Speculation has run rampant for the past couple of weeks that Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic, ranked #2 in MMAWeekly’s top ten heavyweights, was going to leave Pride for the Ultimate Fighting Championship. It now appears that the speculation is true.

Sources from within Filipovic’s camp and an independent source in Las Vegas have confirmed to MMAWeekly that the Pride Open Weight Grand Prix champion has indeed made the decision to move on to the UFC.

As reported last week on MMAWeekly.com, a statement released on Filipovic’s own web site indicated that a decision was near and that the UFC was a distinct option, “…the bottom line is that Cro Cop likely won't have his chance to fight Fedor for the title in the next few months. With that said, it's perfectly reasonable for Mirko to consider other offers.” The statement continued, “…the most interesting offers are coming from the US," and also said, “The offer from the UFC is actually in Cro Cop's hands.”

The statement also hinted that the Croatian MMA star was ready to leave Pride: “Is Cro Cop seriously considering making his UFC appearance? Let's say that Mirko is always open to new challenges and he is looking forward to his U.S. debut, which will happen very soon.”

Of course, with Pride starting to run shows in America, his U.S. debut could have possibly taken place under either banner, but his own camp has confirmed that he expects to make that debut in the UFC.

Our sources have not confirmed whether there is an agreement in principle between Filipovic and the UFC, or whether he has actually signed a contract with America’s largest mixed martial arts promoter.

GSP has Serra in February. Then Hughes in April.

Did anyone catch Dirty Sanchez mandhandling Joe Riggs? They pretty much have to put him against one of the top 3 welterweights next.

I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that UFC also has Rampage coming in soon. They're looking to get Lindland and tanner back as well to add a little depth to middleweights. Cro Cop going to UFC is incredible for the promotion.

UFC just bought WFA so most fighters contracted there will now be fighting in the UFC. Rampage looks to be one of them. A Bas Rutten return is also possible.

I feel for Joe Riggs. He seems like a great guy, who trains hard for every fight, but is just a step under the rest of the competition. This Sanchez fight was his last real chance at being one of the top guys, and he couldn't get it done. Shocking though, that he got knocked out. Who ever would've thought that Sanchez would out-strike a great, great striker like Riggs?

Ideally, Sanchez will fight BJ in February or March, and winner gets a title shot. I'd like to see BJ fight on a fight night or something before that though... isn't there one in January?

Just twenty-four hours after announcing that newly-crowned UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre would defend his title in his native Montreal on April 7 against the man he'd just wrested the belt from, UFC president Dana White wasn't so sure the mega match would happen then himself.

"I'm hearing word back that [Matt] Hughes might want to wait," White told the press Wednesday following the highly-successful UFC Fight Night, held at the Marine Corps Air Station Miramar in San Diego, California.

In the last week, the word has become more definitive.

"After discussing the future with Matt, it was agreed that it would be in his best interests to take a fight in between a rematch with St. Pierre," Hughes' longtime manager Monte Cox said this morning. "This way, he would have more time to train specific skills that would give him a better chance at winning back the title."

Cox said Hughes would prefer to fight on March 3's UFC 68 card in Columbus, Ohio, a bit closer to his Illinois farm roots, then take the rubber match with St. Pierre at a later time. Champion St. Pierre is scheduled to face "The Ultimate Fighter" season four winner Matt Serra at UFC 67 in Las Vegas on Feb. 3.

"We're going to Montreal in April no matter what," reinforced White of the promotion's Northern debut, suggesting last week that Hughes could match up with undefeated welterweight contender Diego Sanchez next.

Hughes' manager Cox acknowledged that talks are still ongoing. Both White and St. Pierre were initially unavailable for comment today.

Source: thefightnetwork.com

Didn't matt hughes get destroyed by about 10 knees to the face about a month ago?

Cro Cop would fucking ruin Chuck. There is no way a LHW with beanpole legs like Chuck would stand up to those leg kicks. 2-3 of them and Chuck would be limping, and then a head kick would finish him off. Most of the HWs Cro Cop fights can actually withstand his leg kicks to an extent, though I'm sure they still hurt like hell.

We need to start a general MMA thread where we talk about everything. There's not much of us on RM, so it would make sense...no?

I support this.