Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic officially is cleared to compete in Saturday's UFC 119 pay-per-view main event.

Filipovic suffered an eye poke in the final training session in his home country of Croatia this past week, which sparked reports of a potential withdrawal from his fight with Frank Mir.

Today, though, UFC officials issued a statement that "Cro Cop" has been cleared by an Indianapolis ophthalmologist.

Although UFC president Dana White said a recent eye injury won't keep Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic out of Saturday's UFC 119 event, the headliner faces one final hurdle before he's cleared to compete in the pay-per-view event.

Andy Means, the director of the Indiana Gaming Commission's athletic division, today told MMAjunkie.com Filipovic will have a pre-fight medical exam prior to Friday's weigh-ins.

Filipovic suffered an eye poke and likely cornea abrasion during his final training session in Croatia this past week.

Seems like the eye injury suffered by UFC 119 main eventer Mirko Cro Cop Filipovic may not be as simple as was first made out. An injury was suffered via eye poke, and Fighter’s Only had the information we were all looking for:

“It was the very last minute of the very last round of the very last sparring,” CroCop told Fighters Only staff writer John Joe O’Regan today. “We were sparring in UFC gloves and my sparring partner – who is about 120 kilos, Croatia’s best thai boxer – he poked me in the eye. The pain was like… I cant even describe it, the pain was so big I thought he had blinded me. I went to see a doctor and he advised that the eye should be rested minimum two weeks. But I have made a commitment to the UFC and a commitment to the fans, so there is no question of backing out of the fight. I do not want to let anyone down, I know they could not find a replacement for me at this short notice and many fans have already bought tickets for the show.”

Did anyone else notice that Cro Cop’s doctor suggested two weeks but he’s giving it only one week..while seeing Cop in action is amazing it would be a shame if he got hurt as a result of the damage he suffered before the fight. You can’t say enough good things about his heart though. UFC 119 is set for September 25.

ROSEMEAD, Calif. - UFC 119 headliner Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic, in fact, did suffer an eye injury, but he's been cleared to fight, and next week's main-event bout with Frank Mir is good to go.

That's the word from UFC president Dana White, who today spoke to MMAjunkie.com about the injury.

On Friday White shot down Croatian news reports that an eye injury might force the heavyweight fighter out of the Sept. 25 headliner and called them "untrue." However, Filipovoc did suffer an injury - at the most inopportune time.

Rumors of Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic's possible scratch from next week's UFC 119 event aren't true, according to the UFC's head honcho.

A report from the Croatian site Index.hr stated that Filipovic suffered an eye injury while training and couldn't get medical clearance for the upcoming fight.

However, in a Twitter message, UFC president Dana White today stated Filipovic "is fine" and that the report "is not true."

Weigh-ins for next week's UFC 119 event take place Friday, Sept. 24.

The festivities, which are free and open to the public, take place at an early time of 3 p.m. ET (noon PT) at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis.

The same venue hosts the following night's event, which airs on Spike TV with a "UFC Prelims" special and then pay-per-view for the main card and Frank Mir vs. Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic heavyweight headliner.

MMA legend Mirko Cro Cop Filipovic is set to take on Frank Mir as a late replacement for Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira on September 25, 2010 at UFC 119 and many MMA fans are intrigued by the match up. Cro Cop is known for his impressive striking, but opponent Mir has been showing a strong ability to strike lately himself, though most would definitely give the stand up edge to Filipovic. While some might expect Mir to try and out strike his opponent, Filipovic himself seems to think that Mir will try to bring the fight to the ground. He recently spoke of the matchup, via Fighters Only:

He is a very good fighter. First-class grappler, solid striker – nothing special, but solid – but a first-class grappler. Definitely he will try to take me down. He had a longer time to prepare but it doesn’t have to mean anything. The moment I accepted the fight, there are no excuses for me. Its my problem and I don’t want people to think I am searching for some alibi or something. I only stated a fact, that it was summertime, I was taking a rest from my last fight, I was recovering. But it has nothing to do with anything; that moment I agreed to the fight, that’s it, we are even. There is no more to be said.

You would have to think that Frank Mir’s career would suffer greatly with a loss to Cro Cop, while a win by the Croatian would certainly boost him higher into the upper echelons of the UFC elite heavyweights. Vegas odds makers are giving the edge to Mir, but anything can happen, as we all know. This should be interesting.

Years in politics haven't blunted Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic's honesty. 

The former PRIDE champion and Croatian parliament member plainly admits the timing is not great for his fight with former champion Frank Mir, which headlines UFC 119 next Saturday.

But despite concerns he hasn't gotten enough time to prepare, Filipovic, feels he owes it to the UFC to suck it up and perform. And he also admits he's well-compensated for his risk.

Frank Mir (13-5) on Brock Lesnar’s advantage in the octagon, size not skill is what made the difference.

“We all have our opinions and pre-conceived notions of how something should work based on past success or through learning from other individuals. And then when you walk into it, if you fail, you have to be intelligent enough to sit there and say ‘why did I fail?’ I think that any time you sit there and stick to your guns, going ‘well, on that night, this is what happened and it had nothing to do with something else,” that’s silly. I had to acknowledge that Brock’s size gave him an advantage that really nullified a lot of my technique. He didn’t have to have my level of technique, just a moderate amount, and then having good basics, along with his size, led him to be successful. So I have to learn from that and improve. There’s nothing shameful about it, it’s just one of those things where that’s part of being a scientist – you have a hypothesis, a theory, and you go out there and try it out. You stop being a scientist when you just start doing the same things over and over again and just try to find different ways of justifying why it’s not working. You can’t just keep being in denial.”

The former UFC heavyweight champ is set to headline UFC 119 against former PRIDE champ Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipović on Sept. 25 in Indianapolis, Indiana.

More quotes like this one from Mir can be found at UFC.com by clicking the link.

While it might not create quite the stir of a "Cro Cop" for "Big Nog"
switch, there is one additional adjustment to the card at UFC 119.

Aaron Riley has been scratched from the card, and Brazilian Thiago
Tavares has agreed to step in against newcomer
Pat Audinwood.

MMAjunkie.com confirmed the switch with sources
close to the event, though the reason for Riley's removal from the planned contest wasn't
immediately evident.