Mirko 'Cro Cop' Filipovic: Fighting is a matter of life and death

Ill always enjoy watching a CRO COP fight and would love to see him fight again but as a top contender, not no more.

Yeah this guy needs to retire, chill the fuck out and take life easy. If you consider suicide after a loss then you shouldn’t be fighting no more.

Yeah,can’t say I’m a Cro Cop fan but I respect what he’s accomplished and his desire to fight. It seems like he’s mentally very weak. Like, if he doesn’t intimidate his opponent from the beginning, he seems to become intimidated. Then for him to be saying all this afterward as if he should still be the same fighter he once was is kinda crazy. Maybe his psychologist will be the one to tell him that a) He’s getting old, b) he’s one dimensional, c) not every Pride fighter is meant to fight in a cage, d) the sport has already passed him by.

Drop to 205lbs and give that a try, otherwise officially hang it up and enjoy the rest of yr life.

yep, if fighting is a matter of life and death then he should do what’s best for him to win, and that is to fight guys his own size.

RedDog, that intimidation you’re talkin’ about has been long gone…

I hate to see such a legend end his career this way, but cro cop has earned the right to continue fighting regardless of his many losses. There are some interesting fights still available for him in the UFC.

I would love to see Mirko vs. Anderson, at a catchweight of 220 lbs.

Mirko is still good enough to be a severely over rated Frank Mir! Mirko always had good td defense, and Mir always lacked in that department. I wouldnt mind seeing Mirko winging kicks at Mir.

I wouldnt mind seeing Cro Cop vs. Kongo 2!

If Big Ben losses to Cain, he would make for a good opponent for Mirko.

He doesnt have to retire…but he needs to be protected. Joe Silva needs to put him in the “RIGHT TYPE” of fights (stylistically), and he can still be entertaining.

If the UFC cuts Mirko, I woud love to see him matched up against mOusasi in a catchweight!

I would also like to see Mirko vs. Sokoudjou

Dana needs to book: mirko vs. KIMBO!!!

If he could only take away the Gonzaga decapatation. He still may be in the game mentally. He has not ever rebounded from it mentally or emotionally. That was the downslope in his career.

Fighting is a very tough way to make a living. The highs and lows are extreme. Losing is particularly harsh, as you are not only alone in the cage, but also a large audience sees whomever loses either submit or be knocked senseless. It’s not for everyone. To be successful in this sport requires supreme confidence and a single-minded focus that blocks out the extreme highs and lows. Mirko has not possessed what is required mentally to succeed for a few years now. When combined with his limitations in the cage, it is an obvious losing formula. Mirko’s lack of desire and confidence have been OBVIOUS in all of his UFC fights. I strongly believe, based on what we’ve heard him say, his unpredictable actions, AND his listless performances in the cage, that he needs to retire from fighting, get his head right and enjoy the rest of his life. I’m saying this as someone who has great respect for Mirko for who Mirko is, as both a fighter and a person.

Psychiatrist won’t help here. Jordan Breen over at sherdog put this whole Mirko thing into brilliant perspective.

The issue with Mirko has nothing to do with his mindset or any external factor besides, his technical game and striking. He was always thought of a dominant striker in MMA but in hindsight, it was mostly a myth. Yes he comes from K-1 after an average career there. But for the majority of Pride, he spent it fighting guys who were completely unequiped to deal with 1. his striking 2. his athleticism. His striking was really nothing more than left straight, head hunting, left leg kicksd and when someone closes in do whatever it takes to explose out and cirle out. The only man who had a technical enough understanding of striking was Fedor who completely shut down his game and dominated that fight. Otherwise from Nak to Minowaman to Barnett to Wand, that same strategy worked to a Tee.

In the UFC, the GG fight – he was busy headhunting to see that Gonzaga had watched video on him. He kept walking away from his power and made him walk into the head kick. Cheick Kongo kept throwing left kicks over and over to the body landing at will. His arsenal in terms of MT was the most diverse that Cro Cop had faced and it showed because cro cop was completely shut down. Finally JDS used solely boxing to work his body up and down while taking away his distance, not letting him set up his high kick by maintaining distance until he could pin him or clinch and cutting him off from circling out. All these things are factors in the way his technical game evolved. For so many years it was worked against overmatched grapplers and brawlers. Now it simply doesn’t work against guys with competent and rounded striking arsenals.

Long rant, not meant to take away anything from Cro Cop. His status is important in the annals of MMA but when i look at it without that veil, his legend and aura was more of the product of his HL reel than his actual fighting skills if that makes any sense. For those who disagree please tell me where you believe am wrong. This is an important discussion we Mirko fans need to have to put his legacy to rest.

