Thanks to Twitter MMA coverage has been taken to a new level. We actually have, for lack of a better term, MMA beat reporters just like the NFL, MLB and NBA have. And now when rumors start to spread you can ask one of many excellent journalists what exactly is fact and what exactly is fiction.

Two false reports came out today both of which have been debunked.

First Bleacherreport.com (Bloody Elbow’s favorite site!) reported that Mirko suffered a bad cut during training that needed stitches.

Talk about bad luck! Just a day after the UFC announced that Ben Rothwell was forced out of his bout with Mirko “Cro-Cop” Filipovic due to an undisclosed illness, Cro-Cop himself received a nasty cut over his eye that required stitches.

Here’s what Kevin Iole of Yahoo! Sports said via Twitter:

“I dont think he’s cut. I saw him yesterday and he wasn’t cut and he said he was done working out.”

“He was told by UFC official workout room had moved and he said, No problem, I’m finished. And he DEFINITELY wasn’t cut then”

“Just talked to Marshall Zelaznik of UFC International Cro Cop is fighting and nothing happened to him as far as Zelaznik knows.”

“I dont know. I saw the guy yesterday a.m. and he was fine. I just talked to head of UFC Intl and he didn’t know anything.”

Now logic would also back this report by Iole up. If he saw Cro-Cop yesterday and he was fine there is absolutely no way he’s sparring a day before the fight. That’s just insanity and MMA fighters stop sparring as long as a week before the fight. It’d have to be a freak accident to cut him that badly.

Second rumor comes from that same article. It cites a report from Fightersonly.com that the UFC offered the Cro-Cop fight to both Rampage and Randy Couture.

The UFC allegedly asked Randy Couture and Quinton ‘Ramapge’ Jackson if they would take the fight with Filipovic at short notice but both turned it down flat. Perosh – who has an 0-2 record in the UFC from 2006 – took it on two days notice on the understanding he would get a four-fight contract out of it.

Again, nothing about that paragraph makes any sense. ‘Page is fighting Rashad Evans and Randy just fought. Furthermore why would ‘Page all of a sudden fight at heavyweight? Just makes no sense. I asked Mike Chiappetta who writes for AOL Fanhouse if there was any truth to the report.

“None whatsoever. Not on 1 day’s notice and no chance to market it.”

And there you go. It seems one of the side affect of MMA’s growing popularity is websites trying to make a name for themselves by coming up with fake rumors. Thankfully we have still have credible reporters like Kevin Iole and Mike Chiappetta.

You can follow Kevin at @KevinI and Mike at @MikeChiappetta