Brendan Schaub confirmed to face Mirko Cro Cop, not Frank Mir or Stefan Struve (updated)
Posted on December 27, 2010, 02:40 PM by Daniel CassidyIn a surprising turn of events, Brendan Schaub is now confirmed to fight Stefan Struve. Schaub was originally set to fight Former Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir, but now that fight has been completely scrapped, and the TUF 10 finalist will now meet "The Skyscraper" in a bout set for March 3rd.
Only a few weeks ago, Mir had been all set to face one of the UFC's most exciting prospects in Schaub, after fans had expressed disinterest in seeing Frank Mir and Brock Lesnar as opposing TUF coaches. But now the possible TUF 13 coaches are looking more likely to be the two Heavyweight rivals then ever, with Mir's removal from the match up. Dana White had previously hinted at his plans for a Mir-Lesnar season, but admitted he had been forced to reconsider, following some feedback from fans. Other names mentioned in the frame included Urijah Faber, Miguel Torres, Chael Sonnen and Wanderlei Silva as well as others.
Brendan Schaub is currently 7-1, his only loss coming against veteran Roy Nelson at the TUF 10 finale. Since then, he won his following 3 fights, including going the distance for the first time in his career in a win over BJJ wizz Gabriel Gonzaga.
Stefan Struve was last seen in action against Sean McCorkle at UFC 124, following a lengthy trash talking campaign from McCorkle. Struve too suffered a 1st round KO loss to "Big Country", and holds a 5-2 record in the UFC. His only other loss for the promotion was in his debut against current title contender Junior Dos Santos. Struve is one of the most exciting prospects for the company, with an overall record of 21-4 at a remarkeable 22 years old.
The bout is expected to co-headline March 3rd's UFC on Versus, Sanchez vs Kampmann.
Source: MMAWeekly
Update:
Despite the reports of a Struve - Schaub bout, sources are now reporting that the TUF 10 finalist will now face "The Croatian Sensation" Mirko Cro Cop instead. It is believed a verbal agreement has been reached between the two fighters, with contracts expected to be signed this coming week. Schaub recently spoke of his desire to face a step up in competition, with Cro Cop one of the names mentioned.
This bout will be Cro Cop's first since the now infamous bout against Mir that saw very little happen for the majority of the fight, until Mir delivered a perfect KO in the form of a knee to the head of Cro Cop. The bout is expected to Co-headline UFC 128
Stay tuned to Lowkick for further updates as they happen.
Source: Fighters Only
Comments
THis free ufc card is freaking amazing! so many big names and great fights. On another note, i really hope this doesnt mean mir and lesnar will be TUF coaches. I really wanna see urijah & Cruz
by far!
I knew it, they are making Lesnar and Mir the TUF coaches!
i post about it , but no one believe it!
i really wanted to see Sonnen/Wanderlei ! but for Dana is all about the money not the fans
I hope you are wrong Rigo! Do you guys think Brock has a lot to bring to the table besides strength training? I'm not sure if he would be a great coach. But that's just my opinion. What do you Lowkickers think?
Im not saying that i want Mir/Lesnar as coaches! i said i knew that was Dana's plan for TUF.
I really wanted to see Sonnen/Wanderlei or Cruz/Faber.
Lesnar would be the most poor choice for MMA coaching considering his experience , he is still a rookie in MMA. im not even sure if i would bother to watch the season if thats the case. i laugh about the Brocktober i dont want another season of hyped Brock in 2011.
im hoping a free hyped fighters this 2011. and see the real rising stars like Jones, Pettis, Aldo, Cruz, Alvarez.
while brock himself has little to offer other than wrestling he does have some good coaches around him who could help. if you remember when gsp coached he decided to just work as a sparring partner and leave the coaching to his coaches. aside from that struve vs shaub seems like a much better fight than mir vs shaub
I like both the Mir Schaub and Schaub struve matchups but I hope to god they don't put Mir/Lesnar as tuf coaches - no offense to lesnar but the only aspect of mma he'd actually be able to help them with is wrestling, most of the people on the show would have more experience than him. Lesnar is still one of the top HW`s in the world but he just doesnt have the technical expertise to coach people. Maybe I`m just being ignorant tho.
although I am still a fan of brock, I don't think it makes any sense to put him in as a couch. I have to say his experience isn't there yet. The last fight was horrible and showed he needs so much improvement that maybe he should get a lot more coaching than to give it out. kind of ridiculous.
i like schaub, i think if he beats cro cop he should fight dos santos. dos santos needs a fight cause cain is out for 6-8 months, mir and lesnar probly doing tuf and beyond that i dont see many contenders worth while. plus guarenteed good fight between two exciting strikers.