I am going to have to respectfully say that is bullshit. Crocop was an amazing fighter, he took Fedor to a decision and defeated a who’s who of that era of MMA. He is getting old now and the new guys are stronger and more well rounded.
This whole trend I have seen over the last few years is disgusting and ridiculous to say the least. Every time one of our heros ages and can’t hang with the young guys we dissect all of his wins and say how he was never that good.
Truth is you can pull apart anyone’s record and say it was all good luck or match ups if you try hard enough. I will not ever believe that the Crocop’s and Chuck’s were just lucky though. These guys were the greats and to take anything away from what they did is crap. Fact is, they were better than most they faced when they were on their game. Let’s stop trying to make them into “lucky” winners and dissecting their great runs.

Hey i never said he wasn’t a great fighter and accomplished a lot in his time. It takes skills to beat guys like josh barnett or almost KO big nog but there is a big reason as to why his success hasn’t come over to the US. And in all of his fights in pride – which one aside from the Fedor fight wasn’t he a clear and overwhelming betting favorite. He hasn’t had to deal with too many fighters who could put up strong fights. I say you are suppose to pull apart their record and ask questions if you want to find answers. Throwing your hands up and saying he’s just old is a disservice because what did he suddenly just get old as soon as he came to the US? What about when he blew Tatsuya Mizuno doors off in Japan? Then he fights another competent striker in Overeem and gets clobbered? Comes back to the US and mashes out Mustapha Al Turk who is in the mold of many of his previous fights – grappler unequipped to deal with his hands and athleticism. He didn’t seem to have a single ounce of diminished skill and killer instinct in that fight. Being old is not something you can turn on and off.

WTF Are you talking about?? In Mirko’s prime he was destroying all comers in devastating fashion. He is an OWGP winner. Who else can claim to have beaten Wand and Barnett in the same night?? Stop trying to diminish his legacy because of his last few fights. The Breen article was complete garbage and has been refuted more times than i can count. Expect to see the exact same article by the same writer once Nog, Fedor, GSP and the other greats start their decline.

Didn’t expect Cro Cop to want more UFC fights, and i completely agree NNR! I have to admit that i was scared for Mirko when he fought Kongo because he had never fought guys like that in Pride and i saw that loss coming, they should have given him an easier fight IMO after that brutal GG loss.

Cro Cop is exactly like Chuck Liddell was! when you’re young you can compensate for technical errors by using your physical abilities but as you get older you get slower and you lose that.

Interesting analysis- I definitely agree that Cro Cop’s game has not evolved and adapted to the point where he can compete with the newest breed of MMA fighters. I also agree that he has lost his aggressive edge, which has been missing since that GG loss.

Part of Cro Cop’s scariest attributes were his hands, which were pinpoint and powerful. The reason people underrate his hands is that he has so many highlight kicks. If he can find a way to harness his aggressiveness and do more than simply look for an easy knockout, he will again be a force to reckoned with.

Also, Cro Cop did not simply have an “average” career in K1. K1 strikers are the best in the world and Cro Cop has defeated the likes of Remy Bonjasky, Peter Aerts, and Musashi. He even defeated Jerome LeBanner on his first outing in K1. That proves that he was easily one of the world’s most “elite” strikers.

Stevo you still haven’t provided anything other than saying stop trying to diminish his legacy. I didn’t say he never beat great fighters and other legends – wand, barnett, saku, igor all those guys are fn legends and had top rankings at their weight or P4P. But how many had the skills to stand with him? Unless they got him down then it was over. Even big nog wasn’t equiped to handle his striking back then he won that fight on heart. That’s just not the case now. Anytime he fought a great striker – he hasn’t done good from fedor to hunt to kongo to overeem. I simply don’t buy the he got old as soon as “he came to the US story.” You also said that article was refuted more times than you could count. I would like to know these points because i don’t remember any other arguments against them besides “he’s a legend stop pointing things out about him.” YES HE IS A LEGEND AND WON’T STOP BEING ONE but there is a clear reason as to why he can’t seem to hang with these guys anymore which have nothing to do with mindstate and other vague generalities like “wanting it anymore.” And yes there will be a day when guys like fedor, Nog and GSP won’t be able to hang anymore. And there will also be clear reasons as to why!

Definitely some great analysis on this thread… I personally think it’s a cumulation of most of the issues mentioned, style, age, psy, adaptation, etc… I think the best move for Cro-Cop, besides retiring or seeing a shrink, would be to drop to 205lbs and join a camp like greg jacksons for a year… just do something completely different to renew his fighting spirit. I’m pulling for the guy, but all I see is a broken man that won’t make any of those type of changes.

CroCop just won’t cut it to 205. His one leg alone weighs 150 lbs! LOL

name not required is right, the sport has evolved, mirko is barely big enough to fight LHW anymore, mark spitz in his prime wouldnt beat olympic female swimmers anymore, as his times have been surpassed by most 15 yr old female olympians. Mirko was great in his time, as was chuck but fighters didnt have an understanding of striking back then, now rthe athletes are way bigger than mirko, and more technical, it all spell crushing defeats each time he gets in the ring, mirko is the same fighter as 5yrs ago, its his competion that is so much better.