UPDATE
Stipe Miocic has succesfully defended his heavyweight belt with a first round knock out of Alistair Overeem. Miocic used his boxing, wrestling and ground/pound to secure the victory from top control. Overeem did test Miocic’s chin early but was unable to impose his will and the Cleveland born Croatian took over for an overall dominating win. More to follow soon.
The newly crowned UFC Heavyweight Champion Stipe Miocic will defend his title for the first time Saturday night against the dangerous Alistair Overeem at home in Cleveland, Ohio. Miocic won the heavyweight title at UFC 198 with a devastating first round knock out of Brazilian Grappling Ace Fabricio Werdum breaking Cleveland’s 52 year championship drought. Since winning the heavyweight title Miocic has been a busy champion in the months leading up to tomorrow nights bout. The champion has stated several times this past week though that he has trained harder then ever and is ready to defend that title in front of the home town crowd at the sold out Quicken Loans Arena.
“Everywhere I go, every time I do an appearance I have a coach and a training partner with me,” he said. “Nothing changed with my training. I’m training harder than ever before. I’m just ready to go. Nothing changed with my training — actually training’s gotten harder.”
Miocic’s opponent Alistair Overeem is coming off of knockout victories over Andrei Arlovski and former champion Junior Dos Santos. The dutch kickboxer is a a former K1 World Champion in kickboxing and held the MMA heavyweight titles in Dream and Strikeforce. He is one of only 2 fighters to hold world titles in kickboxing and MMA and has had over 80 professional bouts between the two sports. Overeem is coming into this fight very confident and thinks Miocic has been enjoying the Championship lifestyle a little to much and not concentrating on his training.
“He’s enjoying the life, and that’s not a bad thing. But know somebody’s coming and somebody’s going to take that belt, and he’s not going to enjoy life.”
The bout will be Miocic’s toughest fight to date for many reasons including the pressure of defending the title for the first time in front of your home town crowd. Overeem presents a very dangerous arsenal of stand up techniques that can end the fight at anytime. The Dutch kickboxer is devastating in the clinch and has a punishing ground and pound game when in top control. The biggest knocks on Overeem over the years has been his heart when the fight gets dirty and his week chin which has been exposed many times in his career. The key to success for Miocic in this fight is to make it a grinding dirty fight while mixing up his wrestling and striking. The Cleveland born Croatian will have to keep the pressure on the Dutchman and not allow him to get comfortable and set up his strikes/distance. If the heavy handed Croatian can touch Overeems chin I think he will defend that title but anything can happen in the heavyweight division as one mistake can be lights out.
Croatiansports.com readers let me know what your prediction is for Saturday Nights Championship Fight
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=itO5akCmFC0
You can follow me on Facebook @ Croatian Crippler or on Twitter @ CroCrippler
Drug cheat, illicit drug user and heretic Jon Bones Jones wants a crack at Stipe Miocic.
I wouldn’t mind seeing that fight!
@adrian- The guys at my local basketball pickup game are technically more skilled than most pros…but they lack one or more of the following speed, size, fitness, jumping ability, strength. Which is why nobody watches us play.
It would be great to see a small guy so “technically” gifted that he can overcome size and succeed in mma ala Steph Curry in nba, danny woodhead in nfl, Royce Gracie in old mma,Pranjic in soccer ( just kidding)
@Jarac
The fighter you picked (couture) is a perfect example of what I’m saying. Couture got beat by a fighter that was less skilled than him (lesnar) because of weight.. that is all. Lesnars skill was that he could move that amount of weight at a great speed. So a fighter with less technique beat a fighter with more technique just based off of the fact that heavyweight allows for a great weight disparity.
CroCop wasnt as one dimensional as you make him seem. He had one of the best take down defense in history of the sport. Coleman could not take him down and coleman takes everyone down. His guard wasnt that bad either, and eventually he did bring jiu jitsu into his game on the defense side.
Werdum has some of the shittiest stand up of any fighter, and hes still getting knockouts. Heavyweight is really the only division where you have fighters coming in from 20 years ago and making top 10.
Ante, hehe, Reem literally turning and running was hilarious
the only thing better wouldve been if that mirko-like headkick Stipe went for came off – it only just missed !
But yeah lots of people noticed Reem’s running, ive seen things like this all about Sherdog:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CsDGV87VYAEEhhm.jpg
imagine he did a za dom after the ohio chant… i wonder what dana white would do when all the politically correct fuckers came calling
stipe is dominant man… i think he gonna stay hungry… he said he wants to keep it.. i believe him and has the goods to back it up
Re-watched the fight. Man, what a first round. The thing that stuck out to me is how smart and patient of a fighter Stipe continues to be and has been. Even after being knocked on his ass, he gets up and calmly went back to fighting after Overeem sprinted away from his ass. A lot of guys would’ve chased and started throwing haymakers but not Stipe. He’s definitely worthy of being champion. I hope he gets Cain next even though there are rumors of another bout with JDS. I wasn’t upset about him not mentioning Croatia in the ring after the fight. He clearly loves Croatia, the US and Ohio. He dedicated his win to the families of 9/11 while we have other athletes kneeling during the anthem or sitting down on the anniversary. Imagine winning that fight in your hometown. Couldn’t have happened to a better dude. Heroj ulice…bar jedan dan. Hopefully the next fight is in Vegas and we can all represent.
