There’s no guarantee that the scheduled bout between UFC heavyweights Frank Mir and Mirko Cro Cop Filipovic will occur(while Cro Cop has been cleared to fight he does have blood in his eye and will face a battery of tests upon arriving in the USA to determine whether he is medically fit to fight.) at UFC 119, Frank Mir has certainly thought through his opponent’s strength’s and weaknesses. Fighter’s Only interviewed the Jiu-Jitsu wizard and talked about his take on Cro Cop:

The musculature of his right arm, I’ve been studying a lot of tapes and at the very beginning of his career it seemed like around 04’ and 06’ there was maybe a bit of nerve damage in his arm. He started throwing less right hands and the structure of his right arm looks weak, I can see some of the positions that he moves in, he doesn’t use it very well. Just looking at it I can see maybe a bit of nerve damage, it could be a neck injury or whatnot.

So his left side is his better side but his right kick can still work very well. He is very good at sweeping away, moving away towards his left, he doesn’t favour the right too much. He is going to try and either get me to follow him and throw the kick, or if he huts you he likes coming forward.

People think he is a guy who runs backwards but CroCop is dangerous if you back away from him. So even if he hurts me I am driving forward, we will clash like two bulls before I will [ever] back up and give him room for that head kick.

As stated before a loss by Mir would be disasterous for his career and certainly all the pressure is on him, especially if he ever wants a shot at the title. A win by Cro Cop would surprise fans, and leave more than a few wondering if he could make one last run for the gold. UFC 119 takes place on September 25 and we’ll carry live coverage like always.

The UFC's return to the Lone Star State required a bit of creativity
from the company's matchmaking department, but all is now complete less
than a week before the show.

A long-rumored matchup between Yves Edwards and
John Gunderson is now official for the preliminary
card of UFC Fight Night 22, and the event is now complete with 10 bouts.

Featuring a main event between middleweight contenders Nate Marquardt
and Rousimar Palhares, UFC Fight Night 22 takes place Sept. 15 at the
Frank Erwin Center in Austin, Texas.

While UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar is
probably one the nicest guys you'll ever meet, don't be surprised if
he's developed a bit of an attitude the next time you see him.

You see, for some reason a pair of consecutive wins over the man
generally regarded as the greatest lightweight of all time, B.J. Penn,
hasn't been enough to earn "The Answer" much respect among many MMA
observers and fans.

After defending his belt for the first time at Saturday night's UFC 118
event in Boston, Edgar said he's well-aware of his detractors. If you're
among them, Edgar says, hang tight - you'll eventually come around.

While UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar is
probably one the nicest guys you'll ever meet, don't be surprised if
he's developed a bit of an attitude the next time you see him.

You see, for some reason a pair of consecutive wins over the man
generally regarded as the greatest lightweight of all time, B.J. Penn,
hasn't been enough to earn "The Answer" much respect among many MMA
observers and fans.

Edgar said he's well-aware of his detractors. If you're
among them, hang tight - you'll eventually come around.

“I don’t know if he’s ever really lost his step. I just think the fighters now in the UFC are just a little bit more aggressive than the fighters in PRIDE…I think Cro Cop has a good sprawl, he has a good double underhooks. I think if I were to try to just drop and shoot on him, he would stop my shot. I think standing up with him is actually the route to go at first and then eventually when you work in the clinch, going to the ground is obviously a lot easier to do with him than Nogueira.”

Former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir (13-5) was a guest on The MMA Hour on Monday to speak about his upcoming UFC 119 main event fight against Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipović on Sept. 25 in Indianapolis. Mir had been scheduled for a rematch against Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira but the Brazilian was forced to withdraw so he could have surgery for his hip and knee.

Fans surprised by Roy Nelson’s overall durability against the power and precision of Junior dos Santos’ hands this past Saturday night weren’t the only ones who walked away impressed. As it turns out, Nelson’s performance also caught the eye of his UFC 117 opponent.

Dos Santos addressed his in-ring adversary’s showing in an interview with MMAFighting.com shortly after being taken to, and ultimately winning in unanimous fashion, the first decision of his career.

“Some guys told me about…he is tough…tough guy…but my thoughts about him now, he’s a bit tougher than I think before.”

