How special was Mirko Cro Cop?

[Benoitthegr8]

Back in the day there was a contingent of Crocop fans that thought he was going to sprawl and brawl Fedor, that his striking would simply outmatch Fedor’s. It was a great fight, as a fan of both I was torn (same as Jiri vs Pereira), I just thought it would be an extremely technical all time great fight, how many of those do we get at HW…?

Anyway, aside from my rambling, the point I wanted to make was Imagine if Mirko won that one fight against Fedor, how that would’ve totally changed the way we see him. He was special enough that IMO had he won that one fight he would arguably be mentioned with the ATG HW’s similar to Overeem. A guy who had some bad loses, won in other Org’s, but didn’t perform as expected in the UFC. If Reem would have beaten Miocic for the HW title it would have elevated him tremendously, I think CC is in that same boat, missing that one title. In summation, if your career was one significant win away from being considered an ATG at your weight class, it means you had an extremely successful career. CC made it all the way to that life changing opportunity, he just didn’t get the breaks or underperformed and in the end walked away with the L. There’s not many other HW’s around that can say that they were one win from being an ATG, the only regret I have with CC was I wish he would’ve taken the change between the ring to cage more seriously. IMO he was still prime when he did his first stint in the UFC, he had entirely too much going on outside of fighting, I think he underprepared for those fights. Would of, could of, should of, didn’t, OC that’s now why we’re having this discussion about how good he was and or could’ve been.

 

[balkanbomber85]

Full disclosure, I was prepared to completely dismiss your diagnostic as another internet armchair psychologist dumb take... then you started talking about the repetition thing, and I remembered that old documentary on him, it was right maybe in 2003?

He was kinda chuckling while telling the story, but to me It just felt kinda weird, even as a gym rat...

Your diagnostic might not be that farfetched, doc

Mirko is my all-time favorite MMA fighter and I would never make up something like autism based on a few assumptions, but as I follow his career over so long certain indicators hit my attention over and over again. That's why I threw this theory on the table.

Also, when looking at his interviews, he always said he hates interviews and stupid question for most of his career and he was nearly never nice but always awkward when being interviewed, but then later he went on quite a few long interviews and podcasts. But for some time he would only allow one certain person to interview him for the biggest Croatian, and regional, Podcast. Although this person was not even part of the podcast team. Later he would accept one person more. They would also need to change the furniture in the studio because he was not comfortable with the couch they had. And then when being comfortable with the interviewer and the studio Mirko would go on and open up and would have hour and hour long interviews and would always repeat some paragraph he just said in a short summary, like a teacher would do, or from my perspective he did it more for himself than for the interviewer. So, those where just a few additional indicators...

BTW you mentioned the documentary, as much as I know and remember it was not his Dad but his uncle who said that about the bricks. His dad died during war time which was at the beginning of the 90s, way before Mirko got into professional fighting and also before his K1 career.

And thanks for the appreciation!

 

[warriorfan808]

All the Croatians that I know in Germany and the United States seem to know of him at the very least. His people seem to be very proud of his success and character as an individual. I think how you are remembered is important to those that are done with their careers and I think he can look back and be proud of his accomplishments.

 

[nonoob]

Easy answer, CroCop was special AF.

 

[Fight Professor]

CroCop’s style did not work in the UFC for a reason. PRIDE had a small ring where you can cut the opponent off while spamming the same move. Also, modern fighters typically circle when striking.

 

[Dickie Greenleaf]

CroCop’s style did not work in the UFC for a reason. PRIDE had a small ring where you can cut the opponent off while spamming the same move. Also, modern fighters typically circle when striking.

People seem to forget he had nearly 100 fights by the time he landed in the UFC. I think that played a bigger role in his mixed results in the UFC than being unprepared for the environment.

 

[Fight Professor]

People seem to forget he had nearly 100 fights by the time he landed in the UFC. I think that played a bigger role in his mixed results in the UFC than being unprepared for the environment.

CroCop had around 10 finish wins in a row after leaving UFC that included head kicks. And he had joined UFC not that long after winning the GP.

 

[Sean Ryan]

Very special.
One word, I think some posters need to learn is precedent.

 

[Dickie Greenleaf]

CroCop had around 10 finish wins in a row after leaving UFC that included head kicks. And he had joined UFC not that long after winning the GP.

So?

 

[Fight Professor]

So?

Rules and the competition matter. He was special in PRIDE but not in the UFC.

 

[Dickie Greenleaf]

Rules and the competition matter. He was special in PRIDE but not in the UFC.

Rules and competition matter but age and mileage don't matter...

 

[ComfortablyNumb55]

Think he retired on a 10 fight win streak?

GOAT level.

 

[Senzo Tanaka]

The first kickboxer to properly evolve to MMA fighter. It was awesome seeing him learn to sprawl and submit and then keep it on the feet. It was world class at the time to be that well rounded. He also had an aura to him.

The sport evolved past him but he’ll always be my #2 behind Fedor for what he brought to the sport. They are my Ryu and Ken.

 

[markg171]

You ever think that just maybe it's a lot harder to land a head kick in 2023 than it was 20 years ago?

 

[markg171]

Are we pretending that LHW and HW have greatly evolved during the last 15 years? Spoiler alert...they haven't. When a one-dimensional brawler like Derrick has spent the last 5+ years ranked in the top 10, often in the top 5, that should tell you all you need to know. The corpse of Andrei Arlovski picked up 2 wins in the UFC last year, ffs.

Massive 265lb Derrick Lewis just won another fight by flying knee KO and you're trying to tell me there haven't been any evolvements in HW.



Won't even respond to how retarded you have to be to have included LHW in there too when Jon Jones spans that period and is the GOAT LHW by far.

 

[michi972]

Are we pretending that LHW and HW have greatly evolved during the last 15 years? Spoiler alert...they haven't. When a one-dimensional brawler like Derrick has spent the last 5+ years ranked in the top 10, often in the top 5, that should tell you all you need to know. The corpse of Andrei Arlovski picked up 2 wins in the UFC last year, ffs.

I would say more heavyweights had grappling 15 years ago.

Mirko when he performed could beat anyone. He had off nights, short prime but still he did well at the aalte stage of the career.

He could cut to 205 and he would be even better but he chose to fight at hw

 

[michi972]

The first kickboxer to properly evolve to MMA fighter. It was awesome seeing him learn to sprawl and submit and then keep it on the feet. It was world class at the time to be that well rounded. He also had an aura to him.

The sport evolved past him but he’ll always be my #2 behind Fedor for what he brought to the sport. They are my Ryu and Ken.

I wouldn't say sport evolved past him (at least not at heavyweight). He had good grappling for heavyweight standards, especially as a striker. He knew how to defend takedowns, how to defend himself off his back. He had decent top game and ground and pound. That's way more than most UFC level heavyweights have

 

[Fox by the Sea]

he's a very important part of the hallowed beginnings of mma.
his name is high up on the pantheon of fighters we'll never forget.

 

[pamirec]

He was really special. Had an awesome career. Avenged at least three of his losses, retired on a 10 fight winning streak.

 

[Koro_11]

You ever think that just maybe it's a lot harder to land a head kick in 2023 than it was 20 years ago?

Why?

HW is weaker today than it was during Mirko’s reign of terror in Pride.

Cain was touted as the best UFC HW ever a few years back, and he got wrecked by Werdum who couldn’t crack the top 5 in Pride.

Ngannou vs a mid tier HW in Hunt would be a tossup fight.

Where is your evidence of this supposed HW evolution?