Remember how Todd Duffee thought he, not Mirko Filipovic, was fighting Mustapha Al-Turk at UFC 99? Or the report that "Cro Cop" had yet to sign his UFC contract? Well the Mirko chapter of UFC 99 just got a whole lot weirder as White told MMA Fanhouse that Filipovic and the UFC have a verbal deal, 

"Mirko and I are working on that still," White said. "Mirko Cro Cop ended up on this card last minute, weeks before the event, and this whole deal was done verbally over the phone with me and him. ...I've never done this in the history of the company with anybody, ever. I respect Mirko. He knows how I feel about him and I know how he feels about me and I know what his goals are as far as the UFC and the heavyweight title. We did this over the phone. I've never done that, ever, in nine years of being in this business."    

There is an old saying, where there is smoke there is fire. Right now UFC 99 is generating a lot of smoke. Besides the verbal contract (did they spit on their hands and shake to signify the deal?), or the confusion with Todd Duffee, there are several other issues that may be leading indicators of trouble for Zuffa's Germanic expansion. 

First, is the politically wall Zuffa ran into. Local government has successfully banned eighteen year olds and under from attending the event. Some local opposition could be expected but the fact that the UFC was successfully partially banned should be chalked up as a loss.

Then there is Sentata's imminent demise, which will hurt European syndication. Since UFC 99 is a pay-per view event Sentata's collapse shouldn't have any major effect other than appear embarrassing to Zuffa; though fewer commercials on Sentata may mean fewer U.K. PPV buys. 

Finally if the UFC is so desperate to get Filipovic on the card. in order to fill more seats with Croat tourist, what does that tell us about the current state of ticket sales. Combine that last point with the fact that the UFC announced Cro Cop's participation well before they had anything verbally finalized.

All of these combined issues just leave the impression that something weird is going on with the UFC's German expedition. 

[Update: Note by Zak Woods, 06/10/09 2:31 PM EDT ]

MMA Junkie is reporting that UFC 99 is close to selling out. The UFC said the same thing about UFC 96 and it was around 2,000 seats short. Besides the more accurate reflection of the drawing power of your show is the gate divided by the draw minus the comp tickets.