Cro Cop - Million Dollar Dilemma
Dana White must be pissed. I know I would be if I paid a million dollars to a fighter in hopes of revitalizing a sagging heavyweight division, only to see him outclassed by two good (but not yet great) fighters that he should have dominated. Obviously, the hope was that Cro Cop would come in and dominate (and revitalize) the heavyweight division. He should have chewed through Gonzaga, then Randy. At that point, the heavyweight division would be all set for a while as guys like Vera, Arlovski and Silvia should have worked their way back into title contention. Well that didn’t happen. Instead Gonzaga got bumped into a title fight a few fights too soon. Even though Gonzaga manhandled Cro Cop, we all know that a Cro Cop vs. Couture fight would be much more marketable to headline the UFC’s biggest summer event. This alone doesn’t make Cro Cop a disaster. We all know that underdogs can take any match on any day. So now the "need to adjust to the octagon" angle gets played. Cro Cop gets another fight against a legitimate up-and-comer. With a win against Kongo, Cro Cop would still probably be one more win from a title shot, and would easily be a big draw against someone like Arlovski in a #1 contender fight. In the short term, the HW division is still OK with Minotauro and Vera now in the mix. This buys the UFC some time to bring Cro Cop back up the ranks. He just needs to beat another striker. Since no one else is in Cro Cop’s league when it comes to striking, this is a no-brainer. Or so we thought… [Tangent - No disrespect to Cheick Kongo, as I’m a huge fan of his. He completely outfought Cro Cop (but this obviously isn’t the same Cro Cop that won the Pride Grand Prix), and has come a long way in his development. He still has a question mark on his ground game, though. I suggest Gonzaga for his next opponent. Mir would be a good choice, too.] So now we’re at the million dollar dilemma. What to do with the heavyweight division and what to do with Cro Cop? If Vera beats Silvia, then he’s obviously next in line for the title. Nogueira is in the mix too. Short of some truly dominant victories, I think Silvia and Arlovski have a bit more burden on them before they earn themselves another title shot. I think there’s a lot more pressure on the UFC to sign Fedor now that Cro Cop has fallen so far. He was a big player in revitalizing the HW division, and he’s been a bust. The question becomes, what to do with Cro Cop now? I think he gets one more do-or-die fight, and then he gets kicked to the curb. The question becomes, who the hell does he fight? I don’t see any options I feel really thrilled about. Frank Mir might be the right fit, since he has something to prove right now and he needs a fight against a legitimate opponent to push him back up the ranks. The other option is if the UFC signs a new heavyweight fighter, then Cro Cop may be a good gatekeeper fight. Mark Hunt maybe? I’ve seen some suggestions that Cro Cop might be better off making the cut to light heavyweight. First of all, Cro Cop doesn’t strike me (bad pun - sorry) as the type who would be willing to cut down. Second, while that may provide a few fights of interest, he still would need to show a return to dominance within a fight or two before he becomes about as relevant as Barry Horowitz or the Brooklyn Brawler Imagine that… the Brooklyn Brawler at 350K a fight. I’d let Gabriel Gonzaga kick me unconscious for that kind of money…
