Nick Name: Cro Cop
Weight Class: Heavy Weight
DOB: 9/10/74
Height: 6.2
Weight: 220 lbs
Style: Kickboxer
MMA Record: 25-7-2
UFC History:
-
UFC 67: (2/3/07) Mirko defeated
Eddie Sanchez by TKO at 4:33 in the First Round.
-
UFC 70: (4/21/07) Mirko
lost to Gabriel Gonzaga by KO in the First Round.
-
UFC 75: (9/8/07) Mirko lost to
Cheick Kongo by unanimous decision at the end of the Third Round.
-
UFC 99: (6/13/09) Mirko defeated
Mustapha Al-Turk by TKO at 3:08 in the First Round.
-
UFC 103:
(9/19/09) Mirko lost to
Junior dos Santos by TKO at 2:00 in the Third Round.
Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipović (born on September
10, 1974) is a Croatian kickboxer turned mixed martial artist .
Filipović is among the few martial artists who have been highly
successful in fighting in both K-1 and PRIDE Fighting Championships. On
September 10, 2006, he won the PRIDE 2006 Open-weight Grand Prix.
Filipović is perhaps best-known for his left high-kicks, the most
dangerous weapon in his arsenal; upon impact with the head, numerous
opponents have been knocked out instantly. He currently lives in Zagreb
with his wife Klaudija and son Ivan. In December 2006, it was announced
that he had signed a six-fight contract with the U.S.-based Ultimate
Fighting Championship mixed martial arts organization, and would make
his U.S. debut in February 2007.
Trademark fighting style
Filipović is renowned for his devastating
left high kick which he has used to knock out many of his opponents.
Filipović also employs ferocious low leg kicks, body kicks, and punches
to the body and head. His legs are arguably the most dangerous in MMA
today. His kicks have become ever stronger over the years, due to
working on his thigh muscles with weights and body weight exercises. His
thighs have gotten so impressive that he is known in Japan as "Meaty
Thighs." He often spurns longer combinations for solitary strikes
intended to finish an opponent instantly. Filipović is also a very keen
strategist. He often counterstrikes against larger opponents and attacks
aggressively against similarly sized or smaller opponents. Submission
specialists and wrestlers are considered to pose the greatest threat to
Filipović. In defending against those fighting styles, Filipović
possesses arguably the best takedown defense in MMA also making use of
the body scissors while down. Furthermore, as time has gone on, he has
also improved his ground fighting as well as his submission fighting,
training with the likes of Fabricio Werdum and members of his Cro Cop
Squad Gym.
Martial arts career
Filipović started his professional career in 1996 as a kickboxer,
following the footsteps of his compatriot Branko Cikatić. At the time,
Filipović 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 also fought several times early in his
career under the nickname Tigar (Croatian for "tiger").
K-1
In 1996, at the age of 21, Filipović entered
the K-1 Grand Prix elimination tournament. After defeating the previous
year's finalist, J�r�me Le Banner, Filipović was stopped in the next
round by Ernesto Hoost. He returned to K-1 three years later in 1999,
knocking out British fighter, Ricky "Tank" Nicholson, but subsequently
dropping a decision against Swiss fighter, Xhavit Bajrami. Despite this,
Filipović was given a wildcard into the world tournament where he
shocked the kickboxing world by destroying highly regarded K-1 fighter
Mike Bernardo in what many K-1 fans regard as one of the biggest upset
victories in K-1 history. Filipović then went on to knock out Japanese
star Musashi and Australian karate fighter Sam Greco on the same night
before being stopped again by Hoost.
Filipović continued to have successes in
K-1, winning a number of matches against such top ranked opponents as
Peter Aerts, Mark Hunt, and Remy Bonjasky. He was the first fighter to
KO then-undefeated giant, "The Beast" Bob Sapp in 86 seconds. In 2000 he
beat karate fighter Glaube Feitosa and boxer Hiromi Amada to reach the
finals of the Nagoya Grand Prix, losing by first-round TKO to Mike
Bernardo in a rematch. Once again, previously acquired injuries was the
major factor in this loss. Mirko actually entered the ring limping on
one leg due to injuries sustained in previous bouts. Bernardo repeatedly
attacked Mirko's damaged leg and rendered the Croatian unable to
continue due to injuries. Mirko however gained tremendous respect among
Japanese fight enthusiasts for his courage and heart. As a finalist he
progressed to the final eight for the 2000 Grand Prix, but once again
dropped a decision to his nemesis Hoost. In 2001 he was unexpectedly
knocked out by Canadian fighter Michael McDonald in the first round.
Shortly thereafter, he switched to Pride FC.
PRIDE FC
In 2001, Filipović began his switch to
fighting in PRIDE, 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.
