Over the last couple of days we’ve been trying to determine Mirko “Cro Cop’s” thought process, in agreeing to fight Frank Mir on short notice, September 25^th, at UFC 119. If you listen very carefully…you can still hear the disappointed cries of hardcore “Minotauro” Nogueira fans; sh-t’s rough. As we’ve said since the news of Nog’s unfortunate injury was announced, we’re happy Cro Cop has agreed to step up, but it was kind of surprising considering he was supposedly thinking about hanging them up.

Well, in a report today from MMA Bay, we’re getting some possible insights into Cro Cop’s decision. Now we have a hard time translating U.K. English into American English, much less any other language, so we’ll have to take MMA Bay’s ‘word’ on the following comments. According to a report from Index.hr, here is some of what the Croatian bomber had to say about his upcoming bout with Mir.

“It is certain that I will not be able to go full force. I was left with only five weeks to prepare. I would not agree to the madness of this fight if Lorenzo Fertitta didn’t beg me to step in. They were in a difficult situation because Minotauro could not fight, and this is my way to repay [the UFC].”…”This all, of course, does not mean that I am looking for an excuse, but I certainly will not be ready. However, it still means I can lay out Frank Mir in the first round.”

There’s some ‘straight shooting’ for you (Mirko was a Special Forces officer after all). The short notice is something to consider though if you’re considering betting. Should be interesting.

Yesterday we passed along news that Antonio “Minotauro” Nogueira would reportedly not fight Frank Mir as scheduled September 25^th, due to a rib injury, and that Mirko “Cro Cop” had agreed to step in as Nog’s replacement. Injuries happen, so that’s not too surprising, but we probably weren’t the only ones who had their eyebrows rise upon reading “Cro Cop” was taking the fight. Could it be that “Cro Cop” had reconsidered previous statements he made about getting “too old” for all this ultimate fighting stuff? (Or just as probable—that those comments were taken out of context or inaccurate?)

Well, apparently we kicked into ‘over thinking’ mode way too early on this one (which isn’t a habit here as any regular reader knows), as the UFC has confirmed today that “Cro Cop” will in fact face Mir at UFC 119 in Indianapolis. If you’re a big time Nog fan, and were hoping for some redemption in the rematch with Mir, sorry about your loss. There’s lots riding on “Cro Cop” vs. Mir as well though; should be sweet.

If you’re having trouble keeping track of the bazillion cards being promoted these days (not that we’re complaining), UFC will also feature Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Ryan Bader, Chris Lytle vs. Matt Serra II, Evan Dunham vs. Sean Sherk and Melvin Guillard vs. Jeremy Stephens on the main card. To bet on any of the upcoming cards head here.

If you’re a huge “Minotauro” Nogueira fan and have had September 25^th marked down on your calendar, in anticipation of your boy getting another shot at Frank Mir, well, you may want to put the coffee down (or any other object that could be thrown courtesy a temper tantrum). According to a report from Fighters Only Magazine Nogueira has been forced to withdraw from UFC 119 due to an injury. In a follow up report from MMA Junkie, a source has confirmed with the outlet, that a rib injury has in fact punted the legendary heavyweight from the card.

So, for big time Nog fans this news has to be very disappointing, as Nogueira has consistently said that a serious staph infection and a messed up knee, were key reasons as to why he got absolutely pasted by Mir at UFC 92. Looks like Nog learned his lesson in terms of trying to fight through an injury no?

Now, the sh-tty news regarding Nogueira’s injury aside, Fighters Only is reporting that Mirko “Cro Cop” will step in to fight Mir at UFC 119. Our first reaction was ‘cool—wait—what?’ Now Cro Cop has clearly fought some of the best in the sport, and if he has indeed agreed to fight Mir then that’s awesome, but it wasn’t long ago we were hearing reports that he was humming and hawing about retirement. Now he’s stepping up against one the world’s best on 6 week’s notice? Guess he’s still looking to make a run.

