Cro-Cop will be the Grand Prix champion. Nogueira is the only one I could see beating him, but I don't even think that's too likely to happen. He's already matched up against all the opposition before, and proven he's perfectly capable of winning those bouts. Against Barnett, he's already won. A third bout would be interesting (first bout Cro-Cop won due to an injury he didn't really cause, so the third may as well be the second), but obviously Mirko is the favourite. Against, Minotauro, Cro-Cop was dominating through the first ten minutes, but he got careless... that's always a possibility with Mirko, but I think this time will be different. He's already shown he has the take-down defense, and Nogueira will be helpless against him on the feet: he just needs to keep it together.
As for his match with Silva... their first bout was close, I'll grant you, but that was Mirko the kickboxer, scared to death of a takedown and afraid to open up with his strikes. Even so, he still won the standup even though he was fighting not nearly at his full capacity. Today, Coleman, Yoshida, Randleman... all tried and failed to take down Mirko. Wanderlei has almost no chance to take the fight to the ground, and knowing that Cro-Cop isn't going to be so hesitant. He'll open up on Silva like no-one's business.
I just hope he doesn't do too much lasting damage to Wanderlei... the man needs to fight again in November.