Since then, Filipović maintained a comparably low kickboxing profile,
but nevertheless scored some impressive K-1 victories, most notably
against Mark Hunt in March 2002 (unanimous decision), Remy Bonjasky in
July 2002 (2nd round TKO), and Bob Sapp in April 2003 (1st round KO).
CroCop's string of PRIDE wins secured him a
chance to fight for the interim heavyweight champion title against
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in November 2003. Filipović's stand-up fighting
proved effective in the first round, controlling the fight from his
feet. However, Nogueira prevailed in the second round after a successful
takedown, forcing Filipović to submit to an armbar after being mounted.
Filipović admitted to Bas Rutten in a later interview that he was
overconfident against Nogueira.
In 2004, Filipović put his K-1 career on hold, and recruited Fabricio
Werdum (a former world champion in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu) as his coach,
working on improving his ground fighting skills. At the PRIDE GP
heavyweight tournament in 2004, he was knocked out in a shocking upset
defeat by Kevin Randleman. Filipović later made up for this loss by
submitting Randleman in a rematch at the end of 2004.
Filipović repeatedly requested PRIDE to let him challenge the
heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko. After winning seven straight
matches since his defeat by Randleman, including a knock-out victory
against Aleksander Emelianenko (the 6'6", 255 lb brother of the
champion), Filipović received a chance to fight Emelianenko for the
title on August 28, 2005 at Pride's Final Conflict 2005 event. After
three rounds, Emelianenko won by unanimous decision and retained his
title. Emelianenko, considered by many to be the best MMA fighter the
world has ever seen, admitted Filipović to be his toughest opponent to
date. Filipović later said on Croatian national television that he came
exhausted to the match, mostly because he couldn't get used to the time
difference in Japan and sleeping problems he had. The champion,
likewise, was not in his top form. According to Fedor�s official website
he was to begin preparations for surgery to reset bones in his
previously hurt right hand the morning after the title fight with Mirko.
According to Fedor he �could not take full advantage of right hand
during the striking exchanges and had to try to close the distance�.
On October 23, 2005, less than two months after the loss to Emelianenko,
Mirko stepped back into the ring to rematch open weight King of Pancrase
Josh Barnett (at an event fittingly named 'Starting Over'). After three
rounds, Filipović received a unanimous judges' decision victory.
On December 31, 2005, Filipović lost his
match against Mark Hunt via split decision. Hunt was the more aggressive
fighter, an important criterion in Pride judging. Quite unusually Mirko
was wearing shoes for this fight, something that had no precedent. This
had led to speculation and statements from his camp about Mirko having
sustained injuries to his feet before the fight. Filipović himself has
never confirmed these speculations. Also, Mirko had displayed
considerable problems with his cardio during his fights with Emelianenko,
Barnett and Hunt leading to the speculation that he was much too active
and a resting period from the ring would work to his advantage.
Filipović re-entered the PRIDE FC ring competing in PRIDE's 2006 Open
Weight tournament on May 5, 2006. His first match at the Total
Elimination Absolute event was against Ikuhisa Minowa, the lighter but
highly acclaimed pro-wrestler and Mixed Martial Artist. Mirko won the
fight with devastating punches and ground and pound resulting in a TKO
victory in 1 minute 10 seconds of the 1st round. On July 1, 2006 at the
Critical Countdown Absolute event Mirko defeated 1992 Olympic judo gold
medalist Hidehiko Yoshida when the judoka submitted after a series of
brutal leg kicks left him unable to stand.
On September 10, 2006, Filipović won the Open Weight Grand Prix at PRIDE
Final Conflict Absolute. In the semi-finals, Filipović knocked out the
PRIDE Middleweight Champion Wanderlei Silva with his trademark left high
kick.In the final match, Cro Cop won a third victory over Josh Barnett,
who submitted after sustaining an eye injury. With these two
overwhelming victories, Filipović became PRIDE's Open-Weight Grand Prix
champion, the first widely recognized championship belt he has ever won.
In a post-fight interview Mirko stated if he had not won the tournament,
it would have been his last night fighting. It was also his birthday.
Move to UFC
After his victory at the OWGP, a rematch between Filipović and Fedor
Emelianenko failed to materialise and on December 12, 2006 Filipović
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, Mirko 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."
Also in December 2006, rumors began surface about Filipović entertaining
offers from other mixed martial arts organizations; the Ultimate
Fighting Championship (UFC) was one of the promotions that Filipović
confirmed came forward with an offer. Rumors continued to circulate
about Filipović's future with the PRIDE FC organization, and soon, media
websites were reporting that Filipović had chosen the UFC for his
future.