When asked for his opinion on Nelson’s ability to absorb damage and keep going, the hard-hitting 25-year old replied, “It’s unbelievable. He’s got great defense too, and…it was a nice fight.”

However, “Cigano” was a bit more hesitant to reply when asked for a prediction on who he felt he would be fighting in the UFC heavyweight title-bout he earned with the win over Nelson – current champ Brock Lesnar or top contender Cain Velasquez.

“I don’t know. It doesn’t matter who is going to be my opponent…Brock against Cain is gonna be a good fight, and…I think…I don’t know who is gonna win.”

Dos Santos is 12-1 overall and 6-0 inside the Octagon. He has finished five of the six opponents he’s faced including notable performances in wins over Gabriel Gonzaga, Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic, and Fabricio Werdum.

Earlier this week, a story about veteran UFC lightweight Joe Stevenson heading to Mexico for more-affordable X-rays caused a stir.

It also caused a bit of a split among MMA fans, who argued over an MMA promotion's responsibility to its competitors, fighters' own responsibilities, and even whether there's anything wrong with the current setup.

In our latest "Medical Beat" installment, MMAjunkie.com medical columnist Dr. Johnny Benjamin discusses one of the overlooked problems of south-of-the-border medical options: substandard treatment.

(photo via UFC.com)

It took 1:04 for the “Fireball Kid” Takanori Gomi to prove to the mma world that his debut loss was more nerves than a decline in his ability to fight as he became the first fighter to finish Tyson Griffin in the octagon. Gomi unleashed a heavy right hand after countering a leg kick, which sent Griffin to the mat forcing the stoppage in the first round.

Backstage, Gomi talked about the fight unsure of whether Griffin became overconfident after the opening exchanges and whether the victory held any meaning for Japanese fighters overall, which many critics have said is on a decline when compared to fighters coming from North America.

With the victory, the “Fireball Kid” hopes to eventually warrant a title shot one day but will concentrate on his next fight first.

“One thing (Tyson Griffin) is in really good shape. I’ve seen some of his fights so I know a little bit of his training, so he came in pretty good shape. He had reason to be confident but I don’t know if he got overconfident. I threw a couple of things around his chest, didn’t seem to phase him too much. It could be that’s when he got into this ‘Hey this guy can throw all he wants and I can take it.’ So a little bit into the bout he might have bit off more then he could chew.

“I don’t know that I necessarily am singlehandedly am going to turn the reputation of Japanese fighters around. I don’t know that I really have to, you’ve got (Yushin) Okami out there fighting tonight, I have every reason to believe he is going to win. Man he’s been a good fighter for a long time.

“I don’t see it as my mission to win people over to Japanese fighters. Like the fighters here I see my mission getting the fans excited showing them a good time. If they come to think ‘Hey, Japanese fighters are worth paying the money to see too,’ that’s fine. ‘Course I wouldn’t mind winning a championship sometime in there.

“Eventually, I want to get to the champion, I’m just so excited that his name alludes me, it’s not that I don’t have respect for him. When I get to him, there’s a few people, Kenny Florian, BJ (Penn) is another guy. I think I’m getting ahead of myself here, what I really wanna do now is go back and train and get really into top shape before I take on anybody it’s kind of one fight at a time.”

You can watch the interview at UFC.com.

Bellator 24's fight lineup just got a little bit heavier.

Bellator vet Eddie Sanchez and recent acquisition Neil Grove meet at Bellator 24 in the opening round of the promotion's inaugural eight-man heavyweight tournament, the promotion today announced.

Bellator 24, which kicks off the organization's 12-week third season, takes place Aug. 12 at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Hollywood, Fla., and airs live on FOX Sports Net.

The MMAjunkie.com Radio studio is a bit cramped today as we welcome to show big man Todd Duffee, a UFC heavyweight who recorded the organization's fastest knockout (seven seconds) during his 2009 promotional debut.

We also catch up with UFC 116 winner George Sotiropoulos, whose 6-0 run in the UFC has put him in lightweight title contention.

MMAjunkie.com Radio airs from 12-2 p.m. ET (9-11 a.m. PT) live from the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino's Race & Sports Book. Listen to and watch a video stream of the two-hour show at www.mmajunkie.com/radio.