Mirko Filipović

Mirko Filipović (; born 10 September 1974), better known by his ring name Mirko Cro Cop, is a Croatian former professional mixed martial artist, kickboxer and amateur boxer. He is mostly known for his time in Pride Fighting Championships. Cro Cop fought in the UFC, K-1, RIZIN and Bellator. He is widely considered one of the greatest Heavyweight Kickboxers and MMA fighters of all time.

Cro Cop is the 2006 Pride Open-Weight Grand Prix Champion, the K-1 World Grand Prix FINAL in Zagreb Champion and the 2016 Rizin Openweight Grand Prix Champion becoming the second fighter in the world to win mixed martial arts and kickboxing championships and tournaments. He is also a former IGF Champion. His nickname, Cro Cop, short for "Croatian Cop", comes from his employment in the Lučko Anti-Terrorist Unit, Croatia's elite Police Special Forces tactical unit.

Cro Cop's signature move was his lightning-quick left high roundhouse kick, once famously described as "right leg, hospital; left leg, cemetery." He was a successful amateur boxer and medalled numerous times in international competition, and was also a member of Croatia's world team when he competed at the 1997 Amateur Boxing World Championships.

From 23 December 2003 until 11 January 2008, he served as a Member of the Croatian Parliament for the 1st electoral district. He was elected as an independent candidate on the list of the Social Democratic Party.

On 1 March 2019, he announced his retirement for health reasons, specifically a stroke he suffered.

Background

Filipović was born on 10 September 1974 in Vinkovci in eastern Croatia, then part of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. He was raised in a working-class family with his sister, who is three years his senior. Mirko grew up training in track and field, namely the shorter distance events (100m, 200m, and 400m dashes). After seeing Jean-Claude Van Damme's performance in the film ''Bloodsport'', he began training in his parents' garage with his father's boxing equipment and weights. His father, who worked as an electrician for a railway company, fashioned his son a crude but effective punching bag filled with sand and cotton, and would bring home track scraps for Mirko to use for weight training. Filipović began formal training in taekwondo at the age of 7 and later studied karate.

Filipović's father died in 1994 when Mirko was 19 years old and after Filipović had joined the Croatian Army as a radio telegraphist the year before. After writing a request to the commander of his military base to train with the Croatian national kickboxing team, his request was approved. The colonel told Filipović:

I don't think you will be a special soldier, but I believe you will be a good fighter one day. So you don't have to learn ith the radio telegraphists I release you and I want you to train twice a day. And I want you to make your country and your homeland proud one day.

Filipović described this as one of the best days of his life. After this, he embarked on a career in professional kickboxing.

Boxing and kickboxing career

Filipović started his professional career in 1996 as a kickboxer, following in the footsteps of his compatriot Branko Cikatić. Before turning pro, he had accumulated an amateur boxing record of 48–8 (31 KO's). He defeated Jérôme Le Banner in his debut, but after losing to Ernesto Hoost in his next match, he turned his attention back to boxing and his law enforcement career. He had success in both areas as a three-time national amateur boxing champion and later joined the Lučko Anti-Terrorist Unit where he served for six years until he was elected to the Croatian Parliament. Filipović took part in the 1997 World Amateur Boxing Championships, losing his first round match-up against Olympic medalist Alexei Lezin. At the time, he was working as a commando in the Croatian police anti-terrorist unit ''Alpha'' (stationed in Lučko near Zagreb), which earned him his nickname "Cro Cop". He fought several times early in his career under the nickname "Tigar" (Croatian for "tiger").

Cro Cop was a runner up for the K-1 Grand Prix 1999 title and the K-1 World Grand Prix 2000 in Fukuoka title. Cro Cop captured the K-1 World Grand Prix FINAL in Zagreb title in 2014. Cro Cop had a 21-7 record with the promotion K-1, made two appearances in Glory. He is considered to be one of the greatest Kickboxers of all time.

