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Remembering Mirko Cro Cop: The Pride Legend Will Never Fade - Bloody Elbow

Remembering Mirko Cro Cop: The Pride Legend Will Never Fade

by JonathanSnowden on Sep 24, 2010


When you love something, sometimes it's easier to live in the past. You can convince yourself that way that Weezer is still the band that made Pinkerton. That your girlfriend still has that sparkle in her eyes, still laughs at your jokes. You can convince yourself that Derek Jeter is still relevant. And you can still believe that Mirko Cro Cop is a dangerous fighter.

Mirko "Cro Cop" Filopovic once struck fear into the hearts of men. I know that is hard to believe. The guy that could barely finish a crippled Pat Barry? The same timid striker who looked ordinary against the Anthony Perosh's of the world? But it's easy to forget those performances. Four years of less than stellar performances, easily erased by the flashbulb intensity of memory.

Because it's the great moments we'll remember. It's easy to forget Cro Cop looking confused against Eddie Sanchez, searching for a fighter within himself that was no longer there. But forgetting the mighty Igor Vovchancin hitting the mat like a stubby little oak tree, eyes closed to the world, memories of dancing girls and vodka floating through his mind? That's a little harder. It's those moments that sustain us. They allow us, as fans, to tolerate a main event of Frank Mir and Mirko Cro Cop.


5. Cro Cop didn't just enter a state needing to register himself as a deadly weapon. He needed to register two - his left and right leg. It was a tagline for the ages: Right leg, hospital. Left leg, cemetery. It was never more true than in his fight with Aleksander Emelianenko. Watch the speed, ferocity, and killer instinct on display here. Then tell me you didn't shudder, just a little.


4. The new and friendly Mirko Cro Cop, the vulnerable one that talks of retirement and probably watches reruns of Golden Girls on Oxygen - banish him from your mind. I prefer to recall this man. The man who looked the devil in the eye and never once blinked. The first fight between Cro Cop and Wanderlei Silva was a dream match. Cro Cop was representing K-1 and this was his first real fight for Pride (he had toyed around with Nobuhiko Takada at Pride 17). Silva was the fan favorite, the MMA wrecking ball who never took a backwards step. Fought under modified rules, the fight ended in a five round draw.


3. In the rematch, Silva wasn't so fortunate. This time around Cro Cop landed his devestating left high kick and left the Pride legend unconcious on the mat. This was once again the tale of two opposites. Polar opposites. Cro Cop was ice - a calm demeanor married to precision technical striking. Silva was fire. Jacked to the gills and actually heavier than Cro Cop for this fight, Wanderlei was like a rabid pitbull. What he lacked in technique he more than made up for with furious, furious rage. A great contrast and a great fight.


2. Even Mirko Cro Cop's losses are emblazened in our brains. Yes, Kevin Randleman was a former UFC Heavyweight Champion. Yes, he was a two time NCAA wrestling champion. Yes, he had legs to die for (if you were John Peretti) and a physique second to none. But Kevin Randleman wasn't supposed to beat Cro Cop in 2004. Funny how the ring makes the impossible, well, possible. A left hook sent Cro Cop realing and MMA had an all-time great upset.


1. For years Cro Cop had been an also ran. He never won a K-1 World Grand Prix. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Fedor Emelianenko had crushed his dream of being Pride champion twice. Would he go down in history as the best heavyweight never to wear gold? Like all the greats, Cro Cop took his destiny into his own hands. On the same night he beat Silva, his birthday no less, the Croatian legend defeated Josh Barnett to become the Pride Absolute Grand Prix champion. The stoic champion was unable to control his emotion. With tears in his eyes, he had the Grand Prix title belt strapped around his waist. Champion at last.

This is the Cro Cop we remember. And, if only for a moment, the Cro Cop we will see in the cage at UFC 119. Will it be another moment for the ages? Or an inglorious loss to be painstakingly scrubbed from memory? We'll soon know as Cro Cop writes on of the final chapters of his story inside the cage in Indianapolis.

[Pasha K]

Its not that I think Mirko will be the same of Pride or that he will KO Frank with a LHK, its just that I am a big fan of him and no matter how he fights I will support him.

I know that he is not the Mirko of Pride and will never ever be, but I am a fan of him and I will continue to be even if Frank beats the crap out of him tomorrow.

I dont live in the past, I know very well that he has not looked good since the Barnett fight (he didnt look bad against Sanchez and Perosh, but who are them?), but that does not mean that I will be a fucking bandwagon jumper like many idiots that one day support a fighter because he won and the next day hate him because he lost.

If you are a true fan, you will support the fighter in good and bad moments.

Being said that..WAR MIRKO CROCOP!!!

[Chute_Boxe44]

Originally Posted by Pashak

Its not that I think Mirko will be the same of Pride or that he will KO Frank with a LHK, its just that I am a big fan of him and no matter how he fights I will support him.

I know that he is not the Mirko of Pride and will never ever be, but I am a fan of him and I will continue to be even if Frank beats the crap out of him tomorrow.

I dont live in the past, I know very well that he has not looked good since the Barnett fight (he didnt look bad against Sanchez and Perosh, but who are them?), but that does not mean that I will be a fucking bandwagon jumper like many idiots that one day support a fighter because he won and the next day hate him because he lost.

If you are a true fan, you will support the fighter in good and bad moments.

Being said that..WAR MIRKO CROCOP!!!

I think someone needs a hug

[Pasha K]

Well if you want to hug me its OK, but I prefer to be hugged by some hot chick.

[claycollett3]

like Liddell, even if past his prime, they're still the epitome of a badass!!!!

[WileyThaOne]

Originally Posted by Pashak

Its not that I think Mirko will be the same of Pride or that he will KO Frank with a LHK, its just that I am a big fan of him and no matter how he fights I will support him.

I know that he is not the Mirko of Pride and will never ever be, but I am a fan of him and I will continue to be even if Frank beats the crap out of him tomorrow.

I dont live in the past, I know very well that he has not looked good since the Barnett fight (he didnt look bad against Sanchez and Perosh, but who are them?), but that does not mean that I will be a fucking bandwagon jumper like many idiots that one day support a fighter because he won and the next day hate him because he lost.

If you are a true fan, you will support the fighter in good and bad moments.

Being said that..WAR MIRKO CROCOP!!!

agreed.. thats how i am with sherk ive always been his fan. i am also a big cro cop fan and am pulling for him even though i having a feeling he may lose..

[sonofsteven]

Originally Posted by WileyThaOne

agreed.. thats how i am with sherk ive always been his fan. i am also a big cro cop fan and am pulling for him even though i having a feeling he may lose..

And I with Wanderlei. I don't give a fuck that Rampage got him last time, Wandy still has best out of three! Not to mention two of the greatest ko's ever! EVA!