Frank was at the Tuff-N-Uff fight in Las Vegas prepping his cousin, Larry Mir, for his headline bout. Mir gives his thoughts on fighting Anderson Silva (yes he’d like to), makes no excuses for his Shane Carwin fight (good), and gives a realistic opinion of who he will be facing next (super honest).

Just days removed from Frank Mir’s beatdown defeat courtesy Shane ‘What’s the Second Round Like?’’ Carwin, one might think that the hate-hate relationship between the former champion and current king, Brock Lesnar, might just simmer down a little bit. As really, it could be a while before a rubber match fight between Mir and Lesnar materializes, if ever, so, is it time to toss a few pails of water under the bridge?

Well, in a report from Yahoo Sports, it doesn’t sound like Lesnar is expecting to fight Mir anytime soon, but that doesn’t mean that Mir will have a new found love for the champ if he reads the following quote.

“I kind of figured Shane was going to win, though I know anything can happen in this sport,” Lesnar said. “I was kind of laying back and I didn’t want to count any chickens before they hatched. Shane’s a tough guy and I just know that Frank’s time is done. This is the new evolution of the heavyweight division. Brock Lesnar, Shane Carwin, Cain Velasquez, Junior dos Santos, we’re the guys in this division.”

Huh. Yes, clearly Mir will have to put together a few wins to get back in the title mix, but to say Frank’s time is done? Yeah; that’s not going to sit welll with a prideful guy like Mir. After all, this is the same man that after a severe motorcycle accident and getting pounded six ways from Sunday by Brandon Vera, he returned to the top of the division. Not too many people were calling that in 2006. It will be interesting to see if can do it again.

Heading into this past weekend’s tilt between Shane Carwin and Frank Mir, where Carwin once again demonstrated that the human brain doesn’t function very well when being battered by his barrel sized fists, much of the focus remained on whether or not the winner would emerge unscathed to face Brock Lesnar this summer. After all, Dana White and the UFC crew had insisted that if the victor couldn’t throw down for a while, Cain Velasquez would get a crack at Lesnar. Well, as we all know, Carwin didn’t appear to injure himself while beating the hell out of Mir…

So, what’s in store for Velasquez? What about throwing him in against the division’s other ‘’holy sh-t this guy is good’ prospect in Junior Dos Santos? Seems like a sweet idea right? Well according to a report from MMA Junkie, it sounds like White will have Velasquez remain on the sidelines until later in the year, to face the winner of Carwin / Lesnar.

“Velasquez will get the next title shot after [Lesnar vs. Carwin],” White told MMAjunkie.com last week. “He earned it. And Dos Santos will probably have to win another win.

“But really, isn’t this a good problem to have?”

Yes and no. Is it a good problem to have that, barring any injuries, the heavyweight title picture looks like it has several awesome fights lined up in a row? Yes. Does that mean it sucks that our selfish needs aren’t being addressed with an immediate bout between Velasquez and Dos Santos? Yes, yes it does.

If people weren’t listening to what Cain Velasquez had to say a couple of weeks ago, they likely are now; that’s what happens when you need less than 3 minutes to cruise through “Minotauro” Nogueira, one of the sport’s greatest fighters ever (either that or say something that borders on slander and usually people will listen up).

Although the winner of the upcoming March 27^th Frank Mir / Shane Carwin bout is scheduled to fight Brock Lesnar in July, Dana White has gone on record saying, that Velasquez will step in to fight the champ if either guy gets injured. Although any of them would make for an awesome fight (yes Mir vs. Lesnar III has the edge in ‘no I hate you more’ factor), it would be damn interesting to see how Velasquez would fair against the ‘Minnesota Monster.’ In a recent interview with MMA Fighting the undefeated heavyweight talked about what kind of strategy he would employ against Lesnar.

“I think I’d have to wear him out for the first two or three rounds, because he’s so big and strong. I’d need to be weary of him at the beginning.”

“I think that’d be my best option, trying to do that. He’s a great athlete, and he has wrestled in the NCAAs, and you have to be a top athlete to do that, but I think that would be my best bet.”

Hell, sounds good to us, it would be fascinating to see how Lesnar looks in the championship rounds. Thankfully we’d be watching from home instead of inside the Octagon.

