Cro Cop on his future plans

30/07/10 - Randy Couture would "almost certainly" accept CroCop fight

Randy Couture would almost certainly take a fight with Mirko ‘CroCop’ Filipovic if the UFC wanted to put it together, Fighters Only was told today. In a recent interview with Fighters Only, Filipovic said that a fight with Randy Couture is “interesting to him”. (He also name checked Gabriel Gonzaga and Rodrigo Nogueira).

Those comments were relayed to the Xtreme Couture headquarters where a source very close to the veteran fighter said that he would be very likely to accept a fight with CroCop should it be offered to him.

“I can almost guarantee that he would gladly take that fight. I know it’s one that he was all for two years ago. I think he’d rather fight a contender at 205 but that he’d never shy away from a high profile fight like that,” the source told us.

Of course, that depends of Filipovic re-signing with the UFC. He is currently out of contract with the organisation and in the recent interview with Fighters Only he spoke of needing “motivation” to get him back into the Octagon and stave off retirement.

Since being named in the interview, Nogueira has said he would like a second match with CroCop and with Couture seemingly certain to accept as well, the way is looking open for the UFC to entice the Croatian legend back into the cage.
Couture’s next fight is at UFC 118 where he will face heavyweight boxing champion and MMA debutant James Toney, who has decided to make a move to mixed martial arts at the age of 41. The fight is keenly anticipated by boxing and MMA fans alike.

I’m talking to Cro Cop. Brock Lesnar wants me to come and be his sparring partner. This is what. You can’t write this man, this isn’t even a dream. This is just all around fabulous. I’m just going to keep riding with it, man, and keep screaming thank you out the window to somebody… Even Dana White said that Cro Cop is not your friend, you know what, I’ve spoken to that dude (Filipovic) like every other day since the fight. He’s called from Croatia to see what’s going on and how my healings coming… Something that is really cool and that no one really knows about, Cro Cop says he might fight again in November. And (Filipovic) says as soon as my hand is healed, he would like to fly me to Croatia for a month to come and be his sparring partner… He (Filipovic) said, you are faster than I am and you hit harder than I do, or something like that, but I could tell that when we grabbed each other, he’s like I could tell you weren’t very strong. Like you haven’t been wrestling with guys bigger than you or stronger than you…So I’ve got a lot of giant serial killer Croatian guys out here, that are wrestlers that I could throw at you…But I would really like you to come out here and be my sparring partner for my next fight… Brock Lesnar has asked for me to come and be his sparring partner for a month before he fights Cain Velasquez. How cool is that…A month with the heavyweight champion of the universe Brock Lesnar, the biggest scariest dude on earth, and then a month with a legendary striker like Cro Cop… These two guys have recognized and see something in me that they feel can help them get better, and that’s amazing. I get to see what it’s like to be with the big guy, the heavyweight champ, and to train with Cro Cop, that’s cool man.