On March 10th, 2012, a Croatian hero returns home for his final fight and first ever fight on home soil in Zagreb, Croatia. Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipović will step in to the squared circle for the last time Saturday night against another K1 kickboxing legend in Ray Sefo. This will be Mirko’s first fight in K1 since his destruction of “The Beast” Bob Sapp in 2003. Filipović left the K1 organization for the MMA world with a record of 16 wins and seven losses. Cro Cop was the first successful kick boxer to transition over to MMA culminating with his victory at the Pride Open Weight Grand Prix Tournament in 2006.
MMA personalities on the retirement and career of CroCop
Filipović became an icon in Japan and the MMA world with that performance. Mirko then signed with the UFC in 2006 after his victory at the Grand Prix. The Croatian fighter’s career in the UFC left a lot to be desired. It appeared Mirko had lost that killer instinct and had become a shell of his former self. He was once regarded as the number two heavyweight in the world behind Fedor Emelianenko and was the most feared striker in MMA. Filipović had become the Mike Tyson of MMA, with a highlight reel of brutal knockouts. That all changed when he was knocked out by a Gabriel Gonzaga high kick at UFC 70.
Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipović is without a doubt a legend of the sport. He should be regarded as one of the most successful athletes to ever come out of Croatia. Filipović accomplished so much in fighting and Saturday night will be the last time we see him walk to the ring; fittingly in his home country of Croatia. Mirko has enlisted the services of UFC fighter and former opponent Pat “HD” Barry to prepare for this fight. On all accounts, Mirko appears to be ready for one last highlight reel knockout. Sefo is a legit K1 fighter and has said in numerous interviews that he is going to Croatia to get the KO victory. Will we witness one more left high kick knockout or will Mirko end his career with another one-sided loss?
How will CroCop go out?
The fight is available in the United States on Fight Now TV and will be broadcasted on the internet via UStream PPV for a fee of $25.
Written by Mike “Croatian Crippler” Rožić
You can follow me on twitter @crocrippler or on Facebook “Croatian Crippler”
@ivica
The reason i said he was no mixed martial artist was the fact he got choked by one of the easiest moves to counter.(A pressed forearm to throat). You dont have to be a mixed martial artist to get out from this manauver. All he had to do was turn his head, so that he could breath.
I took his age and all into account, but this was a very rookie mistake. Inexcusable mistake in the MMA world.
I agree that in his prime he would defeat crocop in his prime. But only in a kickboxing match, not MMA thou.
@ Crippler & Shinobi
You guys can’t be serious re: Cikatic’s poor MMA showing.
The man fought in only three MMA flights in his career, at the tender young age of 45. That would be like Mirko having a few more MMA fights 8 years from now, lol.
Cikatic was well beyond the twilight of his career and they were just a few last money fights (much like the last six have been for Mirko).
I think a prime Cikatic beats a prime Cro Cop in both MMA and K-1.
Here is the link to the fight.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJt4VXeWeK8
Crocop takes the unanimous decision victory over 41 year old Ray Sefo.
You can watch the crocop fight on fisrtrowsports.eu,-then click boxing,ufc. You need to download sopcast.
You can watch the crocop fight on firstrowsports.eu,-then click boxing,ufc. You need to download sopcast.
I remember i went to watch branko cikatic fight stan the man longinidis here in melbourne 92′. Great fight, but unfortunatly stan the man was handed the decision.
I eventully met branko while in croatia 2000 and 2005. He was holding a kickboxing exhibition event in the streets of benkovac in 2000, and in 2005 my cousin was actully working for him. Great guy and a true croatian kickboxing icon.
But definetly no Mixed Martial Artist, Branko got choked out by maurice smith by simply pressing down his forearm to brankos throat.
@ Croatian Crippler
Cro cop himself said it was not his final fight in multiple interviews .
Other honorable mentions for Croatian stand up fighters is Stefan Blitz Leko and Zeljko Mavrovic
@Ivica
Yes the Hrvatski Tigar Branko Cikatic was the best Croatian Kickboxer of all time for sure. He was the first K1 champ but didnt fair to well when he tried to transition over to mma(pride). He was also Mirkos trainer at the start of Crocops careeer until they had a falling out like everyone that trains with Mirko.
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The best Croat fighter ever was Branko Cikatic. That guy was knocking people out left, right, and center at age 40. He still holds the record as the oldest man to ever be K-1 Grand Prix champion.
