‘Cro Cop’ Back to UFC

After his one-fight comeback to the UFC was followed by a public tongue-lashing from UFC President Dana White, it appears Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic will enter the Octagon once again.

During UFC 100 media activities, White revealed he was working on signing the iconic heavyweight, who defeated Mustapha al Turk at UFC 99 and was then rumored to be headed for the Dream promotion. The Croatian Web site Index.hr, which has an inside track on Filipovic’s camp, reported that UFC executive Lorenzo Ferttita flew to Croatia to meet with Filipovic and made him an “offer he couldn’t refuse.” ESPN’s Franklin McNeil reported Filipovic was expected to sign a UFC deal in the next week.

Filipovic is slated to return at UFC 103 on Sept. 19 in Dallas. Heavy-handed heavyweight Junior dos Santos told Graciemag.com he has accepted a fight with Filipovic at UFC 103. The UFC has tried hard to find a main event attraction for the show, which will also reportedly feature Mike Swick vs. Martin Kampmann and Frank Trigg vs. Josh Koscheck. Dos Santos was originally set to face Justin McCully at UFC 102. McCully will now face Pride Fighting Championships veteran Michael Russow.

White, who made a rare one-fight deal with Filipovic to get him on the UFC 99 card in Germany, claimed the legendary striker told him he wanted to make another run at the heavyweight title after undergoing knee surgery. Filipovic eyed a Dream return because the UFC was not going to keep him as busy; the Japanese outfit was planning to feature him three times in 2009, starting with a bout in two weeks against Siala “Mighty Mo” Siliga.