Kevin Iole believes that Mirko Filipovic is in danger of being cut if he loses to Anthony Perosh later tonight (Bonnar and Silva are safe, no word on Jardine).

For the record WKR penned an article earlier this week stating our belief that Mirko --as well as several other under-performing fighters (listed above)-- would be sparred the axe if they lost. Obviously that dynamic has changed now that Rothwell is out of the Cro Cop fight with a stomach virus.

However, if Filipovic were to lose to Perosh, a fighter who is coming in on two days notice, who should be fighting at light heavyweight instead of heavyweight, then the UFC would be completely justified in dumping Mirko. No amount of international marketability could ever cover up the noxious smell of a loss to Perosh.

It is interesting how Iole characterizes the UFC's discontent with Mirko, being primarily an attitude issue and how that bleeds over into Mirko's unwillingness to do press. While Kevin states that Filipovic doesn't owe the press anything, he does owe the fans some of his time. WKR doesn't disagree but we will say that Cro Cop has legions of fans that will love him no matter what he does. Though they would probably like to see 2006 Cro Cop rather than 2009 Cro Cop.

SBN coverage of UFC 110: Nogueira vs. Velasquez