Mixed martial arts career

Pride FC

In 2001, Filipović began his switch to fighting in mixed martial arts promotion Pride Fighting Championships, citing personal challenge as well as dissatisfaction with K-1 salaries. A year later, he also left his job at the anti-terrorist unit in order to focus fully on his martial arts career.

Cro Cop's first 6 professional MMA fights were in K-1 2001 GP Final, PRIDE FC and the New Year's events Inoki-Bom-Ba-Ye. He defeated veterans Kazuyuki Fujita (twice) and Japanese legend Kazushi Sakuraba, while drawing with Nobuhiko Takada and reigning PRIDE Middleweight Champion Wanderlei Silva.

Early PRIDE career

Now fighting exclusively in PRIDE, Cro Cop's 7th MMA fight was against former title challenger Heath Herring, who sported a 20–8 record and had gone the distance with current champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in addition to fighting soon-to-be champion Fedor Emelianenko, against whom he lost when the doctor had to stop the fight after the 1st round. Cro Cop defeated Herring via body kick and punches 3 minutes into the fight.

In his 8th fight, he became the first fighter to defeat legendary striker Igor Vovchanchyn by KO (with his trademark head kick). This was witnessed as a passing of the torch in the heavyweight division, as Vovchanchyn went on a decline and Cro Cop continued his run at the heavyweight title. Cro Cop then defeated Dos Caras Jr. via head kick KO in 46 seconds, and then told the fans that he would see them in his next fight for the title against Fedor Emelianenko.

PRIDE Interim Heavyweight Championship

After a contractual dispute between PRIDE and Fedor Emelianenko, PRIDE matched up Cro Cop against former champion Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira for the PRIDE Interim Heavyweight Championship. Cro Cop dominated early in the stand up; even knocking Nogueira down at the end of the round which prompted Yuji Shimada to wave the fight off, but the bell had already rung. At the start of the second round, Cro Cop was taken down, mounted and eventually submitted via armbar in the second round, suffering the first loss of his career.

PRIDE 2004 Heavyweight Grand Prix and comeback

After the loss to Nogueira, Cro Cop scored back to back first-round TKO's of Ron Waterman and Yoshihisa Yamamoto. It was after these performances that he was drawn into the bracket of the 2004 Heavyweight Grand Prix. In what was seen as the biggest upset in recent history at the time, Cro Cop was KO'd by former UFC Heavyweight Champion Kevin Randleman at 1:57 of the very first round, being eliminated in the opening round of the tournament where he was favored to be a finalist or even win it all.

It was after this tournament that Cro Cop went on a seven fight win streak from 23 May 2004 until 26 June 2005. He began by fighting 1 month after the loss to Randleman, against Hiromitsu Kanehara, a seasoned RINGS veteran. Cro Cop won by a unanimous decision (the second decision victory of his career). He then knocked out Shungo Oyama 2 months later in 1 minute. A month after that, Cro Cop scored a head kick knockout 2 minutes into his fight with Alexander Emelianenko (brother of the champion). Staying busy, Cro Cop defeated former UFC Heavyweight Champion and reigning King of Pancrase Josh Barnett 2 months later at PRIDE 28, when Barnett injured his shoulder only 46 seconds into the fight. 2 months after that, Cro Cop avenged his loss to Randleman by guillotine choke at PRIDE's new year show.

After defeating Randleman, Cro Cop stated that he wished to fight former UFC Heavyweight Champion and PRIDE 2000 Grand Prix Champion Mark Coleman. In the pre-fight interviews, Coleman repeatedly stated that he was going to take Cro Cop down and pound him out, while Cro Cop said there's no way he would be taken down and that he would defeat Coleman. At PRIDE 29, Cro Cop stuffed every single one of Coleman's take down attempts, staggered Coleman with straight lefts before knocking him out at 3:40 of the first round.

Cro Cop had defeated 3 former UFC Heavyweight champions back to back, and said in the ring after defeating Coleman:

I'm still standing, and I'm still waiting for a title fight. Emelianenko Fedor, you are next.

