Após aposentadoria, Cro Cop volta a lutar em revanche com Emelianenko. Foto: UFC

Voltando a atuar depois de anunciar a aposentadoria, Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic mostra mais uma vez que não consegue ficar longe das lutas. Segundo informações veiculadas nesta semana, o croata de letais chutes de esquerda fará uma revanche contra Alexander Emelianenko, irmão de Fedor Emelianenko, até o final de 2013.

A luta será realizada em Moscou no evento Legend. Enquanto uma data exata ainda não foi divulgada, informações indicam que o embate deve ser realizado em novembro.

“Eu acho que realizando esta revanche com uma das lendas do esporte, especialmente na terra natal dele, dá a Cro Cop e nosso time uma motivação especial para o embate”, disse o empresário do croata, Orsat Zovko, ao FightSite.hr.

Filipovic (28v, 10d, 2e, 1nc) anunciou sua aposentadoria em outubro de 2011, após ser derrotado por Roy Nelson no UFC 137. Mesmo assim, o ex-campeão do GP do Pride ainda lutou mais uma vez, finalizando Shinichi Suzukawa  no armlock em dezembro de 2012. O famoso striker ainda entrou para lutar no K1, vencendo o GP em março deste ano.

“Depois de vencer o GP do K1, nós tivemos diversas propostas de todo o mundo. Os brasileiros propuseram com mais determinação, mas tivemos também ofertas de japoneses, americanos e europeus”, disse Zovko.

Já Emelianenko (22v, 6d) competiu pela última vez ao derrotar Bob Sapp, no mês passado. Seu retrospecto mais atual é de cinco vitórias em seis lutas.

O primeiro embate entre o russo e o croata terminou com um nocaute de Cro Cop. Como você acha que vai terminar este novo embate? Veja como foi o primeiro e comente conosco!

Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic and Alexander Emelianenko will face each other in a rematch later this year, according to a reports on Monday morning.

The Cro Cop-Emelianenko bout will take place in Moscow in the “Legend” promotion, according to the report. While an exact date is unknown at this time, reports state October and November to be the target months for the affair.

“I think that providing a rematch to one of the legends of this sport and especially in his homeland … gives Cro Cop and our entire team that additional challenge and maximum motivation,” Filpovic’s manager, Orsat Zovko, told FightSite.hr.

Filipovic (28-10-2, 1 N.C.) announced his retirement from mixed martial arts competition in October 2011, following a TKO loss to Roy Nelson at UFC 137. However, the former Pride Grand Prix champion went on to fight one more time, beating Shinichi Suzukawa by armbar in December 2012. The famed striker also went on to win his first K-1 Grand Prix kickboxing title last March.

“After winning the K-1 WGP title, we had offers coming from all over the world, from Brazilians who were one of the most determined, to Japan, U.S. and Europe,” Zovko said.

Emelianenko (22-6), brother to former Pride heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko, last competed in a one-sided win over Bob Sapp last month. The Russian heavyweight is 5-1 over his last six matches.

The first bout between the two fighters ended with Cro Cop earning the win by knockout.

New Jersey does it again – The state responsible for creating the de facto standard set of rules for professional mixed martial arts across North America, sanctioning bouts back when mainstream America didn’t think of Martial Arts as a sport, just pioneered an MMA and Muay Thai Hall of Fame inducting the state’s most important contributors to these sports.

With a strong tradition in MMA, New Jersey houses quite a few martial arts VIPs, many of them recognized during the awards ceremony. Some names are quite well known in the Jiu-Jitsu community as well, since their contributions started with a gi on the tatami. Such is the case of Legend Award recipient Renzo Gracie and MMA Judge of the Year Ricardo Almeida.

We caught up with Renzo during the festivities to get his thoughts on being officially declared a legend but he is not ready to rest on his laurels just yet – he is getting ready for a fight! Check out the interview below.

The event was a dinner gala that took place at the Crowne Plaza Meadowlands Hotel ballroom on Friday December 7, 2012 and was organized by Dead Serious Promotions and the Fighting Perez Family. After the dinner and awards the guests took the time to do a little dancing, this time without throwing punches at each other.

Here is the full list of inductees:

2012 Inaugural Class Inductee Awards

Legend Award – Renzo Gracie

Lifetime Achievement Award – Louis Neglia

MMA Fighter of the Year – Frankie Edgar

MMA Female Fighter of the Year – Munah Holland

Muay Thai Fighter of the Year – Ognjen Topic

Muay Thai female fighter of the Year – Prairie Rugilo

MMA Trainer of the Year – Mike Constantino

Muay Thai Trainer(s) of the Year – Ray Cruz and Joe Bumanlag

MMA Promoter of the Year – Rob Haydak

Muay Thai Promoter of the Year – Warriors Cup

MMA Matchmaker of the Year – Sam Caplan

Muay Thai Matchmaker of the Year – Chris Tran

Muay Thai Referee of the Year – Coban

MMA Referee of the Year – Dan Miragliotta

MMA Judge of the Year – Ricardo Almeida

Muay Thai Judge of the Year – Vladimir Borodine

Ringside Physician of the Year – Dr. Sherry Wulkan

Announcer of the Year – Kevin Garvey

Media Personality of the Year – Jim Genia

Pioneer MMA Fighter Award – Dave Tirelli

Outstanding Achievement in MMA – Kurt Pellegrino

The event was video taped and it should be available on demand here

A full gallery of photos of the whole event can be seen here

 

Renzo Gracie, on
becoming a legend:

Renzo, how do you feel after winning the legend award for the first ever N.J. MMA Hall of Fame?

Initially I thought this was an award they gave to old people. And it’s funny because Nick Lembo [N.J. State Athletic Control Board Legal Counsel] began his speech with “This started this way and I didn’t know where it was gonna end up. He said [some more words] and now it’s gonna end up here giving you this award” and the first thing that came to my mind was “I know where it began – I was five years old when I had my first experience training Jiu-Jitsu in the gym and I know that is not over yet. It’s not gonna end it yet.” This next year I am fighting again, you know? So they are giving a legend award, that they are supposed to give to old people, to a young boy who’s gonna be banging again next year!

So, when is your fight next year?

I hope soon. I am already in shape and ready to go, man. I can’t wait! I can’t wait to setup a date! Soon it will be announced.

You didn’t get this award for nothing. You came here to the United States and almost every single guy that was there on the podium today mentioned your contribution to MMA not only in N.J., but in the whole country of the United States. So, how do you feel yourself about this contribution and how hard was the road to get here?