Bravo Stipe!
@Adrian
“less technical skills” dude again wtf u talking about did u sleep thru the era of randy couture at heavyweight???? Werdum is one of the best if not best submission specialist in the UFC….
Pride days were great cause they were crazy fucking roid freaks without rules…but those guys don’t stand a chance in this age of fighting. These guys nowadays have gameplans, are well rounded, faster stronger etc… and yes miocic would annihilate crocop and the main reason is, crocop was so fucking stubborn he never learned how to fucking fight on the ground. Typical seljak went in there with the same game plan every time, that dont work in the ufc…
As for people giving miocic shit for not thowing a cro shout out, one of the reasons is probably don’t want to offend the people in ohio….again main dudes hating on him are serbs, yugos, and udbasi….
I think most fans on this site love having a scapegoat or whipping boy if you will.
My opinion is the team is not good enough, Strinic or not, they’re not good enough! Poor finishing is poor football, and that is why I voted for skills cost us the game.
“Wait a minute, I don’t want Strinic benched, I want him off our team. If people don’t agree with me that is fine, but it is time to move on. The sooner we do this the better. He is not getting any better, if anything he is getting worse. Whether or not people on this site agree or disagree with me is not the point. I am not a sheep but I am fair.”
I agree that he doesn’t belong on the team, but what can we do, Cacic continues to pick Strinic and Mandzukic and I’m afraid that there might be no end to this nightmare. Strinic and Mandzukic both off the team and Cacic sacked is what I want.
“Would have no objections to benching Mandzukic for our next game.”
Why does Mandzukic deserve a place on the team, is it the 1 goal he scored in the last qualifying campaign, or the zero goals at the Euros?
@Kit
“Strinic is better than Pranjic.”
They’re both horrible players. Looking at this from our National Team perspective nobody wins here. We don’t win the proverbial lottery any way this is dissected between those two knuckleheads.
And I never said that he wasn’t. I am just a stickler for truth and detail and felt it necessary to correct the details within your last post.
However..
“Don’t misconstrue our objectivity for any support of Daniel Pranjic. He is not bothering us right now and that is just fine, and I never understood why we kept him at LB for so long, it made no sense. However, this is not about who is better or worse but about being completely objective of what transpired throughout the course of our history.”
Strinic is not more talented than Pranjic but I must digress.
“He was mediocre at Euro 2016 and cost us in the Portugal game…”
You seem to have forgotten our last game with Turkey but that is what I am here for.
“but he didn’t cost us in the two group games that he did play.”
Our team still does not win. We can do much better and by saying he did not cost us does not cut it. We still lose considering his deficiencies on the field.
“He didn’t do anything remarkable at all,”
Never does from a positive perspective.
“but at least he didn’t directly cost us goals against Turkey and Czech (Pranjic definitely would have).”
I don’t seem to remember suggesting we play Pranjic during the Euro 2016 tournament? I am not a big fan of his play and was quite happy he was not included on our team for that tournament. I am not a Pranjic lover, I am an objectivity lover.
“We wouldn’t have topped the group with Pranjic playing.”
We topped our Group at Euro 2008 with him, however the statement is essentially irrelevant because I certainly was not rooting for him to represent us at Euro 2016 and was beyond ecstatic he was omitted.
We cannot say we topped the group with Strinic either. The game that took us over the top was against Spain, Vrsaljko played LB not Strinic.
“We still somehow topped the group despite Strinic playing those first two games.”
We were in second place after the first two games.
“I’m not going to argue about this anymore.”
There is no argument.
“They’re both crap”
Now you got it! And I have said that several times already but for some reason it does not seem to be resonating.
“and I don’t want Strinic starting anymore. You seem to have an obsession with the guy.”
I do?????? LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I don’t want him starting, and I will do one better and say that I don’t want him playing or being called up to our national side anymore. I am tired of the left side of our field stagnating and I am tired of watching a person that unequivocally does not fit with all the other talented players we have on the field. I am tired of listening to people make excuses for him and I am tired of hearing how is a quality player that is our best LB option. It is time to move on, we have the players and we will not miss him in the same way we will not miss Pranjic. Our team loses with both of those two players.
“I don’t blame you, I was in the same position when I watched Pranjic mess up every single time he played for us (EVERY single time).”
You seem to think that I want Pranjic to play for us? Which I keep telling you that I do not but yet you keep suggesting that I do. I tell the truth about players and events in our history and you misconstrue that I am sticking up for him when in fact that could not be farther from the truth. This is not a Pranjic versus Strinic thing, this is about moving on from horrible LB play and moving on with a new plan which we will not have a problem to do.
“I don’t think that there is a single soul on this site who disagrees with benching Strinic and even Mandzukic.”
