At the UFC 99 press conference, Mirko “Cro-Cop” Filipovic announced that he will come into his bout with Mustapha Al-Turk this saturday at 233 pounds. Cro Cop usually weighs in the 220-225 area.

Cro Cop attributes the weight gain to an increased training regimen.

Nothing but training and every morning I have to take my dogs out in the forest, and that’s all I’m doing, he said. I’m practically not going out of the house. That makes me happy, and I want to stay that way. I’m staying out of all things that can take out my concentration and energy for training.

Let’s hope this is the truth, and that Cro-Cop hasn’t been dogging it during his training camp. Mirko claims he has refound his passion for MMA. I hope he has.