{"id":271847,"date":"2018-03-05T08:42:49","date_gmt":"2018-03-05T16:42:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/?p=271847"},"modified":"2018-03-05T10:40:21","modified_gmt":"2018-03-05T18:40:21","slug":"mirk-cro-cop-signs-bellator-debuts-bellator-200-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/staging.tcpcharms.com\/bjpenn\/mma-news\/mirko-cro-cop\/mirk-cro-cop-signs-bellator-debuts-bellator-200-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Mirko Cro Cop signs with Bellator, debuts at Bellator 200"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Sunday, heavyweight legend Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic dropped a serious hint<\/a> that he’d signed with Bellator MMA. On Monday morning, the promotion made it official with a press release.<\/p>\n

Cro Cop is set to make his Bellator debut opposite fellow UFC veteran and knockout artist Roy Nelson. The pair will collide at the landmark Bellator 200, which goes down on May 25, in London, England.<\/p>\n

\"Cro<\/p>\n

Though Cro Cop has recently been talked about like a fighter on a downslide, he\u2019s actually riding an impressive eight-fight win streak over some decent opposition. After two wins over Satoshi Ishii, he briefly returned to the UFC, where he avenged the worse loss of his career by stopping Gabriel Gonzaga with third-round elbows. From there, the heavyweight legend left the UFC, picking up wins over\u00a0Hyun Man Myung, \u201cKing Mo\u201d, \u201cBaruto,\u201d\u00a0Amir Aliakbari and\u00a0Tsuyoshi Kohsaka in the Rizin ring. He is currently 36\u201311\u20132 overall.<\/p>\n

Nelson, meanwhile, sits at 23-15 overall. He’s a tough 4-6 in his last 10 bouts, having bested\u00a0Ant\u00f4nio Rodrigo Nogueira, Jared Rosholt, Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva and Javy Ayala, and come up short opposite Mark Hunt, Alistair Overeem, Josh Barnett, Derrick Lewis, Alexander Volkov, and most recently, Matt Mitrione.<\/p>\n

Here’s the Bellator 200 lineup as it currently stands:<\/p>\n

Bellator 200\u00a0Fight Card:<\/u><\/strong><\/p>\n