Mustapha Al-Turk has confirmed his UFC 99 fight against the returning Mirko Cro Cop. While the fight hasn’t been officially announced by Zuffa, it has been confirmed by Dana White, and Al-Turk recently took the chance to discuss strategy against the once-feared Croatian striker.
I feel good. I feel like I’ve got the tools and the know-how and the skill to deal with him and beat him,” he said. “You know, I’ve got a good stand-up game – probably not as good as his – and I’ve got a good ground game. I’m a good wrestler.
“My jiu-jitsu’s good. I’ve got a good chance and I believe in myself, that’s the most important thing. It’s only three and a half weeks away. It is quite short notice, but hey, you know, I’m stepping up and I’m going to take it to him
“With respect to Cro Cop, he’s a southpaw, so I’ll have to cater for that, really. So mainly working against a southpaw, moving to the left, that kind of thing.”
“We’ve had to change all the training. It is quite short notice, and it is a steep learning curve to change my game. I’ve been working eleven weeks to deal with Todd Duffee, but that’s changed now and true intelligence is adaptation to environment, so if I can adapt to my environment I can demonstrate true intelligence.”
I think it’s going to take far, far more than true intelligence for Al-Turk to have any sort of chance against Cro Cop.
