Cro Cop Profile and Biography

QUICK PROFILE

Name Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic

Association Cro Cop Squad Gym
Country Croatia
Date of birth September 10, 1974
Height 6'2 / 187.96 cm
Weight 218 lbs / 102 kg
Manager Zvonimir Lucic
Conditional coach Igor Jukic
Jiu-jitsu coach Fabrizio Werdum
Boxing Coach Drago Dragic
Sparing partners:
Domagoj Ostojic (Kick boxing)
Igor Pokrajac (Wrestling)
Igor Kolakusic (Wrestling)
Sasa Mucnjak (Wrestling)
Marketing & promotion Slaven Vujic
Entrance Music Duran Duran/WILD BOYS

Titles and best results:
-K-1 Grand Prix '99 Finalist
-I.K.B.F World Heavyweight Full Contact Champion
-K-1 WORLD GP 2000 in Fukuoka Second Champion
-PRIDE Open Weight Grand Prix Champion 2006

Biography

Mirko Filipovic (born on September 10, 1974), often billed as Mirko Cro Cop, is a Croatian kickboxer turned mixed martial artist. Filipovic 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. He currently fights in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Filipovic 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.

Trademark fighting style

Filipovic is renowned for his devastating left high roundhouse kick which he has used to knock out many of his opponents. Filipovic 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. Filipovic 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, Filipovic possesses excellent takedown defense, also making good use of a defensive guard 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.

Mixed Martial Arts career

Filipovic started his professional career in 1996 as a kickboxer, following the footsteps of his compatriot Branko Cikatic. At the time, Filipovic 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, Filipovic entered the K-1 Grand Prix elimination tournament. After defeating the previous year's finalist, Jérôme Le Banner, Filipovic 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, Filipovic 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. Filipovic 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.
Filipovic 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, breaking Sapp's orbital bone with a left punch. 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, Filipovic 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, Filipovic 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. Filipovic'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 Filipovic to submit to an armbar after being mounted. Filipovic admitted to Bas Rutten in a later interview that he was overconfident against Nogueira.

In 2004, Filipovic 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 in the first round by Kevin Randleman. Filipovic later made up for this loss by submitting Randleman in a rematch at the end of 2004.

Filipovic 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 Filipovic to be his toughest opponent to date. Filipovic 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, Filipovic received a unanimous judges' decision victory.

On December 31, 2005, Filipovic 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.

Filipovic 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, Filipovic won the Open Weight Grand Prix at PRIDE Final Conflict Absolute. In the semi-finals, Filipovic knocked out the PRIDE Middleweight Champion Wanderlei Silva with his trademark left high kick. [1] 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, Filipovic 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.

UFC

After his victory at the OWGP, a rematch between Filipovic and Fedor Emelianenko failed to materialize and on December 12, 2006 Filipovic 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." [2]

Also in December 2006, rumors began surface about Filipovic entertaining offers from other mixed martial arts organizations; the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) was one of the promotions that Filipovic confirmed came forward with an offer. [3] Rumors continued to circulate about Filipovic's future with the PRIDE FC organization, and soon, media websites were reporting that Filipovic had chosen the UFC for his future. [4]

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 Filipovic had signed a two-year, six-fight deal with the Las Vegas-based mixed martial arts promoter. [5] It was also announced that Filipovic will make his U.S. debut on February 3 at UFC 67 in Las Vegas against Eddie Sanchez, promoting him under the name Mirko "Cro Cop" alternatively with and without quotation marks.

His debut in the UFC was a successful one, coming out to the PRIDE FC Theme Song, defeating Eddie Sanchez via TKO at the end of the first round at 4 minutes and 33 seconds. Filipovic controlled the octagon the entire fight, stalking Sanchez. After one missed head kick, one connecting devastating head kick, and a few more punches, Eddie Sanchez fell to the ground allowing Cro Cop to mount him and end the fight from that dominant position with strikes, leading to a referee stoppage. Dana White says his next fight will be in England and after that fight he will fight for the UFC Heavyweight Championship.
(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)