Cro Cop ok after 'low blows' at dream.6, will likely rematch overeem

Things didn’t go well for Mirko Cro Cop at DREAM.6. The start of his fight against Alistair Overeem—which saw the Croatian striking machine on his back getting pounded for much of the first round—was bad enough. His trip to Japan *really* started to go downhill when Overeem began to “inadvertently” land knee strikes to Cro Cop’s groin. After the third serious shot below the belt—and the 2nd caught by the referee—Cro Cop was unable to continue, his corner reported that he’d suffered a (thankfully) unspecified injury to his testicles and the match was ruled a “no contest”.

The good news for Cro Cop is that his injuries below the belt weren’t as bad as previously thought. He was walking gingerly upon his return to Zagreb, Croatia but insisted that he’ll be fine after a few days. He also confirmed what was already widely reported in the Japanese sports media—that a Cro Cop/Overeem rematch is highly likely for New Year’s Eve. Nothing official has been signed as of Thursday afternoon but both fighters, as well as DREAM officials, want to make it happen.

Initially, the presumptive plan was for the winner of the Cro Cop/Overeem battle to fight Sergey Kharitonov (who won his matchup with late replacement Jimmy Ambritz at DREAM.6) for the inaugural DREAM heavyweight championship. On the night of the event, with Russian fighting god and WAMMA heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko in attendance, the rumor began circulating that the winner of Cro Cop/Overeem would be his opponent on New Year’s Eve. Fedor gave a speech to the crowd that he would “like to” compete on the New Year’s Eve card—which in the past couple of decades has become an annual tradition for Japanese wrestling and MMA promotions—but didn’t confirm anything. There could be a problem with timing, as Fedor is contracted to fight for Affliction/Golden Boy in the US in early January. Without an opponent, however, he may have a graceful exit.

The Japanese New Year’s Eve events have become the biggest of the year for the various fight promotions and they go out of their way to pack the cards with top fighters and compelling matchups. They’re also the most lucrative of the year in terms of box office receipts and purses for the fighters. While Cro Cop is obviously not happy about it in the short term, from a financial and promotional standpoint the series of low blows could actually have been the best thing to happen to him.