Wait a minute, I don’t want Strinic benched, I want him off our team. If people don’t agree with me that is fine, but it is time to move on. The sooner we do this the better. He is not getting any better, if anything he is getting worse. Whether or not people on this site agree or disagree with me is not the point. I am not a sheep but I am fair.
Would have no objections to benching Mandzukic for our next game.
“If you took a poll, probably 100% would vote to bench them.”
And that is fine I guess, how this is a popularity contest I am not sure? If the decision was mine I would not call him back, it is time to move on. People are under the impression that if he were to get minutes at his club that he would be a much better player and we just need to go back to the WC 2014 Qualifiers to know that is not the case.
Pivaric, Vida, and Jedvaj are more than enough to carry the torch and go forward.
“Not sure why you’re trying to paint a picture that everyone here wants Strinic to start.”
What I am doing is being anti Orwellian and being objective. It is not about Strinic starting or sitting, at least not for me, it is about not calling him back to our team anymore.
This is quite the pro Strinic website regardless of what people are saying, and more importantly not saying since the Turkey game.
The nightmare is over.
My son and his friends from Kent State were there – says it was the craziest crowd they were ever a part of and there were Croatian flags all over the arena.
OH…. IO, it was hard to make out what they yelling, I’m not sure if they spelt Ohio correctly!
Aussie Aussie Aussie oi oi oi, that’s the Aussie chant, both chants are pathetic anyway, I’ll get back to you guys after I watch the replay.
Yes the American fans were replying with yo, Miocic says OH, fans replied yo, they spelt Ohio wrong!
Thanks Ante!
Good fighter Bisping, would’ve had the belt a lot earlier if the sport was clean.
“All those fighters crocop dismantled without question. The Eddie Sanchez fight to me said cc was in the decline. He had more difficulty finishing off Eddie than the fighters I mentioned.”
First fight in the Octagon nerves, a lot of fighters say it’s a real thing.
“I don’t feel the hunger anymore. I started playing it safe, I’m not ready to take risks.” – Cro Cop
He said that after he lost to Dos Santos, he wasn’t the same after the Gonzaga fight.
O H…crowd responds with I O. Very popular in Ohio sports, especially with Ohio State. Think of it as a state motto similar to Aussie Aussie Aussie oy oy oy
I thought it was Always, and the crowd would yell believe.
What was Miocic screaming at the crowd at the end of the fight? Some chant…
I guess I just disagree with many of you. For me Heavyweight has less technical skill than the lighter weights because you can rely on your power.
If you think Eddie Sanchez is on the level of Igor Vovchanchyn, Fujita, Aleksander Emelianenko, Coleman, and Randleman, then we cant talk. All those fighters crocop dismantled without question. The Eddie Sanchez fight to me said cc was in the decline. He had more difficulty finishing off Eddie than the fighters I mentioned.
You gotta remember ufc had some really horrible heavy weight champs. Tim Sylvia was champ for fucks sake. Brok Lesnar. Frank Mir. These are crap fighters in comparison to the other weight classes. The only shit that comes close is maybe Bisping getting the strap, but even he is more deserving.
“If you aren’t the heavyweight champion, you are no better than the college intramural flag football champion–#meaningless”
I think Cro Cop agrees with with this, probably the reason he never fought at LHW in the UFC when he easily could’ve made the weight, most of the good LHW’s were cutting weight to make the 205 limit.
It’s true they fought cans but one of the better things back in Pride was they actually had tourneys too and so the winners went through to contest the title, not the guy Dana White feels like he might give a shot for marketing purposes or whatever (think CM Punk). Also, remember how they fought the semi-final and final on the same night even in HWs in Pride tourneys? Wouldnt see that these days.
@ Iggy
Right now I agree with you on Fedor being greatest of the generation but that may change who knows. The thing is the top guys these days don’t get to fight cans like they did back in the day when they are at the top it’s almost impossible to be undefeated at heavyweight because all it takes is one mistake with the big guys at the top.
Okay CC, i have a question for you then: who’s the greatest HW of all time?
Clearly it has to be someone from this current generation since, according to you, they are better.
IMO it’s clearly Fedor hands down and no one else is even in the discussion.
@Crotone
I mean advantage from if they were to fight nowadays the rules are different and most of the roads are out of the game.
@Adrian
Yes that was prime crocop unless 4 months from winning the grand prix he just fell out of prime.
Listen guys we can’t compare two generations of fighters against each other fairly it’s different times and different fights.
Maybe ask Mirko what he thinks when he trained w Miocic now what he thinks lol
@Cripler
So you think the CC that came in against Eddie Sanchez (a guy that doesnt belong in top 100 discussions) was the prime CC?
The guy fell hard from his prime days. Maybe it was the lack of steroids or maybe it was just aging. The same can be said of Fedor. The fedor that fought in Strikeforce was not fedor in his prime. His reflexes were going down, and they continue to go down. The problem is that we only remember the most recent fights and fighters legacies get tarnished by that fact.
