Mirko Cro Cop hasn’t served his U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) suspension, but that didn’t stop Bellator from signing him.
Cro Cop will take on Roy Nelson in a rematch on May 25 at Bellator 200. The news caused some confusion, as Cro Cop retired following a two-year suspension from USADA during his Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) run. That retirement was short-lived as he went on a tear under the Rizin promotion in Japan.
Speaking to Jim Edwards on MMAnytt, Bellator president Scott Coker addressed the signing of Cro Cop (via MMAFighting.com):
“Here’s the thing. Mirko fights in Rizin, in Japan, and USADA has relationship with the UFC and they’re in Japan all the time. Why didn’t they go after him two years ago when he started fighting in Rizin? This is a question just because he’s fighting for Bellator at our 200th event? To me it’s like, if you wanted to take action, you should’ve took action a long time ago, because to me, honestly, when we booked it, we didn’t even know there were issues. He’s already fighting so we thought he was able to fight.”
Leave a comment below. Do you think signing Mirko Cro Cop was the right move for Bellator?