That dude knocked everybody out. He was 87-5 with 82 KOs, lol. He crushed Ernesto Hoost twice. Cro Cop could never do that.
Weigh in today Crocop 108 kg and Ray Sefo 120kg.
This final fight thing has been going back and forth whether or not its his last fight or not.Saturday night hopefully he wins and retires because his time has come.
Its not his final fight , its called final fight because he is the final fight of the evening
@Crippler
I hate to sound like a broken record, but here it goes again,
Great job man. You surpass my expections every time.
@Tibor
I agree with you.
Pat miletich was an amazing talent. He was one of the most complete fighters to ever step foot in the octagon.
Its just a shame his run had come to an end against carlos newton.
Man i miss those years. The sport was just way more interesting back then.
BTW,
Again Crippler- WELL DONE!
I know this is the wrong post to post this on, but i accidently came across this blogspot. Where the Croatian Red Carpet interviewed David Diehl after the last Super Bowl victory… Pretty interesting…
http://winterheart-zombieboy.blogspot.com/view/snapshot#!/
The best Croatian MMA fighter was Pat Miletich.
Hopefully Mirko plays Thompson as his entrance song.
Crippler – love your work
Cool article crippler, huge fan of Cro Cop the bloke and the fighter, i would love to see him in a killer fight one last time!
@IVAN
I doubt the fight will be that boring…or at least i hope not haha, but i agree with you this is definitely more of an exhibition match
CroCop=Legend. I think we can all agree on that one. World-class fighter, Croatian legend and hero.
@Crippler,
Well done with the interviews. I like the intro as well. We will have to give you a raise pretty soon.
I’m the biggest Crocop fan, but I’m getting the feeling that this will be more of an exhibition fight…im thinking this because its impossible that his arm is fully recovered after sugery,he was training grappling with Pat Barry when this will be a kickboxing match and him and Sefo were hugging and laughing at the press conference. I’m getting a feeling that we will see a Mir-Crocop type of fight and Mirko wins by decision.
I hope I’m wrong but his striking in training looked really slow…
For all of the MMA fans…..I bet you remember where you were when you saw Gonzaga knock out Cro Cop.
I remember seeing it and almost feeling sick to my stomach…almost knowing that it was the beginning of the end of his carreer.
I’ll never forget the Cro Cop of the PRIDE days. Cro Cop did so much to advance (not only the sport of MMA) but Croatian Pride in general. He wore Croatia on him…he had it in his name.
As a representative of Croatia in sports….there were few (if any) better than Cro Cop.
I’m glad he’s retiring. He used to be fierce but he got into the UFC and got soft. He was fantastic at pride but something happened when he got to UFC.
Awesome video by Crippler really enjoyed it. Much respect to Cro Cop of course and glad he was a class act. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to catch the fight but I hope he’s ready to go all out.
yeah im with you on that one, when he went to the ufc for money he said he was burnt out and had no motivation left at that point…and well, we all know what happened there. i just hope he puts on a good show 🙂 lol
Ya but when your fighting just to make money thats a recipe for disaster. There comes a time when you have to just hang em up and Mirko that should of happened after the Pat Barry fight.He is no longer a relevant threat in MMA or K1.Bottom line is I hope he wins his fight Saturday and retires for good.
i dont think hes really trying to prove anything, i think at this point it’s more about the money, which is the whole reason he went to the ufc in the first place (a bigger paycheck). its probably why the the promoters are marketing this fight as his last match, to sell tickets.
At the same time he was disappointed he lost his last match to roy nelson, so he probably doesnt want the last fights in his career to b losses.
Ya i’ve heard him say it to but for his sake I hope it is his last fight.He has nothing left to prove.
yeah heres one of the instances where he says he ‘doesnt think itll b his last match’ and thats not the only interview he says it in either
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6SVPBz1PTU&feature=related
crippler, was that filmed in high park? haha
also im with mark ive heard cro cop say in interviews its not necessarily his last fight
http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/croatias-ivan-ljubicic-to-retire-from-tennis-after-monte-carlo-masters-in-april/2012/03/08/gIQARzuhyR_story.html
@Mark
this is his final fight. I hope he doesnt become the Brett Favre of fighting.
cro cop has stated that ‘final fight’ does not mean that it is his final fight