MMA Legends: Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic

It is a pretty slow news day in the world of Mixed Martial Arts.  Everyone is just gearing up for the furious pace of events scheduled for the last half of November/first half of December.  From November 11 to December 16 there will be a total of 8 major events.  WEC 52, UFC 122, Strikeforce Challengers 12, UFC 123, The Ultimate Fighter Finale, Strikeforce:  Babalu vs Henderson, UFC 124, and the last WEC event ever.

With the brief lull in events, I decided this would be a perfect time to post a little history lesson on a fighter.  I struggled with who I should pick and decided to watch some highlight videos on youtube.  After watching the one below I knew I had to write about one of my favorite Heavyweights of all-time, Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic.







Mirko, born September 10, 1974, started his fighting career in a K-1 ring.  K-1 is a kickboxing promotion.  It is basically Mixed Martial Arts without takedowns and ground fighting.  Fighters can kick, knee and punch and they wear larger, boxing style gloves.  During this time Mirko was a commando in the Croatian anti-terrorist unit Alpha where he picked up the nickname "Cro Cop" which is short for Croatian Cop.  Mirko would amass a record of 12-7 in K-1 with notable wins against Jerome Le Banner, Mike Bernardo, Musashi, Sam Greco, and Peter Aerts.  3 of his losses would be at the hands of legendary kickboxer, Ernesto Hoost.  After losing to Michael McDonald, Filipovic started his transition to MMA.

Mirko would have immediate success in MMA.  His K-1 level striking, most notably his laser-like accuracy with his hands and his devastating kicks, translated very well to the new sport.  He also developed one of the best sprawls and takedown defenses in the world, keeping the fight just where he wanted it.  Cro Cop would go on to have an amazing run in the Pride Fighting organization.  Wins over Kazushi Sakuraba, Heath Herring, Igor Vovchanchyn, Josh Barnett, Aleks Emelianenko, Kevin Randleman, and Mark Coleman would propel him into a Heavyweight title fight with Fedor Emelianenko.  The fight was almost exactly a year to the day since Cro Cop knocked out Fedor's little brother, Aleksander.  Mirko would lose the epic Heavyweight fight by Unanimous Decision.

This was another huge letdown for the Croatian.  In 2003, he was dominating Big Nog in their Interim Heavyweight title fight until Nogueira pulled out a miracle armbar win.  In 2004, he would be eliminated from the Pride Heavyweight Grand Prix tournament when Kevin Randleman pulled off the KO upset.  With the loss to Fedor it seemed that Mirko would be the greatest fighter never to win a major title.

A year after the Fedor loss, Mirko would be entered into the 2006 Pride Open-Weight Grand Prix.  The Open-Weight Grand Prix was a tournament with no weight limits.  A Heavyweight could be matched up with a Middleweight for example.  Filipovic won his first fight in May against Ikuhisa Minowa by TKO and followed that up in September by brutalizing Hidehiko Yoshida by leg kicks.  With the win, Mirko was headed to the semifinals at Pride Final Conflict Absolute.  He would have to win two fights in one night to win the tournament.  The other semifinalists were Josh Barnett, Wanderlei Silva, and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.  Cro Cop was matched up with Wanderlei "The Axe Murderer" Silva in his first fight.  The two had fought before to a controversial draw years before.  This time there was no controversy as Cro Cop scored another highlight reel head kick KO victory.  Josh Barnett won his matchup with Nogueira in a grueling split decision.  In the finals, Cro Cop would finally win the big one by submitting Barnett with strikes.

Cro Cop finally struck gold in the Open-Weight Grand Prix.

That would be Mirko's last fight in the Pride organization.  The stars were aligned that night for Cro Cop.  He moved on to the UFC and for a short time Dream after his time in Pride.  He is currently 6-4-1 since winning the Grand Prix.  Age and injuries have really taken a toll on Cro Cop the past few years. 

I will always remember him for his devastating kicks, he once famously referred to them as, "Right leg hospital, left leg cemetery" and his amazing Pride fights.