MMA Quick Hits 6/14/10: Cro Cop to retire, Franklin has surgery

1. Rich Franklin has surgery: According to MMAJunkie.com, Rich Franklin suffered a broken ulna in his left arm in his victory over Chuck Liddell on Saturday night in Vancouver at UFC 115. Franklin left Canada to go straight to Las Vegas to undergo surgery to repair the injury. While I was watching I made a comment about him checking his wrist. The fact that he broke his arm makes his knockout win over Chuck Liddell even more impressive.

2. Bonuses from UFC 115: Dana White announced in the post-fight press conference that Rich Franklin took home “Knockout of the Night”, Mirko Cro Cop won “Submission of the Night”, and the Condit vs. MacDonald bout was the “Fight of the Night.” All fighters took home $85,000 for their performances. All well deserving winners.

3. Cro Cop leaning towards retirement: Even though Cro Cop won Saturday at UFC, and even though he was looking to extend his contract with the UFC, the Croatian fighter may have had a change of heart. Filipovic spoke with Jutarnji, a news site in Croatia, saying, “I don’t know about a new contract with the UFC. I believe that I gave this game a lot, I fought with the greatest fighters. For 20 years I lived this life and now I have no motivation for the fight, no mental strength for all the Spartan training. I am no longer so hungry for victory.” Well, that certainly seems like retirement to me. Like I said before UFC 115, no matter what happens, he’ll still go down as one of the greatest. Good luck with your future Cro Cop.

4. Coker not shocked if Werdum beats Fedor: Strikeforce CEO, Scott Coker, spoke to MMAFighting.com about the upcoming Fedor vs. Wedum bout. “[Werdum], he beat Fedor’s brother, he beat Alistair Overeem — whose our current champion, he just beat Giant Silva,” Coker said on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour. “This guy is no joke, People are always focusing on the Fedor equation, but believe me, Fabricio can get it done, and if he beats Fedor, I would not be shocked.” Ummm, riiiight. Coker can say all he wants, but the fact is Werdum has about a snowball’s chance in Hell of winning this. Yes, Werdum beat Aleks, and he beat Giant Silva, and he beat Overeem. But Silva was coming off a long layoff and looked out of shape. And he beat Overeem in 2006. Overeem is a completely different fighter now. By like 40 pounds of muscle. No way Werdum beats Overeem today.

5. Toney vs. Couture in question: Gareth Davies of the U.K.’s Telegraph reported last week that James Toney had not signed his bout agreement to face Randy Couture at UFC 118. UFC President Dana White has cleared up the air and confirmed that the bout is indeed set for the August 28 event. White stated to several news outlets that the bout had been signed and is a go for this August in Boston. Even if it hasn’t been signed, it will be. I highly doubt Toney would be bringing in all these MMA ground guys to help him train if he wasn’t planning on fighting Couture. Not only that, Toney has been running his mouth for quite some time. To back out now would make him look like Jamie Yager.