Mirko Filipović
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Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipović (born on September 10, 1974) is a Croatian kickboxer turned mixed martial artist. He is among the few martial artists who have been highly successful in fighting in both K-1 and Pride Fighting Championships.
Filipović is perhaps best-known for his left high-kicks, the most dangerous weapon in his arsenal; upon impact with the head, numerous opponents have been knocked out instantly. He is also a football player in a Croatian team Cibalia Vinkovci.[link] He currently lives in Zagreb with his wife and son.
Biography
Martial Arts career
Filipović started his professional career in 1996 as a kickboxer, following the footsteps of his compatriot Branko Cikatić. At the time, Filipović was working as a commando in the Croatian police anti-terrorist unit Alpha (stationed in Lučko near Zagreb), which earned him his nickname Cro Cop. He also fought several times early in his career under the nickname Tigar.(Croatian for tiger)
K-1
In 1996 at the age of 21 Filipović entered the K-1 Grand Prix elimination tournament. After defeating the previous year's finalist, Jerome Le Banner, Filipović was stopped in the next round by Ernesto Hoost. He returned to K-1 three years later in 1999, knocking out British fighter, Ricky "Tank" Nicholson, but subsequently dropping a decision against Swiss fighter, Xhavit Bajrami. Despite this, Filipović was given a wildcard into the world tournament where he shocked the kickboxing world by destroying highly regarded K-1 fighter Mike Bernardo in what many K-1 fans regard as one of the biggest upset victories in K-1 history. Filipović then went on to knock out Japanese star Musashi and Australian karate fighter Sam Greco on the same night before being stopped again by Hoost in the final—a major factor in that loss being a broken rib sustained through cumulative damage in the quarter-final and semi-final matches.
Filipović continued to have successes in K-1, winning a number of matches against such top ranked opponents as Peter Aerts, Mark Hunt and Remy Bonjasky. He was the first fighter to KO then-undefeated giant, "The Beast" Bob Sapp in 86 seconds. In 2000 he beat karate fighter Glaube Feitosa and boxer Hiromi Amada to reach the finals of the Nagoya Grand Prix, losing by first-round TKO to Mike Bernardo in a revenge match. Once again, previously acquired injuries was the major factor in this loss. Mirko actually entered the ring limping on one leg due to injuries sustained in previous bouts. Bernardo repeatedly attacked Mirko's damaged leg and rendered the Croatian unable to continue due to injuries. Mirko however gained tremendous respect among Japanese fight enthusiasts for his courage and heart. As a finalist he progressed to the final eight for the 2000 Grand Prix, but once again dropped a decision to his nemesis Hoost. In 2001 he was unexpectedly knocked out by Canadian fighter Michael McDonald in the first round. Shortly thereafter, he switched to Pride FC.
PRIDE FC
In 2001, Filipović began his switch to fighting in PRIDE, citing personal challenge, as well as dissatisfaction with K-1 salaries. A year later, he also left his job at the anti-terrorist unit in order to focus fully on his martial arts career. Since then, Filipović maintained a comparably low kickboxing profile, but nevertheless scored some impressive K-1 victories, most notably against Mark Hunt in March 2002 (unanimous decision), Remy Bonjasky in July 2002 (2nd round TKO), and Bob Sapp in April 2003 (1st round KO).
The Cro-cop's string of PRIDE wins secured him a chance to fight for the interim heavyweight champion title against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in November 2003. Filipović's stand-up fighting proved effective in the first round, controlling the fight from his feet. However, Nogueira prevailed in the second round after a successful takedown, forcing Filipović to submit to an armbar after being mounted. Filipović admitted to Bas Rutten in a later interview that he was overconfident against Nogueira.
In 2004, Filipović put his K-1 career on hold, and recruited Fabricio Werdum (a former world champion in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu) as his coach, working on improving his ground fighting skills. At the PRIDE GP heavyweight tournament in 2004, he was knocked out in an upset defeat by Kevin Randleman. Filipović made up for this loss by submitting Randleman in a rematch at the end of 2004.
Filipović repeatedly requested PRIDE to let him challenge the heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko. After winning six straight matches since his defeat by Randleman, including a knock-out victory against Aleksander Emelianenko (the 6'6", 275 lb brother of the champion), Filipović received a chance to fight Emelianenko for the title on August 28, 2005 at Pride's Final Conflict 2005 event. After three rounds, Emelianenko won by unanimous decision and retained his title. Emelianenko, considered by many to be the best MMA fighter the world has ever seen, admitted Mirko to be his toughest opponent to date. Mirko later said on Croatian national television that he came very exhausted to the match, mostly because he couldn't get used to the time difference in Japan and sleeping problems he had.
On October 23, 2005, less than two months after the loss to Emelianenko, Mirko stepped back into the ring to rematch open weight King of Pancrase Josh Barnett (at an event fittingly named 'Starting Over'). After three rounds, Filipović received a unanimous judges' decision victory.
On December 31, 2005, Filipović lost his match against Mark Hunt via split decision. It was clear Hunt was the more interested and more aggressive fighter, an important criterion in Pride judging. Quite unusually Mirko was wearing shoes for this fight, something that had no precedent. This had led to speculations and statements from his camp about Mirko having sustained injuries to his feet before the fight. Mirko himself has never confirmed these speculations. Also, Mirko had displayed considerable problems with his cardio during his fights with Emelianenko, Barnett and Hunt leading to the speculation that he was much too active and a resting period from the ring would work to his advantage.
Mirko has re-entered the Pride FC ring competing in PRIDE's 2006 Open Weight tournament on May 5, 2006. His first match at the Total Elimination Absolute event was against Ikuhisa Minowa, the lighter but highly acclaimed pro-wrestler and Mixed Martial Artist. Mirko won the fight with devastating punches and ground and pound resulting in a TKO victory in 1 minute 10 seconds of the 1st round. On July 1, 2006 at the Critical Countdown Absolute event Mirko defeated 1992 Olympic judo gold medalist Hidehiko Yoshida when the judoka verbally submitted after a series of brutal leg kicks left him unable to stand.
Mirko's record currently stands at 19-4-2 (Win/Loss/Draw), with 13 of his 19 victories coming by KO or TKO.
Political career
In November 2003, Filipović ran as a non-party candidate on the Social Democratic Party list in parliamentary elections and attained a seat in the Croatian Parliament. He focused on questions regarding the funding of the police force.See also
External links
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