Mirko Cro Cop, one of the legends of the PRIDE era, who told John McCarthy in 2007 that he was “getting too old for this,” has signed with Bellator.
The promotion wasted no time in booking his first fight as he’ll face Roy Nelson at Bellator 200 in London, England on May 25th. This will be a rematch of their October 29th, 2011 UFC fight that Nelson won via third round KO.
The 43-year-old was in talks with Bellator in 2015, but UFC beat their offer and he signed with the company. Just before his second fight with UFC that year, he announced his retirement, although it later came out that he had been suspended but it had not been announced yet. He later admitted to using HGH to attempt to heal up from a shoulder injury. He said that when USADA came for a surprise test, although due to the difficulty of catching HGH usage, he actually did not test positive.
Given his retirement, UFC released him from his contract, but he came out of retirement in 2016 for Japan’s RIZIN group. He’s gone 5-0 in Rizin, including a knockout of King Mo Lawal.
Nelson is coming off a February decision loss to Matt Mitrione in the first round of the Bellator Heavyweight Grand Prix. He’s 1-1 since signing with Bellator and hasn’t won two in a row since 2012-13.
Bellator 200 features middlewight champion Rafael Carvalho vs. Gegard Mousasi, and Michael “Venom” Page vs. David Rickels.