Mirko ‘CroCop’ Filipovic confirmed to Fighters Only today that he has suffered an eye injury and that a doctor has advised him to pull out of his fight with Frank Mir at UFC 119 next week. But CroCop says he has no intention of pulling out and he will be boarding a flight to Indiana tomorrow as planned.
“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.
“Luckily there was a TV crew in the room and also some reporters from two websites. Frank Mir has talked this and that, maybe if nobody had seen this and there was no video, he would again be saying I am trying to make excuses. But no excuses, it is just bad luck. All I need now is for my plane to be hit by lightning tomorrow and crash into the Atlantic.
“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.”
CroCop is currently having to wear an eye-gauze and has a saline solution to use on the injured eye, which requires further examination but appears to have suffered a severe abrasion to the cornea. CroCop says his vision is “almost normal” from the eye and “I hope it could be back to normal in a week”.
UFC 119 takes place on September 25th, with CroCop and Mir headlining. The card also features Rogerio Nogueira, Sean Sherk and former K-1 WGP champion and PRIDE FC veteran Mark Hunt in his UFC debut.
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