The fact that fedor never lost at heavyweight in 9 consecutive years is a testament to his greatness. He was just that far ahead of the rest of the heavyweights. Even the overeems, the stipes, cains, and werdums got taken out. Fedor never was put to sleep in a weight class that was known for it. Yeah ok hendo and all that shit happened but lets not kid ourselves that version of fedor was one in decline.
“The biggest advantage they had back then from now is steroids and the kicks to a downed opponent which are huge difference makers.”
What are you talking about, who did they have the advantage on?
Belfort had an advantage against a lot of his opponents, and have a look at him now! Jon Jones drug cheat, Frank Mir drug cheat, Lesnar drug cheat, Dan Henderson drug cheat and many more!
Steroids in Pride they say was rampant but that is what made it a level playing field and the fights were a lot better for it!
They should let all these guys take steroids if they want!
I’m not saying pride wasn’t awesome cause it was and the fighters were great but times have changed its a completely different sport nowadays. The biggest advantage they had back then from now is steroids and the kicks to a downed opponent which are huge difference makers.
@Iggy
I didn’t say Mirko vs Nelson I said vs Eddie Sanchez that was right after he won the grand prix. Which was him in top condition.
Cmon Crippler, it isn’t fair to describe Fedor v Rogers or Mirko v Nelson as those guys being at their prime. That was when they were already well past their prime.
I think the pinnacle of Pride was better than the pinnacle of UFC today. Those guys were all old after Pride concluded so .. of course they lost after.
Also, UFC does a lot with rules to help grapplers which imho i dont like. Of course Mirko isn’t going to do as well in a tourney where he cant soccer kick dudes in the head when they’re down. That’s why Pride was so much better too – it was more about striking and more brutal. UFC has sanitised it and made it into a gay wrestle-fest. Yes, there are still good strikers but they tilted the scales to help out grapplers. I liked the Pride rules more in that regard.
You prolly have a point the UFC guys today are better “athletes”. I don’t necessarily disagree with that. Most Pride fights were over in a couple of minutes due to how striking-based it was so endurance was barely an issue.
But i still reckon Pride glory days top guys at their peak are well ahead of current UFC div. And, as i say, you can’t talk about Mirko in UFC as him being at his best, cmon man, jesus. Fedor v Mirko for example in Pride, what a fight !
They were unreal at that time but I think the guys at the top now are bigger and better athletes overall. It would be cool though to see 2007 Mirko Fedor in modern UFC
@ Adrian
Crocop was in his prime when he came to the UFC he had just won the open weight grand Prix and came in and looked like shit against a no name Eddie Sanchez. I’m a huge pride fan and Mirko fan but I took the Homer glasses off and realized they weren’t as good as they appeared. The cage and elbows also made a huge difference and no soccer kicks.
@Cripler
All the pride fighters came into ufc out of their prime, except for Anderson. Cro Cop in his prime murders everyone in the hw division. When he fought gonzaga he was out of his prime. Same goes for fedor and nog. Both out of their prime and they would clean out hw division.
Heavyweight has the heavy hands and there comes the danger of quick knockouts, but it is also the weight class where you will see sluggish, gassed fighters. You wont see fights like conor vs diaz in hw. The closest that came to it was maybe Fedor vs CroCop but even in that fight CC was gassing and had to slow the pace down.
@Kit
Strinic is better than Pranjic.
He was mediocre at Euro 2016 and cost us in the Portugal game…but he didn’t cost us in the two group games that he did play. He didn’t do anything remarkable at all, but at least he didn’t directly cost us goals against Turkey and Czech (Pranjic definitely would have). We wouldn’t have topped the group with Pranjic playing. We still somehow topped the group despite Strinic playing those first two games.
I’m not going to argue about this anymore. They’re both crap, and I don’t want Strinic starting anymore. You seem to have an obsession with the guy. I don’t blame you, I was in the same position when I watched Pranjic mess up every single time he played for us (EVERY single time).
I don’t think that there is a single soul on this site who disagrees with benching Strinic and even Mandzukic. If you took a poll, probably 100% would vote to bench them. Not sure why you’re trying to paint a picture that everyone here wants Strinic to start.
i heard werdum had more words for the croats in the crowd than stipe
After Party Video W Stipe
https://youtu.be/Xes4DPrxZjY
@Jarac
Yes totally different rules and fight style with a cage vs a ring. Your timing,distance and techniques change and not to mention the rampant drug use in Pride lol.
@Kenny
Overeems jaw has always been suspect but he still was able to win the title in the best striking competition in the world K1. Also coming off a knockout of Dos Santos don’t think he’s reluctant. I think his plan was to keep his distance and pick his shots on Miocic but think once he hit Stipe with everything he had and he kept on coming that went out the door. A good chin in combat sports is very underrated. Yes I think Velasquez is next and can’t wait.
@BZ
“The only person who blacks out faster than Overeem is Hillary Clinton!”
That distinction/award goes to Strinic.
The nightmare is over.
Crippler, what was Stipe screaming after the fight? Olic? Lol…
The only person who blacks out faster than Overeem is Hillary Clinton!
@Croatian Crippler
Do you think Cain Velasquez will be Stipe’s next opponent?
