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UFC ON VERSUS

--THE SAVAGE SCIENCE will present live play by play coverage of UFC on VERSUS on March 21 live from the FirstBank Center in Broomfield, Colorado. Join us for the BEST live fight narrative in the world–the action begins 9 PM Eastern/6 PM Pacific!

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DREAM 13

--THE SAVAGE SCIENCE will present live play by play coverage of DREAM 13 coming to you from the Yokohama Arena in Yokohama, Japan on March 22. Join us for the BEST live fight narrative in the world–the action begins 3 AM Eastern/12 AM Pacific!

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STRIKEFORCE: CHALLENGERS

--THE SAVAGE SCIENCE will present live play by play coverage of STRIKEFORCE: CHALLENGERS on March 26 live from the SavMart Center in Fresno, CA. Join us for the BEST live fight narrative in the world–the action begins 10 PM Eastern/7 PM Pacific!

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UFC 111: GSP VS. HARDY

--THE SAVAGE SCIENCE will present live play by play coverage of UFC 111: St. Pierre vs. Hardy live from the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ on March 27. The event will be headlined by a welterweight title fight between Georges St. Pierre vs. Dan Hardy and feature a heavyweight showdown between Frank Mir and Shane Carwin! Join us for the BEST live fight narrative in the world–the action begins 10 PM Eastern/7 PM Pacific!

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UFC FIGHT NIGHT: FLORIAN VS. GOMI

--THE SAVAGE SCIENCE will present live play by play coverage of UFC Fight Night: Florian vs. Gomi live from the Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte, NC on March 31. The event will be headlined by a lightweight battle between Kenny Florian and Takanori Gomi. Join us for the BEST live fight narrative in the world–the action begins 8:00 PM Eastern/5:00 PM Pacific!

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BELLATOR XIII

--THE SAVAGE SCIENCE will present live play by play coverage of Bellator Fighting XIII live from the Seminole Hard Rock Casino in Hollywood, Florida on April 8. Join us for the BEST live fight narrative in the world–the action begins 7:30 PM Eastern/4:30 PM Pacific!

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BELLATOR XIV

--THE SAVAGE SCIENCE will present live play by play coverage of Bellator Fighting XIV live from the Chicago Theatre in Chicago, Illinois on April 15. Join us for the BEST live fight narrative in the world–the action begins 7:30 PM Eastern/4:30 PM Pacific!

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STRIKEFORCE: NASHVILLE

--THE SAVAGE SCIENCE will present live play by play coverage of Strikeforce: Nashville live from the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, TN on April 17. The event will be headlined by a middleweight title fight between Jake Shields and Dan Henderson and feature the US debut of Japanese submission god Shinya Aoki! Join us for the BEST live fight narrative in the world–the action begins 10 PM Eastern/7 PM Pacific!

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MFC 25: VINDICATION

--THE SAVAGE SCIENCE will present live play by play coverage of MFC 25: Vindication live from the Edmonton Expo Center in Edmonton, Alberta on April 17. Join us for the BEST live fight narrative in the world–the action begins 10 PM Eastern/7 PM Pacific!

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“If you go by the rules, you end up being an accountant.”

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Cro Cop injury postpones DREAM.4 fight

Written by Jim Murphy   |   Thursday, May 08 2008

Mirko Cro Cop following his DREAM.1 KO victory over Tatsuya Mizuno. A minor knee injury has forced the postponent of his next appearance in a DREAM ring.Mirko Cro Cop following his DREAM.1 KO victory over Tatsuya Mizuno. A minor knee injury has forced the postponent of his next appearance in a DREAM ring.

A minor knee injury sustained by Mirko Cro Cop during training has forced the postponement of his DREAM.4 fight with French kickboxer Jerome Lebanner. While not particularly serious, Cro Cop has been wearing a brace and wrap on his injured knee. He should be able to resume training within the next week or two and the fight has been moved to July 20th on the DREAM.5 show in Osaka.

Cro Cop returned to Japan after a disappointing and injury plagued three fight run in the UFC. After winning his first fight against game Eddie Sanchez, the Croatian striking sensation dropped his next two bouts—a thunderous KO to Gabriel Gonzaga followed by a listless decision defeat to Chiek Kongo. While Cro Cop’s handlers had a number of theories for their fighter’s struggles including discomfort in the UFC cage, eventually he had surgery to repair some sort of nasal problem that hampered his breathing. After taking some time to recover from his medical procedure he worked out a deal with Zuffa brass that facilitated his return to fighting in Japan.

The hope is that a return to fighting in a ring in front of adoring fans (Cro Cop is arguably the most popular foreign MMA fighter in Japan) would help spark a return to the form that saw him looking dominant in winning the PRIDE Open Weight Grand Prix in late 2006. His performance in the semi-finals and finals of that event saw him dispatch Wanderlei Silva and Josh Barnett via stoppage in the same night and had many suggesting that he may have supplanted Fedor Emelianenko as the sport’s top heavyweight.

Cro Cop’s first fight on his return to Japan took place on DREAM.1 where he easily defeated overmatched Tatsuya Mizuno by early 1st round KO. Mizuno wasn’t named as his opponent until a few days prior to the fight and after deals with several higher profile fighters failed to materialize for one reason or another. Despite the easy victory and assurances that the “old"? Mirko was back, the real test will come as he steps up in class.

The Croatian sports media initially reported the story and our translator has provided a brief conversation with Cro Cop:

"Everything is alright, I only hyper extended ligaments, nothing is broken. In two weeks I’ll return to sparing, but for now I’m working on strength training and other things." He explains that he got the injury after falling and landing on his knee. He expected to fight at DREAM 4 but the fight has been postponed to 20 July. (Translated from Croatian news website Index.HR)

For the DREAM promotion it could be a blessing in disguise. Due to the postponement of Shinya Aoki’s second round bout in the Lightweight GP tournament they originally had, in essence, two main events for the June 16th DREAM.4 show. The postponement allows the promotion to guarantee a DREAM.5 main event that will generate significant fan and media interest.

Thanks to our Croatian translator Edo for his assistance with this story.

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