Mirko Filipović
| Mirko Filipović | |
|---|---|
 Mirko Filipović 2014 |
|
| Data | |
| Fight name | Cro cop |
| size | 188 cm |
| Weight | 110 kg |
| nationality | Croatian |
| Date of birth | September 10, 1974 |
| Fight out | Vinkovci , Croatia |
| place of birth | Vinkovci, Croatia |
| team | Team Cro Cop |
| Fighting style | Kickboxing |
| MMA statistics | |
| Victories | 36 |
| Knockout | 27 |
| task | 4th |
| Points | 3 |
| Other | 0 |
| Defeats | 11 |
| Knockout | 4th |
| task | 2 |
| Points | 3 |
| Other | 0 |
| draw | 2 |
Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipović (born September 10, 1974 in Vinkovci ) is a Croatian MMA and K-1 fighter who won the Pride FC "Open Weight" Grand Prix on September 10, 2006 and won the Grand Prix on September 30, 2006. December 2016 Rizin became Openweight Grand Prix Champion.
Filipović is one of the few martial artists who has fought successful and spectacular fights in both K-1 and MMA. Before his martial arts career, he worked for the Croatian police and until 2002 for the anti-terrorist unit Lučko , hence his nickname "Cro Cop". He lives in Zagreb with his wife and son .
In 2005 he took on the lead role in the action film Ultimate Force . It remained his only activity as an actor so far.
Kickboxing career
Filipović started his professional career in 1996 as a kickboxer, following in the footsteps of his compatriot Branko Cikatić . Before he turned pro, he had a match record of 40-5 (31 KO wins ) as an amateur . During this time he worked as a police officer in the Croatian anti-terrorist unit ATJ Lučko , which gave him his nickname "Cro Cop" (short for "Croatian Cop"). In his earlier career he fought under the nickname "Tigar" (Croatian for tiger). The song that is played before Filipović enters the ring is Wild Boys by Duran Duran .
Professional career
K-1
Cro Cops K-1 career began successfully on March 10, 1996 against the up-and-coming Jérôme Le Banner , whom he was able to defeat on points. This was followed by three fights - within four years - against today's K-1 legend and K-1 record champion Ernesto Hoost (together with Semmy Schilt), but all of which Cro Cop lost; two of them by knockout in the third round. He had to accept all of these defeats in the K-1 World Grand Prix Final tournament, which he was able to achieve three times in his K-1 career.
Nevertheless, Filipović was able to develop a good reputation, so from March 10, 1996 to March 30, 2003 he defeated well-known and very successful K-1 athletes such as Mike Bernardo, the three-time World Grand Prix Champion Peter Aerts , who in 1994 , 1995 and 1998 won the tournament, the 2001 K-1 World Grand Prix Champion Mark Hunt or later also the three-time K-1 World Grand Prix Champion Remy Bonjasky (2003, 2004 and 2008) he was able to beat; He fought his last K-1 fight against Bob Sapp , whom he was able to defeat with a spectacular knockout: Cro Cop knocked him out after 86 seconds with a left punch, Bob Sapp's eye socket was even broken by this blow.
He suffered one of his most sensitive defeats on June 16, 2001 against Michael McDonald, who surprisingly knocked out Filipović in the first round.
His K-1 balance:
31 fights; 23 wins (12 (T) KOs) are compared to 8 defeats (4 (T) KOs).
Pride FC
Filipović scored a few victories against top opponents in his mixed martial arts career, but was never able to achieve a doctorate. His style was characterized by a strong defense against throwing techniques and a focus on kickboxing while standing.
Filipović made his MMA debut in Pride 2001 against Kazuyuki Fujita. The bout had a special rule that said that if neither of the two fighters could not finish the bout after three rounds by knockout, the bout was considered a tie. Neither could defeat the other. The next fight had "Cro Cop" against the middleweight champion Wanderlei Silva at the time . The fight had the same rules as the Nakada fight and also ended in a draw.
After a number of other important and spectacular victories, he got the chance to win the Pride FC Heavyweight Interim Title against Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira on November 9, 2003. Filipović tried to fight the fight while standing, which he did well in the first round. In the second round, Nogueira was able to bring the fight to the ground. He performed an arm lever , which he defeated Filipović by giving up.
Filipović then began to take part in the Pride Grand Prix tournaments. In the first fight he was surprisingly knocked out by Kevin "The Monster" Randleman . In 2004 Filipović got the chance for a rematch, which he also took advantage of.
Filipović has long pushed Pride to fight Heavyweight Champion Fedor Emelianenko . After winning seven fights in a row (including knockout against Fedor's brother Aleksander), he got the fight on August 28, 2005. After three tough rounds with a fierce exchange of blows, Fedor Emelianenko won after a unanimous referee decision. The fight is still considered one of the best in MMA history today.
On September 10, 2006 Mirko Filipović was able to defeat Josh Barnett in the final of the Pride Open Weight Grand Prix at Pride Final Conflict Absolute via abandonment. He previously defeated Wanderlei Silva , Hidehiko Yoshida and Ikuhisa Minowa . Winning the Pride Open Weight Grand Prix was the greatest achievement in Filipović's martial arts career to date.
