Roundtable: Is The UFC Right in Bringing Cro Cop Back
News broke earlier today that MMA legend Mirko Cro Cop had resigned with the UFC on the back of a 3-1 record since leaving the promotion in 2011. A surprise signing for the world largest promotion, we discuss whether or not the worlds biggest MMA promotion was right in bringing Cro Cop back to fight in 2015.
Chris Houten - @ChrisHoutenMMA
The decision to bring Cro Cop back is a questionable one. Sure he is a fan favourite but who's he going to fight and can he actually be competitive in the best organisation in the world with guys that are big, stronger, younger, and arguably much more rounded.I can appreciate Crop Cop has picked up a couple of victories since leaving the UFC but none of the guys he has beat are UFC worthy, in fact one of the guys he beat is currently 1-3 as a pro. Looking at Cro Cop's record on Sherdog you can even argue he hasn't actually beat anyone worthy of a spot on the UFC roster since beating Josh Barnett at Pride FC - Final Conflict Absolute in 2006. Cro Cop is 10-7 since with most notable win being against Pat Barry, and we all know what happened to him.
At the end of the day, Cro Cop is a popular fighter and I can understand why the UFC would make a move for the Croatian when Scott Coker expressed interest in bringing him to Bellator - it's worth the UFC taking him just so Bellator can't. And hey, who am I to complain, if CM Punk can be a UFC fighter in 2015, why can't a guy who has wins over has wins over the likes of Josh Barnett, Mark Coleman, Wanderlei Silva and more, even if them wins were 10+ years ago. Plus if rumours are to be believed we might even see Cro Cop vs Alberto Del Rio 2 in 2015.
Tom Young - @ThomBomb17
Signing Cro Cop is an interesting move. He's past his prime as we can all tell but he brings in numbers. Also, with UFC looking to expand and talk of holding an event in Russia, I am sure it'll play out for both him and the UFC.When you have a company willing to pay you plenty of dollars, it's hard to turn down especially for a guy like Cro Cop who just loves to fight. Personally, I do not see anything wrong with Cro Cop making a bit of extra buck which I am sure will help him when he actually does retire.
The last few fights he had in the UFC were hard to watch. Not exactly the Cro Cop everyone loved in his prime but it's hard to disagree that people are still going to tune in and watch him fight.
Ben Heather - @benheather
Should the UFC have resigned Cro Cop? Honestly, probably not in my opinion although he is a well known name and I am sure will sell a few more tickets for an event off his name alone and it's not going to hurt PPV numbers if he was on that card.Honestly though, I think we all know why he has been resigned and that is because of the rumours he would sign for Bellator. This is a power move to prove once more that if the UFC go in for any fighter, they will get them. Are they right in bringing him back... I will leave my full judgement for after his return fight. I will say this though, I see the UFC as being the ultimate promotion and think the fighters who sign should be the very elite fighters, in recent time that has not proved to be true through global expansion of the brand and there are a lot of fighters worse than Cro Cop on the books. So if they can fight in the UFC, I do not have a problem in bringing Cro Cop back for his final swansong.
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