had used human growth hormone for his shoulder injury and had admitted this to the UFC. On 25 November, Cro Cop was suspended for two years by USADA retroactive to 9 November 2015. On 20 July 2016 UFC announced that it has terminated the remaining bouts of Cro Cop's contract. Despite admitting to the use of hGH and plasma, it was later reported that Mirko Cro Cop's USADA tests were negative. However, the 2-year suspension was not lifted, because he admitted to taking a prohibited substance. Second MMA return In July 2016, Cro Cop announced that he was ending his retirement and would return to mixed martial arts competition in Japan. He made his return with the Rizin Fighting Federation as part of a 16-man openweight tournament beginning 25 September 2016 in Tokyo. RIZIN Cro Cop defeated Korean Hyun Man Myung in the first round via an arm-triangle choke in the opening round of the tournament. Cro Cop was scheduled to face Wanderlei Silva in a trilogy bout on 29 December in the Rizin Open Weight quarter finals. However, on 2 December, Silva withdrew from the bout. Rizin announced that Cro Cop would then face Muhammed Lawal, who had just fought Satoshi Ishii on December 16 at Bellator 169. On 29 December, Cro Cop won the bout via TKO in the second round. Cro Cop handed Lawal his first loss at heavyweight, with Lawal being 9-0 as a heavyweight prior to this fight. Cro Cop faced Baruto Kaito on 31 December 2016 in the Rizin Openweight Grand Prix Semifinals. He won the fight via knee to the body at 0:49 of the first round. Cro Cop then faced Amir Aliakbari in the final that same night. He won the fight via knockout to become the inaugural Rizin Openweight Grand Prix champion. After winning the Grand Prix, he left the door open to a farewell fight, saying, "It would be nice if I will be able to recover enough that I can have a farewell fight, maybe in Japan. It would be nice, but to tell you the truth I don't know how the surgery will do." Cro Cop mentioned in an interview on 20 October 2017 that he would like to rematch Fedor Emelianenko, and that he has several promotions contacting him for fights. He also addressed his injury situation, saying, "I managed to repair my knee, I was among