Cro Cop faced Emelianenko's teammate, Ibragim Magomedov at PRIDE Critical Countdown 2005, winning by a body kick TKO in the 1st round (his 6th first round finish in a row). Emelianenko cornered Magomedov for this fight, and after the fight, stepped into the ring and shook hands with Cro Cop as the two posed with the championship belt. Cro Cop finally received a chance to fight Fedor for the Pride Heavyweight Championship. The highly anticipated match between Emelianenko and Cro Cop finally took place at PRIDE Final Conflict 2005.

PRIDE title fight with Emelianenko

In the first round, Cro Cop stunned and broke Emelianenko's nose with two quick straight left hands. He discolored Fedor's midsection with powerful body kicks. Emelianenko was then able to get the fight to the ground and land several body shots and, as the fight progressed, Emelianenko became more and more dominant, winning most of the stand up exchanges and scoring several takedowns. After 20 minutes, Emelianenko was awarded a unanimous decision victory. The fight was awarded fight of the year by mmafighting.com and fight of the decade by ''Sports Illustrated''.

Post-title shot and PRIDE 2006 Openweight Grand Prix

After the loss to Emelianenko, Cro Cop defeated Josh Barnett at PRIDE 30 by a unanimous decision, and then dropped a split decision loss to hard hitting K-1 veteran Mark Hunt at PRIDE Shockwave 2005.

Coming into the 2006 Openweight Grand Prix, Cro Cop TKO'd two Japanese legends, Pancrase veteran Ikuhisa Minowa in the opening round, and 1992 Olympic Judo Gold Medalist Hidehiko Yoshida in the quarterfinal. On his 32nd birthday, he met Wanderlei Silva at Pride Final Conflict Absolute in the semi-finals, where he put on one of his best performances, defeating the Middleweight champion with his trademark head kick knockout.

This put him in the final against Josh Barnett, a fighter whom he would face for the third time in his career. After exchanging in the stand up, Cro Cop was able to posture in Barnett's guard - landing many punches. At 7:32 of the first round, Barnett tapped to strikes, earning Cro Cop his first belt in his MMA career - the PRIDE 2006 Openweight Grand Prix championship. When PRIDE president Nobuyuki Sakakibara placed the belt around Cro Cop's waist, Cro Cop broke down in tears and addressed the crowd in attendance, saying "This is the happiest day in my life. It's my 32nd birthday, and I want to thank all my fans in the arena, and all around the world for supporting me during my career. I love you, thank you."

Many have cited the performances that night as Cro Cop's finest - leading Wanderlei Silva's trainer, Rudimar Federigo to say, "That was Mirko's day. He fought two perfect fights and I believe even Fedor could lose to him on that night." Josh Barnett would later say - despite facing top fighters like Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Randy Couture, Frank Mir and Andrei Arlovski - that Cro Cop was the best fighter he ever faced in his career.

After winning the belt, Cro Cop revealed some more of his emotions behind the victory in the backstage interview with Frank Trigg,

All I can say is this is the happiest day of my life. Definitely. I was waiting for this for 10 long years and finally - I knew that I'm the best, but some circumstances just didn't let me do that. To go to the end, and I proved to all the people who were talking that I'm finished, that I'm done after Fedor's fight, that I am number one. Believe it or not, and I swear with everything I got, I told myself, "If I don't take this belt, it will be my last MMA fight in my life." I would quit fighting, I swear. And that's why I said, "now or never". And plus I was training like never before, and I was motivated, and I knew this is it.

There is no adblood between us yself and Silva.I would like to know how he is, and I would like to shake hands with him. That's all. I have nothing against him, really. But I told you before, he is just acting weird and he refused any kind of contact, but I'm not mad at Wanderlei, I don't hate him. I respect him as a fighter, and I would like to see him if he's still here.

