It's not horse shit, he had over 100 fights and was fighting for at least 11 years before joining the UFC. He also had multiple knee and ankle injuries late in Pride and was having major leg problems around the second time he fought Hunt which is why he was wearing shoes. No one is in their prime after 100+ fights, 11+ years of competing at a high level in K-1, MMA and amateur boxing when they also have had a bunch of injuries.
OWGP Cro Cop was not the best Cro Cop, people always talk OWGP but they never mention who he actually fought. He fought an overly bulky Wanderlei that had lost his speed advantage over Cro Cop from their first fight cause he thought he was going to wind up fighting Big Nog or Barnett and bulked up a lot. Barnett who Cro Cop had already beaten twice other than those two Cro Cop didn't fight anyone that was a high level fighter in the OWGP. Cro Cop injured his ankle on Wanderlei's head as well in the OWGP.
"After his victory at the 2006 Openweight Grand Prix, a rematch between Cro Cop and Fedor Emelianenko failed to materialize and on 12 December 2006 Cro Cop pulled out of the New Year's Eve event, citing both a foot injury and Emelianenko's commitment to meet Mark Hunt at the card in question. Through his official website, Cro Cop revealed "I still can't kick like I want to. It's the best that we give more time to this injury to heal. I want to be in perfect shape for my next fights.""
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mirko_Cro_Cop
Normally when someone says a couple of months they mean like 2-3, 5 months is more than a couple of months.