Perhaps the demise of Fedor was overstated. People freaked out because he got caught by Werdum, steamrolled by Big Foot Silva and KO’d by Hendo. Bad losses? Yes. Still a viable heavyweight MMA fighter? Definitely.

I’d take Fedor over Werdum in a rematch, and he had Hendo rocked in their fight. Do I think he can come into the UFC and immediately contend? Probably not. But I still think there are plenty of fights for Fedor in the UFC.

Fedor took care of business for the second straight time with an impressive win over Olympic Judo gold medalist Satoshi Ishii at DREAM’s New Year’s Eve event in Japan. Here is the video.

This is Masakazu Imanari vs Kenji Osawa from May’s “Fight For Japan” show from DREAM. Watch the slick submission from Imanari, who just loves those heel hooks and ankle locks.

But here’s the rub: Most accounts say that is actually Mousasi’s corner pleading with the ref to stop the fight because Izumi was taking an epic beating. The fight did end soon enough, with Mousasi taking the belt at 3:29 of round 1 via TKO. Amazing pic from xacook at Deviant Art.

Taking a look at some of the major, national MMA events that will take place before the end of the month.

9.10 Shine Fights Lightweight Grand Prix Shine takes a stab at the tournament format with 8 lightweights, many of whom have UFC or Pride experience.

9.11 Shark Fights 13 Big names aplenty will be fighting on this card in Texas. Keith Jardine, Trevor Prangley, Joey Villasenor, Sokodjou, Paul Daley, Brock Larson and Jorge Masvidal to name a few.

9.15 UFC Fight Night 22 The premiere of the new season of “The Ultimate Fighter” will air right after this event, which features Nate Marquardt vs. Rousimar Palhares as the main event. Huge fight for Marquardt if he wants back into the title hunt at middleweight.

9.16 Bellator 29 Bellator brings their MMA tourneys to the state of Wisconsin. Cole Konrad will fight Damian Grabowski in the heavyweight tournament match.

9.18 KSW14: Judgment Day World’s strongest man Mariusz Pudzianowski will fight Eric “Butterbean” Esch in Poland.

9.25 UFC 119: Mir vs. Cro Cop There will still be a Nogueira on the card; but it’s Rogerio, not Rodrigo. Rogerio will battle up and comer Ryan Bader, while Cro Cop fills in for the injured Nogueira to fight Frank Mir. Mir needs a win to stay relevant in the UFC heavyweight division. He’s lost 2 of his last 3 fights. One more and it’s to the back of the line for a title shot.

9.25 Dream 16 Kazushi Sakuraba gets a fight with Jason “Mayhem” Miller. New Bellator champ Joe Warren fights Michihiro Omigawa, and Gegard Mousasi battles Tatsuya Mizuno.

9.30 WEC 51: Aldo vs. Gamburyan Amazingly stacked card for this event. Miguel Torres vs. Charlie Valencia, Donald Cerrone vs. Jamie Varner, Leonard Garcia vs. Mark Hominick, Chris Horodecki vs. Ed Ratcliff and “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung vs. George Roop.

Ranger Up St. Michael Archangel Protector Zip Up Hoodie

Minowaman dominates the super-large Imani Lee. How awesome is the call by Michael “The Voice” Schiavello?

Warrior International Anchor Tee

“Now he’s back in Japan and he feels like a kid in a candy store, I think.”

h/t: MMA Fanhouse

Cro Cop beat Mustapha al-Turk with a first round TKO at UFC 99, possibly with the help of an eye poke that was not seen by referee Dan Miragliotta. While Cro Cop won in the cage, many will brand him a loser for what was revealed shortly after the fight.

Cro Cop told UFC president Dana White that he would not be returning to the UFC because he had already signed a 3-fight agreement with DREAM. The background here is that White signed Cro Cop to a one-fight deal — something he never does — and had a verbal committment on 2 others.

White had this to say to Yahoo! Sports:

“Isn’t that a dirty [expletive] thing to do?” White asked rhetorically after being queried about Filipovic’s deal with DREAM. “He [expletived] me. The first time in the history of the company I do one over the phone. He promised me a three-fight deal and he [expletived] me.”

While speaking with reporters on a prefight conference call, Filipovic enthused about his return and said he was gunning for a title shot. All the while, he apparently knew he was in it for a one-fight deal.

Cro Cop didn’t impress me in the fight. al-Turk was swinging like he was in a bar fight, and frankly does not look like he belongs in the UFC. While I think Cro Cop would have won anyway, the eye-poke may have helped him to that end.

It’s my opinion that Dana White would be wise to replace Cro Cop with the only fighter he beat in his first stint in the UFC: Eddie Sanchez. Sanchez dominated Jay White at Bellator 6 here in Chicago. He was 3-3 in the UFC and had he been in the ring with Cro Cop at UFC 99, he would have beat him into submission. He certainly is a better fighter than al-Turk.

Now Cro Cop is free to run back to DREAM where maybe he can get a rematch with, I don’t know, the vaunted Hong Man Choi.