@Croatian Crippler
The rumor is Overeem has developed a glass jaw and is reluctant to exchange.
@Crippler
Yup…comparing pride to ufc is tough….but pride fighters coming into ufc got smoked bad..if it would’ve happened the other way around could have been a tough transition for ufc fighter. The cage and rules change things…
@Iggy
Its not secret reem roided, he failed his drug test was caught and suspended for about a year…
2 of the people you mentioned are constantly injured and your basing the division off that quit getting a boner and making yourself feel good by saying someone doesn’t know, it’s evident YOU DONT KNOW. Even overeem, washed up prime was in Pride, 41 wins lol I bet you think those are all UFC
CRO CAL? Mrs u picku materinu nemoj da ti jebem majku i sedmo koljeno
Nothing worse than listening to a diaspora ordering food and drinks at a Croatian restaurant! (Miocic fits this category)
Nothing worse than wearing another mans name on your back!
Strinic is a fucking idiot. Cacic is just as much to start him, nevermind not cutting him from the squad. His head got to him by not including Lovren for the euro. At least when Lovren fucks up he has enough game and heart to score a goal to nullify his fuck up.
Awesome display by Miocic!
Who cares about after school back yard fight club anyway! Fuck I wish I was Serbian!
@Adrian and Iggy
I used to think the Pride heavyweight division was the greatest ever to but I don’t anymore. You guys actually think the top 3 Mirko,Nog,Fedor would beat Stipe,Werdum,Velasquez,Dos Santos no chance. Look what happened to Mirko in his prime against Gonzaga nevermind the other UFC fights. I loved the guy but come on even Nelson put a beating on him. Fedor barely beat Brett Rogers when he left Pride lol. It was the golden era but don’t think any of those guys would hang w the top 4 or 5 now.
Werdum lived in Croatia and trained with Mirko back in the day….showed some love at the end to the hrvati in the crowd. Respect!
Could stay up for the fight, but I’m happy with the result.
In other news, since getting my Croatian citizenship I think I’ll go vote today.
My monster loves Zagorije.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rwOcI_qNThM&feature=youtu.be
@BZ:
LMFAO
@Jarac
Good comments, you know your stuff and good call on Stipe. He showed his class.
ignore Idemo, a big idiot once again shows the fool he is . If you don’t know the sport shut up pussy.
U boj.
Nothing better when a Croat is a champ. Bravo Stipe. Svaka ti cast. Cestitam.
@Maminjo
“No way. Strinic is crappy, but at least he’s a LB.”
Clutch at straws much? lol!!
What Strinic has done throughout the course of his national team career, and specifically at the end of the Portugal game carried over to the Turkey game will live in infamy and a “NEW” standard was set to describe how he cost us two games in a row! There is nothing any starter, not alone Pranjic can do to top that. I am not worried at all about who plays LB or us next game because of the standard of bad play Strinic has exhibited in his last two games and his overall play in general for our national team in 39 game career with us.
Also,
Vida, Jedvaj, Vrsaljko, Lovren, and Corluka are not LB’s either yet I would start them all of them over Strinic at LB, so much for your theory.
“Pranjic has never played LB in his club career, yet somehow all of our coaches from Bilic to Kovac seemed to like playing him there.”
That logic was completely screwy, however, Pranjic caused far less damage to us than Strinic has when we compare so how that would be equated as more hurtful our damaging to our team? (And before you ask me if I think Pranjic is any good the answer is no, but comparing Strinic to Pranjic in order to make Strinic less crap does not mean anything in the grand scheme of things either, if anything it shows agenda.
When comparing shit to shit the result is still shit and to suggest I am protecting Pranjic is laughable!! LOL!!
If we do it your way than could we not say that it is alright for Pranjic to be shit because that it is not his natural position? I don’t agree with that logic because I don’t have an agenda, but it is the same logic you are using in reverse.
The Strinic fanboys reach for this card every time thinking it elevates how crap Strinic is. Talk about insecure and petty and just plain pathetic.
“He was the reason why we lost 4-1 at home to England.”
Without a doubt he screwed up on England’s first goal. However, we lost 4-1 to England because of a red card and although we were behind we still kept pressing to score goals. With our insistence of pressing, England was able to destroy us on the counter! You will say that the plays were on his side of the field, and they were, but it was more so because we were pressing to score while being a man down and they made us pay rather than Pranjic himself. Do you see, there are layers to most stories and events that transpire in history? 🙂
However, I will play it your way. Let’s put full blame on Pranjic for the England loss, why not, at least it will make you happy. 🙂
Even when we put “total and full” blame on Pranjic for the England loss, Strinic is still ahead of Pranjic in terms of blowing games for us when compared.
Strinic screwed us against Belgium, Portugal, Turkey, and he was our worst player during the WC 2014 qualifiers by a country mile. And he was our worst player during the WC 2014 qualifiers while playing every game in the Ukraine for Dnipro. Those are facts.