UFC president Dana White and the UFC officially announced on December
30, during the post-UFC 66 press conference at the MGM Grand Garden
Arena, that Filipović had signed a two-year, six-fight deal with the Las
Vegas-based mixed martial arts promoter. It was also announced that
Filipović will make his U.S. debut on February 3 at UFC 67 in Las Vegas
against Eddie Sanchez.
MMA Record
Date |
Result |
Opponent |
Event |
Method |
Round |
Time |
4/21/07 |
|
Gabriel Gonzaga |
UFC 70 |
|
|
|
2/3/2007 |
Win |
Eddie Sanchez |
UFC 67 |
TKO |
1 |
4:33 |
9/10/2006 |
Win |
Josh Barnett |
PRIDE Final Conflict Absolute |
Submission (Injury) |
1 |
7:32 |
9/10/2006 |
Win |
Wanderlei Silva |
PRIDE Final Conflict Absolute |
KO (Head Kick) |
1 |
5:26 |
7/1/2006 |
Win |
Hidehiko Yoshida |
PRIDE Critical Countdown Absolute |
Verbal submission (Leg Kicks) |
1 |
7:38 |
5/5/2006 |
Win |
Ikuhisa Minowa |
PRIDE Total Elimination Absolute |
TKO (Strikes) |
1 |
1:10 |
12/31/2005 |
Loss |
Mark Hunt |
PRIDE Shockwave 2005 |
Decision (Split) |
3 |
5:00 |
10/23/2005 |
Win |
Josh Barnett |
PRIDE 30 |
Decision (Unanimous) |
3 |
5:00 |
8/28/2005 |
Loss |
Fedor
Emelianenko |
PRIDE Final Conflict 2005 |
Decision (Unanimous) |
3 |
5:00 |
6/26/2005 |
Win |
Ibragim Magomedov |
PRIDE Critical Countdown 2005 |
KO (Body Kick) |
1 |
3:53 |
2/20/2005 |
Win |
Mark Coleman |
PRIDE 29 |
KO (Punches) |
1 |
3:40 |
12/31/2004 |
Win |
Kevin Randleman |
PRIDE Shockwave 2004 |
Submission (Guillotine Choke) |
1 |
0:41 |
10/31/2004 |
Win |
Josh Barnett |
PRIDE 28 |
Submission (Injured Shoulder) |
1 |
0:46 |
8/15/2004 |
Win |
Aleksander Emelianenko |
PRIDE Final Conflict 2004 |
KO (Head Kick & Punches) |
1 |
2:09 |
7/19/2004 |
Win |
Shungo Oyama |
PRIDE Bushido 4 |
TKO (Strikes) |
1 |
1:00 |
7/19/2004 |
Win |
Hiromitsu Kanehara |
PRIDE Bushido 3 |
Decision (Unanimous) |
2 |
5:00 |
4/25/2004 |
Loss |
Kevin Randleman |
PRIDE Total Elimination 2004 |
KO (Punches) |
1 |
1:57 |
2/15/2004 |
Win |
Yoshihisa Yamamoto |
PRIDE Bushido 2 |
TKO (Strikes) |
1 |
2:12 |
2/1/2004 |
Win |
Ron Waterman |
PRIDE 27 |
TKO (Strikes) |
1 |
1:37 |
11/9/2003 |
Loss |
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira |
PRIDE Final Conflict 2003 |
Submission (Armbar) |
2 |
1:45 |
10/5/2003 |
Win |
Dos Caras Jr. |
PRIDE Bushido 1 |
KO (Head Kick) |
1 |
0:46 |
8/10/2003 |
Win |
Igor Vovchanchyn |
PRIDE Total Elimination 2003 |
KO (Head Kick) |
1 |
1:29 |
6/8/2003 |
Win |
Heath Herring |
PRIDE 26 |
TKO (Strikes) |
1 |
3:17 |
12/31/2002 |
Win |
Kazuyuki Fujita |
Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2002-K-1 vs. Inoki |
Decision (Unanimous) |
3 |
5:00 |
8/28/2002 |
Win |
Kazushi Sakuraba |
PRIDE Shockwave 2002 |
TKO (Broken Orbital Bone) |
1 |
3:17 |
4/28/2002 |
Draw |
Wanderlei Silva |
PRIDE 20 |
Draw |
5 |
3:00 |
12/31/2001 |
Win |
Yuji Nagata |
Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2001-K-1 vs. Inoki |
TKO (Punches) |
1 |
0:21 |
11/3/2001 |
Draw |
Nobuhiko Takada |
PRIDE 17 |
Draw |
5 |
3:00 |
8/19/2001 |
Win |
Kazuyuki Fujita |
K-1-Andy Hug Memorial |
TKO (Cut) |
1 |
0:39 |
- From
wikipedia.org
Official Website:
www.mirko-crocop.com