UFC
In January 2007 "Cro Cop" was signed to the UFC (6 fights, 2 years). He made a successful debut in the UFC, knocking out Eddie Sanchez in the first round . He was received with great expectations by the UFC and should already have a title shot after beating Gabriel Gonzaga . Surprisingly, however, he lost the fight against Gonzaga by a hard knockout with a high kick. He lost the following fight against Cheick Kongo on points.
DREAM
After only three fights he switched to the newly founded MMA organization Dream, because he no longer wanted to wait for a fight date and he preferred fighting in the ring to the cage. On March 15th, Cro Cop won against Mizuno by a knockout after 56 seconds (DREAM 1). His next fight was against the Dutch star Alistair Overeem . However, after two knee hits by Overeem in Filipović's genital area, the fight was declared a "No Contest", meaning that there was no result for this fight. Then Filipović defeated the 30 cm taller Hong Man Choi from Korea.
Return to the UFC
After three bouts at DREAM, he returned to the UFC to complete the remaining bouts of his contract. On June 13th, 2009 he competed against Mustapha al Turk in Cologne at the first UFC event in Germany and won in the first round (03:06 min.) By TKO (punches) after al Turk, unnoticed by the referee, won a finger got in the eye. He lost his next fight against Junior dos Santos after giving up verbally. Dos Santos hit Filipović in the head with one knee in the clinch, causing him to have blood in one eye and could not see enough to continue the fight.
Announced end of career and resumption of fighting
After his loss to Junior dos Santos at UFC 103, Mirko Filipović announced his retirement from active martial arts. Filipović cited his physical condition due to his age and low motivation as reasons. In an interview with a Croatian news program, however, he revoked his resignation. He said that if his physical condition allowed, he would love to have his last two bouts in the UFC. His wish would be a final fight in Japan under K-1 rules.
After his last defeat, he changed his training and trained with the former Muay Thai world champion Ivan Hippolyte outside of Croatia. His next fight was scheduled for February 21, 2010, at UFC 110, against Ben Rothwell. Since Ben Rothwell fell ill shortly before the fight, he was replaced by Anthony Perosh, who had prepared with CroCop's former sparring partner, Igor Pokrajac. CroCop cut Perosh over the eye in the second round, but despite the badly bleeding injury, Perosh decided to keep fighting. The ring doctors interrupted the fight during the break and consequently Filipović won by technical knockout. His next fight, at UFC 115 on June 13, 2010, he won against Patrick Barry by giving up.
On September 25, Mirko Filipović competed in the main event of UFC 119 against Frank Mir and lost by knockout in the third round. On March 19, 2011 Filipović took part in UFC 128 against Roy Nelson and was defeated by a knockout. After the two defeats, he announced his final career end in March 2011.
In 2012 he made his comeback. In November 2015, he canceled a fight against Anthony Hamilton and announced his retirement due to a shoulder injury. Just one day later, however, the UFC announced that he had been suspended for a doping offense . Filipović then published a statement that he had been injected with growth hormone in blood plasma.
Match record
successes
Kickboxing
- IKBF full contact heavyweight world champion
- K-1 World Grand Prix 1999 FINAL in Tokyo (December 5, 1999) - Finalist, loss to Ernesto Hoost by knockout in round 3.
- K-1 World Grand Prix 2000 FINAL in Fukuoka (October 9, 2000) - Finalist, victory against Mike Bernardo by TKO in the 1st round
- K-1 World Grand Prix 2012 FINAL in Zagreb (March 15, 2013) - Champion, victory against Ismael Londt on points.
Mixed martial arts
- Pride Final Conflict Absolute - Finalist
- Pride Open Weight Grand Prix 2006 - Winner
- Rizin Open Weight Grand Prix 2016 - Winner
Political activities
In 2003 he won a seat in the Croatian parliament as a candidate on the SDP list , where he particularly campaigned for better equipment for the police. With the end of the legislative period in 2007 he ended his political activities.
Web links
- Official homepage of Mirko Filipovic
- K-1 & MMA match record by Mirko Filipovic
- Mirko Filipović in the database of Sherdog (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Sun: End of career of the CRO COP , September 22, 2009 (English)
- ↑ CroCop Training hard , January 5, 2010 (English)
- ^ UFC 110 Fight Card , February 15, 2010
- ↑ MMA Fanhouse Fight Recap , February 20, 2010 (English)
- ↑ a b Mirko Filipović in the Sherdog database (English)
- ↑ Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye features four MMA fights, Cro-Cop vs. Suzukawa headlines adcombat.com December 30, 2012 ( Memento of the original from June 26, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Mirko Cro Cop suspended - positive doping test? gnp1.de November 12, 2015
- ↑ Mirko Cro Cop declares positive doping test gnp1.de November 13, 2015
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Filipović, Mirko |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Filipović, Cro Cop (nickname) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Croatian mixed martial arts fighter |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 10, 1974 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Vinkovci , Croatia |