“From there, he was just one massive handicap on the left side that every team we played, exposed. Even in our big wins against mediocre teams (like the 5-1 win against Norway) the other team’s goal came because of him.”
Actually that would be incorrect, Norway’s goal was due to Schildenfeld leaving too much space for Tettey at the top of the box, we could even point some blame at Brozovic if we wanted to I guess? The play does start on the left side but it is frivolous and innocent until the ball reaches the top of the box, but I will play it your way once again because I want to make you happy. Let’s just say it was Pranjic’s fault for that goal, now did that goal hurt us? Did we lose the Norway match? The answer is NO, and yes Pranjic is still crap. You’re clutching at straws again and the agenda is evident.
Strinic made Alan Hutton look like the RB version of Roberto Carlos not once but twice during our WC 2014 campaign, now here is the even bigger problem, we lost both games to Scotland. You will use your safety blanket comment and blame that all on Igor Stimac. Why? Did Igor Stimac ask Strinic to play CB or RB or striker instead of LB? Stimac was brutal, but the safety blanket comments trying to cover up the horrific play of Ivan Strinic during those qualifications are even worse than the job Stimac did. We lost to Norway with Vrsaljko at LB, I don’t completely blame Kovac or Vrsaljko for that. It depends on the situation.
“What’s worse than leaving that left side wide open, was the fact that he neutralized both Rakitic and Modric. They had to hold back on offense because of him.”
And Strinic really helps us out on our left side?????? WOW!!!!!! If anything Strinic gets a break because he gets to have Perisic playing in front of him! Nobody stagnates our left side more than Strinic. That would be impossible but hopefully this is over and done with. Strinic has no right to be on the pitch when it’s a game that we expect to dominate possession and pressure up field and rely on skill and creativity to get a result.
“Strinic is our weakest starter, so he will definitely get major flak…but Pranjic is legendary.”
You make it sound like the flak he gets is not deserved. LOL! We are not criticizing Ivan Strinic because he is our weakest player, we are critising him because of his bad play and the mistakes he makes on the field that cost us games. What Strinic did to cost us the game against Portugal and get us eliminated from Euro 2016 and not even a couple months later he tops himself with the half time idiotic play to allow Turkey a FK and shortly tie the game will live in infamy. And then when the Strinic fan boys are asked about how he errored against Portugal they say comments like… “It’s not all his fault” or “He is the best we got, what are we supposed to do?” – I tell ya what we are supposed to do, we need to get rid of him entirely. Enough of this undeserved praise and comments like, “Well, he plays in Serie A” – Really? He rode the pine again yesterday.
Strinic is our weakest player never mind starter, let’s call it like it is shall we and say he is by for our least talented “ever” National Team player that has started at least “39” games. What we saw last game against the Turks will live in infamy in terms of poor play. It was not bad enough that he was the reason a FK was given to the Turks at the end of half but combine that with the horrific passing, the crosses of no value, falling down with nobody around him, and just misery time and time again.
Strinic has caused more damage than good for our team and if we are being honest, and we are, at least Pranjic has scored a goal and has some nice assists that he can show the world. That cross to setup Srna at Euro 2008 against Germany was sublime! What does Strinic have on his canvas to show anyone? He has an assist to Mandzukic when we played Italy at Euro 2012 that Chiellini completely mistimed otherwise it never gets to Mario in the first place.
Don’t misconstrue our objectivity for any support of Daniel Pranjic. He is not bothering us right now and that is just fine, and I never understood why we kept him at LB for so long, it made no sense. However, this is not about who is better or worse but about being completely objective of what transpired throughout the course of our history. Nope, anything you read here is objective based and without agenda and as long as both these guys don’t play for us anymore that is just fine.
But I will show you what Strinic has to offer if you like?
http://tinypic.com/view.php?pic=plrmd&s=5
LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The nightmare is over.
P.S. Trying to compare the two players in order to somehow make Strinic less shit is beyond pathetic but yet not surprising, agenda based drivel at its finest.
Ding Dong Pranjic and Strinic are Dead but more importantly the nightmare is over.
haha the old UFC1 days when u had bare-fisted fighting between little guys and huge giants.. man those were brutal fights, great entertainment though .. recommend looking up some old fights from UFC 1 – UFC 3 on YouTube for a laugh.. that massive fat black guy, was it Yeboah ? oh.my.god.. lol
In my opinion the Heavy weight division doesn’t suck. In fact it is the only division that should exist (kinda like the old days when you middleweights fighting 300 pound beasts).
All the other divisions exist to make scrawny ass mexicans & tiny italians with Napolean complexes feel good about themselves (well that, and a way to expand the prodict).
If you aren’t the heavyweight champion, you are no better than the college intramural flag football champion–#meaningless
Congrats Stipe
Also notice how undereem’s gotten fat and slow and lazy ever since a harsher drug testing regimen came in? Funny that.. but it’s basically the worst kept secret “horse meat” overrun has been a massive juicer
The strongest HW has ever been is during the pride era when you had Fedor, Nog, and Crocop fighting for the belt.
