Mirko Cro Cop’s return to the UFC was short-lived: almost immediately after defeating Mostapha Al-Turk after a controversial eye poke led to a first round TKO, the Croatian informed Dana White that he’d signed a three fight deal with DREAM.
“Isn’t that a dirty fucking thing to do?” said White. “He fucked me. The first time in the history of the company I do one over the phone. He promised me a three-fight deal and he fucked me.”
Filipovic was originally asked to return to face Cain Velasquez, but he refused the fight. According to sources inside the UFC, Filipovic turned down no less than four opponents for his short-lived return to the UFC, before finally settling on Al-Turk.
One thing we can be assured of: Dana White will certainly never do another one-fight deal. Mirko Cro Cop pretty much put an end to any hope we may have had of White signing Fedor Emelianenko for a one fight contract. And he’s going to be less apt to take people at their word than he already is, since Filipovic promised he was in the UFC for a long haul and told White that he would sign a three fight deal immediately following the fight with Al-Turk. It’s now apparent that wasn’t the case, and that Filipovic was simply using the UFC for a tune-up fight before returning to Japan.
