Former UFC heavyweight champ Ricco Rodriguez arrived on Wednesday in Zagreb where he will prepare in the following days for his fight at FFC 10 in Skopje, Macedonia, December 13. Rodriguez is once again the main event, and on the opposite side of the Final Fight ring will be dangerous Greek fighter Nestoras Batzelas.

Even though the Greek has a record of only one fight on Sherdog, a more in-depth study of this fighter clearly reveals that he is a very dangerous opponent for the ex-UFC champion. In addition to his physical superiority in this match (115 kg), Batzelas was a member of Greece's Olympic wrestling team, and he did a lot of his matches in the US. He has also notably achieved two wins over Bulgarian Emil Zahariev. About a dozen of his MMA wins, both as an amateur and as a pro, are not recorded in the official statistics.

To prepare for his fight in Skopje in the best way possible, Rodriguez decided to train with the best Croatian fighter Mirko Filipovic. The two officially met each other for the first time yesterday to the delight of Rodriguez, who is a huge Cro Cop fan.

The former UFC champion was additionally impressed by Cro Cop's gym, its Pride "feel" in particular (there is a logo of the legendary promotion on the wall), so he shared his impressions with his fans via social media.
"Crocop Gym. Pride never Die!!" Rodriguez wrote.

It remains to be seen whether the two will train together on a daily basis in the following period, but keep reading Fight Site to find out all the details and get the full story.