I'm very happy, this is the day of my life, and I'm only sorry for one thing - that my father couldn't live long enough to see my success. He died 12 years ago and I dedicate this belt for my father.

After his victory at the 2006 Openweight Grand Prix, a rematch between Cro Cop and Fedor Emelianenko failed to materialize and on 12 December 2006 Cro Cop pulled out of the New Year's Eve event, citing both a foot injury and Emelianenko's commitment to meet Mark Hunt at the card in question. Through his official website, Cro Cop revealed "I still can't kick like I want to. It's the best that we give more time to this injury to heal. I want to be in perfect shape for my next fights."

Cro Cop has often been cited as being one member of the "Holy Trinity of PRIDE" (alongside Rodrigo Nogueira and Emelianenko.) These 3 heavyweights were considered anywhere between number 1–3 at any point in time between 2003 and 2007, and are often looked at as the "golden age" of MMA.

Ultimate Fighting Championship

In December 2006, rumors began to surface about Cro Cop entertaining offers from other mixed martial arts organizations; the Ultimate Fighting Championship was one of the promotions that Cro Cop confirmed came forward with an offer. Rumors continued to circulate about Cro Cop's future with the Pride FC organization and media websites were reporting that Cro Cop had chosen the UFC for his future. It was announced during the pay-per-view of UFC 66 that Cro Cop indeed signed with the UFC.

UFC debut

Mirko made his UFC debut at UFC 67 on Saturday, 3 February - which featured fellow debutants and future UFC champions Quinton Jackson, Lyoto Machida and Frankie Edgar - stopping the undefeated prospect Eddie Sanchez by TKO at 4:33 of the very 1st round. Average betting for this fight was around -1200 for "Cro Cop" and +800 for Eddie Sanchez, the biggest gap for underdog/favorite in UFC history.

It has been speculated that the reason Cro Cop did not receive an immediate title shot - despite being ranked #2 across many media outlets - was due to his lack of popularity with the UFC audience.

UFC title eliminator

On 21 April 2007, Cro Cop faced Gabriel Gonzaga at ''UFC 70'' in Manchester, United Kingdom to determine who would challenge reigning champion Randy Couture for the heavyweight title. In what was seen as an upset by many in the MMA world, Gonzaga won with a head kick knockout at 4:51 of the 1st round.
Cro Cop later said about the fight,

He hit me at least 10 or 15 times, clean shots to the head. It was a miracle that I didn't start bleeding. Maybe it would have been better for me if he had cut me, as the referee would stop the fight. But when we stood up I saw 3 opponents. I was finished already. I took too many shots to the head. I was totally out of control. He threw a high kick, it landed on my head and that was it. But I'm a fighter and there's no shame in falling down, only not to rise again. But that's my life, you cannot win all the time. But of course the goal is that you must try o always win It was my mistake. He did what he had to do. He had his plan and he threw too many elbows and I lost the fight and that's it.

End of first UFC stint

Cro Cop's next fight was on 8 September 2007 at ''UFC 75'' against French kickboxer Cheick Kongo, which he lost by unanimous decision with 29–28 on all three scorecards. There was some controversy, as Kongo landed 3 illegal groin strikes but was not even deducted a point. Cro Cop trained with Remy Bonjasky and Gilbert Yvel, and 2003 Abu Dhabi Combat Club champion grappler Dean Lister for this fight. Lister joined Cro Cop at his home town for a month to train for this upcoming bout. Cro Cop's coach was Vos Gym's main trainer and muay thai practitioner Ivan "Hydro" Hippolyte.

Dream

On 12 February 2008, Cro Cop announced a visit to Japan on his blog. With the foundation of the new MMA event, 'Dream', co-established by FEG running K-1 Hero's and the former Yarennoka! organizing committee members which had managed Pride FC, Cro Cop officiates ending his career in UFC and the participation into the new event.