Just when you thought the soap opera surrounding Frank Mir’s recent comments, stating his ‘desire’ to end Brock Lesnar’s life in the Octagon had come to an end (after all, this is what apologies usually are designed to do), the outspoken former champ is apparently ready to star in another episode. Speaking to SI’s Ben Fowlkes, it sounds like Mir isn’t exactly sure why his comments were singled out and condemned, when other notable fighters like BJ Penn, Chuck Liddell, amongst others, have also used terms like ‘kill,’’ when discussing the game plan for their next opponent.

“No one’s been able to explain it to me yet,” Mir says. “I thought we understood that what we say on camera is part of the entertainment aspect of our sport and we kind of get a little artistic license. It’s not like I said this to my neighbor, that if his dog shows up in my yard one more time I’m going to kill him. That would be bad. That’s a problem. I didn’t understand it, but hey, it came my way, I said it, and I can’t cry about it now. I’ve just got to deal with it, I guess.”

Yes, Mir has a point in regards to the fact that fighters deserve a little ‘artistic license,’ when discussing a sport that can entail sending your fellow human being to the hospital for reconstructive surgery.  In this case, it was probably Mir’s use of the words “first person that dies due to Octagon related injuries” that blurred the lines for some folk. Particularly those who people who still think MMA is ‘barbaric.’ Stay tuned…

Only days removed from Frank Mir’s WTF comments regarding the life of Brock Lesnar (which were likely met by a few thousand ‘oh that’s no good, that’s no good at all…’), the former champion will now look ahead to his upcoming March 27^th bout with Shane Carwin; yeah, remember him? The dude whose enormous fists could take out three dudes with one shot?

In a recent interview with MMA Weekly, Mir didn’t discuss the Lesnar drama, but after explaining why he smack talked the hell out of Cheick Kongo (which includes Mir’s contention that Kongo may in fact have the worst ground skills in the UFC…this is what Frank said Cheick, not us…), he moved on to Carwin. But just like Mir’s past comments regarding his next opponent, the outspoken heavyweight continues to offer very little in the way of ‘constructive criticism’.

“In the Shane Carwin fight, honestly it’s not that I’m down playing anything or not trying to get into his head. I’m looking for different angles and honestly to my disadvantage, he doesn’t have a lot of fight time on footage. He stays pretty reserved, and in a lot of ways he’s a likeable guy. He’s a tough competitor. He keeps himself kind of on the straight path. There’s really nothing bad for me to say about him.”

Huh. Nothing to work with there really, and considering Carwin has spent less than 4 minutes combined in the Octagon bombing out 3 opponents, we understand Frank’s comments regarding ‘footage.’ Should be a dandy.

If you can think of a better way that Cain Velasquez could have proven that he’s ‘the real deal’ than by pasting “Minotauro” Nogueira like he did last night, we’d like to hear it (and no, ridiculous answers like ‘8 second KO by dropkick’ don’t count, even if that would be totally awesome). We all knew that Velasquez was a damn fine talent, but the hand speed he demonstrated last night should definitely give other elite heavies like Shane Carwin, Frank Mir, and of course, Brock Lesnar, pause for thought (although maybe that’s what Nog did…).

At any rate, it sounds like Velasquez’s ‘holy sheeet’ performance last night definitely resonated with UFC boss man Dana White (thanks to Sherdog for the quote).

“Because of Brock’s absence, it’s a little plugged up right now in the heavyweight division, but this guy?” White said. “In my opinion, Nogueira’s probably the best heavyweight of all time, and (Velasquez) absolutely demolished him tonight. He’s for real and he’s in the line right now.”

It’s interesting that the man that defeated Nogueira on two occasions, a certain Fedor Emelianenko, was glossed over by White (but not terribly surprising considering the source). Now partial opinions aside, the internet is already buzzing today about the possibilities of Velasquez vs. Lesnar. It will be interesting to see if the winner of Mir vs. Carwin is ready to throw down against the champ in July, if not, Velasquez will be stepping up to the plate.