On Sept. 25, 2010, the Ultimate Fighting Championship takes their show to the Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Ind. with “UFC 119: Mir vs. Cro Cop“.
Main Event: Mir vs. Cro Cop
The event will be headlined with a heavyweight bout between former UFC champion Frank Mir (13-5) taking on PRIDE FC veteran and one of the world’s most feared strikers, Mirko Cro Cop (27-7-2, 1 NC).
This is a fun fight. Mir is one of the best submission fighters at heavyweight and has showed greatly improved striking in recent bouts. Still, all of his losses have come via TKO. Cro Cop, on the other hand, is a great striker who is actually coming off a submission victory. There’s no way he would ever submit Mir, but he has also shown himself difficult to submit.
Since losing his rematch against Brock Lensar at historic UFC 100 last year, Mir defeated Cheick Kongo by choking him unconscious at UFC 107 in December, but then suffered a devastating knockout loss to Shane Carwin at UFC 111 back in March.
Cro Cop is riding a two fight win streak, having defeated Anthony Perosh via TKO at UFC 110 back in February, and then a rear-naked choke submission over Pat Barry at UFC 115 in June. An impressive win by either Mir or Cro Cop could put them right in the mix for a potential title shot in the not too distant future.
Co-Main Event: Nogueira vs. Bader
In the UFC 119 co-main event, light heavyweights Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (19-3) and Ryan Bader (11-0) will battle to see who will move one step closer to a shot at the 205-pound title currently held by Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. Both Bader and Nogueira are undefeated in their UFC careers, and Bader is still undefeated in his MMA career altogether.
Since arriving in the UFC in 2009, Nogueira holds a TKO win over Luiz Arthur Cane at UFC 109 last November and a split decision win over Jason Brilz at UFC 114 in May. Bader is 4-0 in his UFC career, having most recently won a knockout victory over Keith Jardine at UFC 110 in February. Bader has always been known as a strong and dominant wrestler, but he also has powerful striking that continues to improve as “The Dean of Mean” can certainly attest to.
Sherk vs. Dunham
UFC 119 will also see the return of former UFC lightweight champ “The Muscle Shark” Sean Sherk (32-4-1). Due to a string of injuries which saw several scheduled fights fall through, Sherk has not competed inside the Octagon since he lost a unanimous decision to Frankie Edgar at UFC 98 in May 2009.
Sherk will face top ten lightweight Evan Dunham (11-0). Now 4-0 inside the Octagon, Dunham has found himself climbing the ranks with such impressive performances as an armbar submission of Efrain Escudero at UFC Fight Night 20 in January, and most recently, a split decision win over Tyson Griffin at UFC 115 in June.
More
There’s plenty more names upping the entertainment value on this card including Matt Serra, Chris Lytle, Melvin Guillard, Jeremy Stephens, and let’s not forget Mark Hunt, who will make his UFC debut. Word has it, he’s looking fit and ready to go.
Here’s the full UFC 119 fight card as it stands:
- Frank Mir vs. Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic
- Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Ryan Bader
- Matt Serra vs. Chris Lytle
- Evan Dunham vs. Sean Sherk
- Jeremy Stephens vs. Melvin Guillard
- C.B. Dollaway vs. Joe Doerksen
- Matt Mitrione vs. Joey Beltran
- Waylon Lowe vs. Steve Lopez
- T.J. Grant vs. Julio Paulino
- Mark Hunt vs. Sean McCorkle
- Thiago Tavares vs. Pat Audinwood