Fight Entertainment Group confirmed on 11 March 2008 that Cro Cop would face Tatsuya Mizuno at Dream 1 on 15 March at Saitama Super Arena, Saitama, Japan.

When asked about Cro Cop's current contract status with the UFC and whether it would interfere with his participation in 'Dream' events, Dream producer and front man Keiichi Sasahara said, "Though I can't share specific details about his contract, there will not be any foreseeable problems arising."

Cro Cop was vague in answering the question himself, qualifying his response by mentioning his intent to return to the UFC sometime in the future.

Well, as you all know, I had a bad period in my last two fights, which I'd lost in the UFC, I don't want anyone to think that I'm running away from the UFC, but I was thinking a lot about how to continue with my career, and I think in this moment, I think Dream is the right place for me.

Another thing is that I never liked fighting in the cage. I always liked to fight in the ring. The second thing is that I liked fighting in Japan. Japan is like my second home—I feel like I'm home in Japan. All those reasons ave brought mehere, and I'm very happy that I'm going to fight here in Japan. But of course, one day, I don't know when, but definitely I'll be back in the UFC to show that it was just a bad period for me. Now I'm fully recovered, physically and mentally, most important mentally.

On 23 September 2008, Cro Cop fought against Alistair Overeem at Dream 6. After almost half of the first round saw Overeem takedown Cro Cop twice and the two fighters exchanging stand-up and ground strikes (with Cro Cop sustaining a cut) the bout was stopped and declared a no contest due to Overeem landing multiple knees to the groin of Cro Cop, who stated after the match that he had wanted to continue to fight, as evident by his remaining in the ring, but the ringside doctor would not allow him to continue. His manager stated that the injury was not serious and that a rematch as soon as possible was sought. Cro Cop said that he was planning for a long fight and a KO towards the end. He expressed frustration and quoted "I'm angry it ended this way, it seemed as if he was the dominant one, however, I wasn't in trouble for a second and was waiting for my opportunities. I prepared very well because I thought the match could last a while. I thought I would knock him down in the end." In recording the fight, Cro Cop's corner relayed to the announcers that his right testicle had been lodged inside of his body and that he could not continue. He later limped out of the arena.

Return to the UFC

On 18 May 2009, Cro Cop issued a press release on his official website and his MMAid account stating his scheduled return to the UFC. His first match upon returning was at UFC 99 in Germany against Mostapha al-Turk. During the bout, Cro Cop knocked down al-Turk with punches within the first round, then allowed him to stand. The fight ended when Cro Cop finished al-Turk with a flurry of punches that left al-Turk unable to defend himself. After the one-fight agreement with the UFC, it was announced Cro Cop was scheduled to return to Dream to face Siala "Mighty Mo" Siliga on 20 July at '' Dream.10''. On 3 July 2009, it was reported that he might have re-signed with the UFC after getting an offer "he couldn't refuse" by UFC co-owner Lorenzo Fertitta, who personally flew to Cro Cop's residence in Zagreb. It was later confirmed at the UFC Fan Expo by Fertitta that Cro Cop had indeed signed a three-fight contract with the UFC.

Cro Cop fought up and coming striker Junior dos Santos at UFC 103. During the third round, Cro Cop sustained an uppercut to his left eye that caused him to submit by waving his hand at the referee and motioning that there was a problem with his eye. The fight was officially stopped due to submission, giving Dos Santos the win. After the fight, Cro Cop showed signs of frustration, stating, "I don't feel the hunger anymore. I started playing it safe, I'm not ready to take risks."

He hired legendary former Muay Thai champion Ivan Hippolyte and revamped his whole training team. Cro Cop was scheduled to face Ben Rothwell on 21 February 2010 at UFC 110. Just days before the fight, Rothwell was forced to withdraw from the event because of an illness. Australian fighter Anthony Perosh stepped in to replace Rothwell.

During the fight, Cro Cop dominated for two rounds before opening a cut on Perosh's forehead which forced a doctor stoppage before the third round and awarded the TKO win to Cro Cop, who fought despite receiving a cut in training that required stitches.

