FanHouse JuniorCigano

The seemingly endless saga of Mirko Cro Cop Filipovic's relationship with the UFC keeps getting more interesting, as it now appears that he's close to agreeing to return to fight Junior "Cigano" dos Santos at UFC 103.

That's quite a turnaround from what was being said about Cro Cop and the UFC last month, when Cro Cop returned on what was described as a verbal agreement, beat Mostapha Al-Turk at UFC 99, and then indicated he was set to sign with Japan's leading MMA promotion, Dream. Just hours after UFC 99 was over, UFC President Dana White was ripping Cro Cop as a traitor who had stabbed him in the back.

If you're planning to watch Saturday night's tape-delayed UFC 95 broadcast on Spike and don't want to know what happened in the heavyweight fight between Junior "Cigano" dos Santos and Stefan Struve, you will want to skip this post.

UFC fans have been wondering when they'll see Junior "Cigano" dos Santos again ever since he burst onto the scene with a first-round knockout of Fabricio Werdum at UFC 90. Now we have the answer: Cigano will take on Stefan Struve at UFC 95 in London.

Struve is a lanky, 6-foot-8, UFC newcomer from the Netherlands who has an impressive 16-2 record, but he hasn't faced any opponents with names familiar to most American MMA fans. Sherdog reports that the Cigano-Struve fight has been signed for February 21.

Other fights expected to be part of the UFC 95 card include Diego Sanchez vs. Joe Stevenson, Nate Marquardt vs. Wilson Gouveia, Rory Markham vs. Dan Hardy, Justin Buchholz vs. Terry Etim and Shannon Gugerty vs. Jeff Lawson.

A brutal uppercut from Junior "Cigano" dos Santos knocked out Fabricio Werdum at UFC 90, and shortly after Werdum learned that he had been knocked out of the UFC entirely.

But while Werdum was disappointed to be dropped from his UFC contract, he now says he sees some benefits to free agency -- including the possibility of fighting for Affliction. In a new article at Tatame (translated by Free Fight Videos), Werdum mentions Affliction as a promotion he'd like to fight for.

I think it would make perfect sense for Affliction to sign Werdum to fight Josh Barnett at the January 24 Affliction: Day of Reckoning show. Affliction hasn't yet found an opponent for Barnett, and Werdum is probably the best they could get.

A full English translation of Werdum's remarks to Tatame is below.

Fabricio Werdum, last seen getting knocked out at the hands of Junior "Cigano" dos Santos at UFC 90, is now out of the UFC completely.

MMA Weekly reports:

Werdum's exit comes on the heels of a failed contract renegotiation following the loss to dos Santos. The Brazilian came into the fight with the expectation that he would soon be contending for a heavyweight title shot.

The knockout at UFC 90 derailed anything of the like in the near future, and spurred a renegotiation of his contract. Werdum and the UFC were apparently unable to come to an agreement. He has already opened talks with other promotions in the U.S. and Japan.

That's a stunning fall from grace for a fighter who once thought that he would get the first title shot against the winner of the current four-man UFC heavyweight tournament. But it's not altogether unsurprising: Werdum was never a huge draw, and that loss to Cigano was devastating. And, as Zach Arnold notes, when it comes to fighter contracts, UFC has total control. In this case, they're using their control to say goodbye to Werdum.

Four months ago, I was writing with some frequency about how weak the UFC's heavyweight division was. Today Kid Nate looks at the Top 25 heavyweights in MMA, and it reminds me how much has changed since July:

-- UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture returned from a yearlong self-imposed exile.
-- Brock Lesnar dominated Heath Herring and earned a title fight with Couture.
-- Interim champ Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and top contender Frank Mir have reached a wider audience as coaches on The Ultimate Fighter.
-- Newcomer Junior "Cigano" dos Santos destroyed Fabricio Werdum.
-- Gabriel Gonzaga ended his two-fight losing streak with a quick submission over Justin McCully
-- Cheick Kongo looked very impressive in beating Dan Evensen with a first-round TKO.
-- Cain Velasquez dominated Jake O'Brien in front of a large Spike TV audience.
-- Shane Carwin improved to 10-0, with all 10 fights ending in the first round.

The biggest story out of UFC 90 was the disappointing main event. But the second-biggest story is that there's a new star in the UFC heavyweight division, Junior "Cigano" dos Santos. Cigano fought outside Brazil for the first time and destroyed Fabricio Werdum, and afterward I asked him and UFC President Dana White what was next:

Cigano is a soft-spoken young man who seemed surprised that anyone wanted to ask him any questions, and he said "there's no one in particular" he wants to fight, and that he's happy to fight whoever the UFC puts in front of him.

White didn't offer any names either, but he did seem very excited about Cigano's future.

Junior "Cigano" dos Santos, a little-known Brazilian making his UFC debut, has just upended the UFC's heavyweight division with a stunning knockout of Fabricio Werdum at UFC 90.

Cigano delivered a brutal right uppercut to the chin of Werdum, then finished him off with a left to the head and four quick strikes on the ground. The fight was over just 1:28 into the first round.

Werdum is considered one of the top heavyweights in the sport -- or at least he was until tonight, when he came in looking flabby and out of shape, while Cigano looked chiseled. Werdum had said the UFC owes him a title shot, but it was Cigano who looked like a champion tonight.

Cigano improves to 7-1 in his MMA career. Werdum falls to 11-4-1.