I'm not sure Sonnen would be able to help the fighters with anything but the wrestling aspect either.
sonnen has pretty good boxing... he did rock the spider a few times. Im sure he good make a good and entertaining coach
He could help them with trash talking, no one does it better!
Nah, ur not being ignorant at all man... I have no issue with Lesnar, but not only is his MMA experience limited, but he is not a people person at all. I can't imagine him wanting to coach, this means Dana forced his hand. With that said, I do believe that they are coaching. Why else would Mir be pulled from this match-up.
I got a strong feeling Sonnen is gonna be a TUF 13 or 14 coach
I think its going to be Lesnar n Mir
I definitely think Dana wants to get Sonnen on TV again.
This match up makes more sense than: Schaub/Mir! I think Mir would of been too much for Schaub.... this one could go either way.
Someone weaked you and it wasn't me. I think Frank would have beat him. Not a landslide but a win for sure.
If this means Lesnar Mir 3 then I might throw up..... I've never had to big of a problem with Dana but if he does this then that will go out the window because no true fan wants to this fight.
I actually would like to see this fight. The second fight showed beyond any doubt that Mir has a huge hole in his game when it comes to wrestling. He has since begun to work on his wrestling in earnest. I would like to see if Mir can get good enough at wrestling to either keep the fight standing long enough to KO Lesner or else create openings on the ground to submit him.
If Mir's not facing Scaub then he should face Big Nog
just thought of that would be awesome if they made mir vs nog 2 thats why he changed the shaub fight kepping my fingers crossed
Mir vs Lesnar 3 just doesnt make sense right now
3 better matchups that could be made:
lesnar vs nogueira
mir vs nelson
struve vs schaub
another good one would be cro cop vs nogueira 2
lesnar vs mir is gonna happen sometime. might as well get it over with now. plus i truly dont mind 2 guys who hate each other going at it.
rematch with big country!!!
wasn't it just the fight the fans showed diinterest in seeing? as i don't think the idea of them being coaches was even brought up at the time, i would love to see both guys on TUF but i don't know if brock would do it.
First of all, this matchup makes more sense, it promises a better fight than Schaub vs Mir. Second, I think we may be reading too much in this "change of plans", it may only mean that Mir will have a different fight and not going to coach on TUF.
That said, If Brock and Mir were to coach on TUF, I think Mir didnt do a very good job when he was coaching on the series, hes the kind of guy that doesnt care much about teaching others. Brock doesnt has the experience to teach, he has great wrestling but to be a coach you need more experience and he doesnt seem to have the mentalitty for teaching either. They would be poor choices as coaches IMO - as we saw with Kosheck, a bad coach that didnt cared much about his students at all...
First of all, this matchup makes more sense, it promises a better fight than Schaub vs Mir. Second, I think we may be reading too much in this "change of plans", it may only mean that Mir will have a different fight and not going to coach on TUF.
That said, If Brock and Mir were to coach on TUF, I think Mir didnt do a very good job when he was coaching on the series, hes the kind of guy that doesnt care much about teaching others. Brock doesnt has the experience to teach, he has great wrestling but to be a coach you need more experience and he doesnt seem to have the mentalitty for teaching either. They would be poor choices as coaches IMO - as we saw with Kosheck, a bad coach that didnt cared much about his students at all...
Crazy. Must be Schaub ducking everyone. Haha jk.
Schaub vs Mirko isn't co-headline material.
Cro Cop really needs to use his kicks like he said he would or he'll fall victim to another young lion.
If Cro Cop can't beat this can he needs to call it a day.
Schaub's a can huh? lol
What?!?
ufc is toying with my emotions. but i dont see how cro cop can win this one, shaub's still is so aggressive and forward thats hes going to bully cro cop. cro cop has always had problems with people who push the push, and unfortunately thats exactly was shaub is going to do. it sucks, though, because cro cop is a legend and a awesome fighter and he will probably recieve his walking papers after.
is cro cop the new gatekeeper for the heavyweight division?