Cro Cop next fought against fellow former Kickboxer Pat Barry at UFC 115 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. After being knocked down twice to the canvas in the first round by Barry's strikes, he won the second round after utilizing his ground game. The third round saw Cro Cop open up with a head kick followed by an axe kick to Barry's head. He ended the fight with a strong flurry, dropping Barry against the cage where he continued his assault with numerous punches to the face. He then took his back and defeated Barry by rear-naked choke, earning him ''Submission of the Night'' honors which Cro Cop had joked to Dana White and the crowd earlier that he deserved it. Prior to the Barry fight, Cro Cop was detained by Canadian officials, who threatened to deport him. He revealed that the Canadian officials had asked for details of his activities in the Lučko ATJ in which he had served, his service starting several years after the Croatian War of Independence. He was held for six hours.

Cro Cop faced former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir on 25 September 2010 at UFC 119, replacing an injured Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira. There was a brief scare the weekend before the fight when Cro Cop suffered an eye injury in Croatia during his final day of training, but upon arrival in the U.S., was medically cleared to compete.

Neither fighter managed to deliver any significant damage to the other until Cro Cop was defeated by Mir at 4:02 of the third round by KO due to a knee strike to the head. In a later interview for a Croatian television station, Cro Cop stated that he suffered a disc herniation three weeks before the fight with Mir. He decided not to inform the UFC about this injury because he believed it would seem as if he was trying to pull out of the fight.Cro Cop otvorio dušu: Stari Mirko 'umro' je s PRIDE-om!
Gol.dnevnik.hr; retrieved 5 May 2012.

Cro Cop was defeated by Ultimate Fighter alumnus Brendan Schaub on 19 March 2011, at UFC 128: Shogun vs. Jones by way of KO at 3:44 of the third round. Shortly after the knockout loss to Schaub, Dana White stated that Cro Cop is most likely retiring. Since this time, Dana White has appeared to have had a change of heart. In a recent interview, White said: "This guy wants to fight again, and I owe him another fight." White also added "Do I think he should have retired? Yeah," White said. "But I don't think he's in one of these situations like Chuck Liddell, who needed to retire right then. He's a man, a grown man, and if he wants to continue to fight, that's his right."

In his last fight with the UFC, Cro Cop was defeated by Roy Nelson at UFC 137 by TKO due to punches in round 3. Even though he looked to be in a good physical condition for the fight, he still didn't look like the same fighter from his days in PRIDE FC. In an interview to a Croatian television station, Cro Cop revealed that he suffered an arm injury in training 10 days before the fight. Cro Cop said the injury came as a result of him sparring with Pat Barry and that the doctors told him he had to go into surgery because a tendon had separated from a bone, but he refused. He decided to go through with the fight without informing the UFC officials about his injury.

Retirement from MMA and return to kickboxing

Although he had not completely retired, Cro Cop considered that his days with the UFC, and possibly MMA, were finished. He announced that he would return to kickboxing to fight at ''Cro Cop Final Fight 2012'' at the Zagreb Arena on 10 March 2012. Mirko defeated Ray Sefo by unanimous decision.

Cro Cop fought on 27 May 2012 at K-1 World MAX 2012 World Championship Tournament Final 16 in Madrid, Spain against Loren Javier Jorge, winning by knockout in the second round with a left uppercut.

He faced Randy Blake at the '' K-1 World Grand Prix 2012 in Tokyo final 16'' on 14 October 2012. In the third round, after a break and restart, Cro Cop attempted to apologize for a late uppercut, failing to put his hands up to defend and leading to a straight punch by Blake that resulted in a knockdown. Despite this incident, Cro Cop was able to outfight the American en route to a majority decision win.

He was scheduled to fight at ''Cro Cop Final Fight 2013'' on 15 March 2013 in Zagreb, and expressed his desire to face Gökhan Saki

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