Jerome LeBanner at DREAM 4, according to Cro Cop’s blog at mma-id.com.
“Cro Cop” (23-6 MMA, 1-2 UFC) was a PrideFC standout who holds victories over Josh Barnett, Wanderlei Silva, Kevin Randleman, Aleksander Emelianenko and Mark Coleman. After competing for years in PRIDE, Filipovic was [...]