Couldnt agree more. But we won’t ever have days like those Pride days again, sadly. Those were the best times to be an MMA fan for sure though. Those HWs were fast as fuck too.
That being said, the div now isnt dogshit or weak in UFC. There’s some good fighters. But you’re never gonna have the glory days of Pride or anything close to that again anytime soon.
@adrian
u just named all the divisions lol, come on bruh heavyweight is a tough ass division right now, thats why its so hard to retain the belt
They are right. The HW division has always been the weakest. LHW is much stronger division. Middleweight, welterweight, and lightweight are tough weights as well.
The strongest HW has ever been is during the pride era when you had Fedor, Nog, and Crocop fighting for the belt.
i will fly to vegas to see that one…
Next fight should be against Cain in either 206 or 207 in my opinion. That’s going to be a good one. Stipe is taller that’s for sure
I can tell u have no clue about mma, but thats fine….did u forget about cain, dos santos, werdum, overeem, stipe, u pair any of those fights together u get fireworks, stick to soccer…..
Yeah I’m a Connor fan boy and you think the best soccer players are the strongest and fastest
Stacked division Wow man mark hunt and arlovski are top 8 and u telling me it’s stacked
Werdum is decent and stipe are the only thinking propping it up. Any other city tonight and they would of had to give away tickets piss off
also if you want to see knockouts…which is what most people want to see..well then thats the heavyweight division…
@everyone
I called this shit btw…….nailed it. Stipe is the real fucking deal has a head made of stone and hands of steel, you gotta make sure he is sleeping or he will come roaring back and kill u.
@Idemo
wtf u talking about, so what division is more stacked??? just because the heavyweights aren’t trying to be a bunch of fucking drama queens to sell fights like connor and diaz…..Have you looked at the top 10….do you watch mma or u just one of those connor fanboyzzz. Theres a reason its hard to keep the heavyweight belt….its a stacked division…
Nice one Stipe! Coincidentally I took over first place in the CS EPL fantasy pool today. Oh yeeeaaaaa!
in comparison to the rest of the UFC that division blows, heavy weight fights 9/10 times are the worst ones, this card was horrible from a non Croatian stance
two big slow guys feeling each other out for half the fight then being winded for the rest if that goes that way in comparison to the light high energy skilled dudes, Roy Nelson and Mark Hunt, get out of here probably the worst division.
The division has a lot of parity. Doesn’t make it blow.
But both Werdum and Miocic are definitely the top-2 heavyweight fighters out there. This win over Overeem solidified that gap.
Maybe Cain or dos Santos are up there with them, but those two seem to always be injured.
It would be cool to see Stipe fight one of those two before going against Werdum again.
it wont be werdum it’ll likely be valesquez.. the division doesnt blow
Werdum rematch more then likely…..the division blows and unfortunately stipe isn’t that big of a draw
Yeh he got humilated for that bullshit comment, did Overeem, rightly so
It was pretty funny when Joe Rogan decided to show the slow motion replay during the interview and asked Overeem where the tap was. Then he insisted on showing him again from a different angle, and asked him again where the tap was. That was pretty embarrassing for Overeem. LOL.
Rogan is awesome. You can tell that he’s a Miocic fan.
Yeah Rogan was making excuses after for cuntereem, saying he just got KOd so his memory was prolly fucked.. but yeah of course there was no tap, just complete bullshit comment
FUCK YOU OVEREEM YOU BITCH! YOU DIDNT FEEL A TAP BECAUSE THERE WASNT ONE
What tap????????
MAJSTOREEEEEEE
I never really like Werdum that much, but that was pretty cool when he called out to the Croatians in the crowd at the end of his fight and yelled out “Laku Noc”
Wow.
Stipe wasn’t joking when he said he was going to keep that belt for a while.
Even when Overeem caught him on that punch, and had him in a guillotine…Stipe got out and wrecked him. Most people would be done after that.
This fight wasn’t even close.
man that was humiliating for cuntreem, when Rogan went through the replay with him after and said where’s the tap? LOL.. fuck off overeem, what a wanker
wow Overeem crying about a tap hahaha what a whinging cunt
Stipe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
what a wild fight that was
great stuff Stipe !
STIPEEEEE!!!!
GROUND AND MOTHERFUCKING POUND!!!
JUST
LIKE
THAT!!!!!
FUCK YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
wow. Stipe dominating the shit out of cuntereem
wow Werdum began his fight with a flying side kick to Browne’s face.. got him too !
Heh, CM Punk got the biggest punking to ever punk anyone in punksville just there
link 8 seems to work best for me but it’s hard to get one that’s as smooth as my balls for sure
anyway, heaps of Hrvatska flags in the crowd ! great to see 😀
I got this link from Strinic, but it is clearly not a stream of UFC 203. I did not want to offend him because he has been really down this week.
http://www.google.com
The nightmare is over
Man there’s like 8 links at first row but hard to find any that arent as laggy as my ball sac is saggy
Stipe is the pride of the North American Hrvati!!!
Stipe good luck brother! I know people who are friends with Jt warsh the manager of alister…let’s shut them up!!
