A heavyweight bout between Ben Rothwell and Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic is being discussed for the UFC’s first foray into Australia.
The card, currently planned as UFC 110, will take place Feb. 21 at Sydney’s Acer Arena. The biggest fight confirmed for the show thus far is a middleweight tilt between Yoshihiro Akiyama and Wanderlei Silva, but it’s not expected to be the main event.
Filipovic, 35, is coming off an underwhelming performance in a loss to rising prospect Junior dos Santos at UFC 103 in September. The legendary Croatian kickboxer – widely considered to be one of the legends of the sport because of his dominating years spent in the PRIDE organization in Japan – hasn’t been able to make a successful transition to the UFC, where his record stands at 2-3. Filipovic openly contemplated retirement following the loss to dos Santos, but recanted and said that he wanted to honor the remaining two fights on his current UFC contract.
Rothwell’s only prior bout in the UFC came at UFC 104, where he was manhandled and defeated by Cain Velasquez.