Mirko Filipovic
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Kickboxing and K-1
After accumulating a rumored 40-5 amateur kickboxing record, Mirko Filipovic (born September 10, 1974) turned pro, entering the ring on March, 10, 1996 to compete in the K-1 World Grand Prix. Filipovic won his first fight beating highly regarded former tournament finalist, Jerome Le Banner. Mirko was later knocked out of the tournament by Ernesto Hoost.
Returning to the K-1 in 1999 Cro Cop relaunched his kickboxing career, which continued through 2003. His current kickboxing record stands at 16-7, and includes impressive wins over Mike Bernardo, "Musashi", Remy Bonjasky, and Mark Hunt.
| 23 matches | 16 wins | 7 losses |
| By knockout | 11 | 4 |
| By decision | 6 | 3 |
| Draws | 0 | |
Early MMA and PRIDE
Mirko Cro Cop made his Mixed Martial Arts debut at K-1's Andy Hug Memorial show, held on August 19, 2001. The result was a TKO victory over Japanese star Kazuyuki Fujita. After five more MMA matches, three on PRIDE and two in Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye, which included another win over Fujita, as well as a draw with Wanderlei Silva, Mirko signed an exclusive deal with PRIDE Fighting Championships.
Subsequent PRIDE wins over the legendary Kazushi Sakuraba, [[Heath Herring ]], and a stunning head kick KO on Igor Vovchanchyn, lead to a record of seven wins with no losses, and a fight with Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, for the promotion's Interim Heavyweight Championship. The title bout would be Cro Cop's first loss.
After rebounding with two TKO wins, Filipovic was granted another high-profile match - a clash with wrestling sensation Kevin Randleman. Another big-time brawl, another big loss, this one coming by way of knockout. Mirko would come back once more with a decision against Hiromitsu Kanehara, and the TKO of Shungo Oyama.
Once more Cro Cop was in the spotlight, now battling the top ten ranked Aleksander Emelianenko. Their stand up war came to a quick close when Filipovic landed with one of his trademark left head kicks. That memorable kick not only won the match for Cro Cop, but also caused the only KO loss on Aleksander's record to date.
The victory over Aleks was the first in a series of impressive victories. Mirko Filipovic's next three matches were all against top-level opponents, Josh Barnett, Kevin Randleman, again, and Randleman's teammate Mark Coleman. Cro Cop stopped each foe, injuring Barnett, submitting Randleman with a Guillotine Choke, and scoring a decisive knockout against Coleman.
Riding a seven-fight win streak, the time had come for Mirko Cro Cop to face the Last Emperor, Fedor Emelianenko. For a second time Filipovic's PRIDE title aspirations were dashed, when he lost a unanimous decision to Fedor. Undeterred, Mirko returned to the ring less than two months after his loss to Emelianenko, beating Josh Barnett again. His next foe, Mark Hunt, over whom he had achieved a kickboxing win, proved to be too much for Mirko in the MMA arena, and Hunt walked away with a split decision victory.
The Open Weight GP
In the first round of PRIDE's Open Weight Grand Prix, Mirko handily dispatched Ikuhisa Minowa, and Cro Cop advanced to the second round of the tourney for a fight against 1992 Olympic Judo gold medalist Hidehiko Yoshida. The now-famous match featured leg kicks so devastating that Yoshida had to verbally submit, no longer able to stand.
The semi-final match pit Mirko against Josh Barnett for a third time, resulting in a third-straight Cro Cop win over "The Babyface Assassin". Held later the same evening, he finals paired Filipovic with Wanderlei Silva, the two PRIDE Icons standing in the ring together for the first time since their 2002 draw. At 5:26 into the bout Mirko landed with a scintillating head kick, and Wanderlei landed on the floor. With that KO Filipovic became PRIDE's Open Weight Grand Prix Champion. Fittingly, the event was held on Mirko's birthday.
UFC and Dream
With his PRIDE contract at an end and the UFC putting forth a good offer, Cro Cop headed to the Ultimate Fighting Championship, and his U.S. debut. In a lopsided bout with over-matched slugger Eddie Sanchez, Filipovic succeeded in winning his first Octagon appearance, doing so with a TKO.
Ironically for the high-kicking Croatian, it was Gabriel Gonzaga who had his hand raised after a head kick floored Filipovic during their UFC 70 showdown. Cro Cop's next fight found him on the losing side of a decision, dropping that match to Cheick Kongo. After the bout with Kongo, Filipovic released a statement in which he said that he had cracked a rib during the contest, and also should have taken more time to recover from two illegal blows to his groin.
Mirko has not fought in the United States since, instead working with Japan's Dream promotion. At Dream.1, the organization's first event, Filipovic scored a TKO against Tatsuya Mizuno, in a mere 0:56. Cro Cop's next opponent was Alistair Overeem. Unfortunately, that affair ended badly, with Filipovic's groin sustaining more punishment, the match was ruled a No Contest.
Though such a bout has not yet been scheduled, both Mirko and Alistair's camps have expressed interest in a rematch. Overeem has even gone so far as to imply that Cro Cop was faking the testicular trauma.
Mixed martial arts record
23-6-2-1 (NC)
| 31 matches | 23 wins | 6 losses |
| By knockout | 16 | 2 |
| By submission | 4 | 1 |
| By decision | 3 | 3 |
| Draws | 2 | |
One No Contest was due to repeated groin strikes.
Gallery
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