@Iggy
Thanks Iggy!! I will tell Strinic not to bother with the link as I already have one thanks to you!!
P.S. The odds were better of Pranjic getting me a link before Strinic anyhow, but I must digress.
The nightmare is over.
@Dannyj
“I actually think the strinic hate club gonna be bigger then pranjic”
It has nothing at all to do about hating, and everything to do about reality. Getting Strinic off the field is of the utmost importance right now because he cost us the game against Portugal, and he cost us the game against Turkey, and we just need to get him off the field. He cost us back to back games and we cannot afford to let him ruin another game for us to make it three in a row.
Strinic is our least talented player regardless of position and regardless if he is a starter or not. That statement is the truth and objective and has nothing at all to do about hatred.
The nightmare is over.
P.S. I still have not received a link to watch the Miocic fight tonight from Strinic. I know he will not come through, he never does, but I just wanted to update everyone and keep you posted.
As for a link, i always use FirstRow without issue for soccer, tennis, MMA, everything:
http://gofirstrow.eu/sport/boxing-wwe-ufc.html
@Livno316
“Decki….anyone have a live link to watch Miocic tonight? Unaprijed hvala!”
Still waiting for Strinic to get me a link! He never comes through but I just wanted to let you know.
The nightmare is over
Decki….anyone have a live link to watch Miocic tonight? Unaprijed hvala!
Miocic partying too much becuause he got married and went to a cavs game piss off?
Man is humble af still works as EMT. What he wasn’t supposed to get wasted a few times?
No way.
Strinic is crappy, but at least he’s a LB.
Pranjic has never played LB in his club career, yet somehow all of our coaches from Bilic to Kovac seemed to like playing him there.
He was the reason why we lost 4-1 at home to England. From there, he was just one massive handicap on the left side that every team we played, exposed. Even in our big wins against mediocre teams (like the 5-1 win against Norway) the other team’s goal came because of him. What’s worse than leaving that left side wide open, was the fact that he neutralized both Rakitic and Modric. They had to hold back on offense because of him.
Strinic is our weakest starter, so he will definitely get major flak…but Pranjic is legendary.
I actually think the strinic hate club gonna be bigger then pranjic
Inside Scoop:
Ivan Strinic showed up at one of Stipe’s training sessions earlier in the week.
After the session was over, Ivan was introduced to Stipe.
They exchanged pleasantries and then had a brief conversation..
Strinic – “Excuse me Stipe but may I ask you something?
Stipe – “Sure, go nuts.”
Strinic – “When you were sparing with that guy in the ring, why did you not let him hit you in the face more often, and let him take you to the ground more often?”
Stipe – “?????? – Sorry Ivan, I don’t know what you mean?”
Strinic – “I think you would win more fights if you let your opponent hit you more, it would make it that much easier to get an advantage over him.”
Stipe – Trying to be nice says.. “Oh, you think the object of the fight and the way I can win is to let the other guy hit me more than I hit him?”
Strinic – “LOL!!! Yes, of course that is what I am suggesting!” – “I thought you knew that as well!” – “You have been fighting so long and you don’t know this information?” – “Maybe now you will be able to defeat Overeem!”
Stipe – “Yeah, well thanks for that information Ivan, and good luck with football!”
Strinic – “Thank you, it was nice meeting you!”
Stipe – “Likewise!”
Ivan and Stipe shake hands and proceed to go their own way.
Stipe turns to his trainer and says point blank..
Stipe – “Strinic actually thought that the object of the fight was to let the opponent hit me more than I hit him, now I understand why he keeps screwing games up for us!” “Well, hopefully things work out for him in the long run.”
The nightmare is over
P.S. Good luck in the fight tonight Stipe! Don’t listen to what Strinic has to say, he does not understand the concept of one on one competition or team competition either. He believes one should assist and help the opponent as much as humanly possible. We had an intervention and Strinic went to counselling and nothing seems to work.
P.S.S. The nightmare is over.
Signed,
Reality 🙂
http://oi40.tinypic.com/plrmd.jpg
Overeem is a masssive cunt so i really hope Stipe wins !
HAET is that you??
Gonna be a tough fight but we all have been following him for a long time on this site… maybe he has been partying a bit but I think he has tasted success and still is working hard to keep it
If he was just a one hit wonder he wouldn’t keep his normal job… he can cash in and make enough to not have to work. I don’t believe he just continues to work for the publicity
I think its gonna be a hard fight but he will get it!!
french don’t know when Napoleon invaded egypt, HE was backed by a white country. the french think their “culture” can be magically transported to other races while they give their country to other races. that’s SICK.
media grabs on to any bullshit they can, don’t buy into it…..
Apparently Stipe is being called out for not being focused for this fight and attending too many parties and events.
Doesn’t sound like his character, but Overeem and the media interviewers all made references to it.
Well, I called this a long time ago when stipe was first in the ring, and I was right his destiny was to become heavyweight champ and he did. The reem is a steroid freak, great striker, but he is up there in age…Stipe 1st round KO, defends his belt in believeland.
STIPE ZDS!!!!!