The Weekly Wrap: May 16 - May 22

‘Cro Cop,’ Arlovski back in play

The next fights for two of the sport's marquee heavyweights were announced out of the blue this week, as Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic will make his UFC return on June 13 and former UFC champion Andrei Arlovski will make his Strikeforce debut on June 6. Cro Cop has signed on to replace an injured Todd Duffee against Mustapha al Turk at UFC 99, the company’s debut in Germany. Arlovski will take on Brett Rogers on the Showtime card from St. Louis, Mo.

Cro Cop is coming off three fights in Japan for Dream, including a no contest against Alistair Overeem that ended due to a groin strike after Cro Cop had taken significant punishment. He was cut from the UFC after dropping fights to Gabriel Gonzaga and Cheick Kongo. The Croatian striker said on his blog that he hopes to fight for the UFC three times this year and make a run at the heavyweight title. He was on track for that shot in 2007 when Gonzaga knocked him out with a high left kick. While the Al-Turk vs. Duffee match was set for the preliminary portion of the card, Dana White told MMA Fanhouse that the Cro Cop fight will be moved to the main pay-per-view broadcast.

Arlovski got the call after Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem pulled out of a fight with Rogers due to an injury, promoter Scott Coker told Sherdog.com. Overeem suffered the injury in a fight with security guards in at a nightclub, his trainer Bas Boon told Fighters Only.

The Strikeforce bout, much like Arlovski’s fight against Roy Nelson in EliteXC last year, will be sponsored by Affliction, which still has Arlovski under contract, Sherdog.com reported. It is not clear if the bout will be considered the third and final one on Arlovski’s three-fight Affliction contract (he’s defeated Ben Rothwell and lost to Fedor Emelianenko in the promotion). It is also not clear how the new match will affect Arlovski’s planned professional boxing debut on June 27 for Golden Boy Promotions, which is aligned with Affliction.