Apparently CroCop Suffered a Broken Rib in the first round.
[quote]EmperialChina wrote:
Apparently CroCop Suffered a Broken Rib in the first round.
http://www.yardbarker.com/mma/articles/Mirko_Cro_Cop_suffered_a_broken_rib_in_UFC_loss/26487[/quote]
That actually makes sense. In first round Cro Cop was like his usual self…advancing,“stalking his prey” style. Kongo was constantly backing up. He was never the same after first round,even before the knees to the groin. He was already breathing out of his mouth in second round. Oh well. Rematch maybe???
So his ribs were broken. For most, that’d be a viable excuse, but I used up all my willingness to make up excuses for Mirko when he lost to Gonzaga.
He’s a champion, he was meant to deliver, even through such a setback. I’m unfortunately with that other poster who said that the result of the match decreased my enthusiasm for Bisping vs. Hammil and Henderson vs. Jackson.
[quote]RagingBull wrote:
So his ribs were broken. For most, that’d be a viable excuse, but I used up all my willingness to make up excuses for Mirko when he lost to Gonzaga.
He’s a champion, he was meant to deliver, even through such a setback. I’m unfortunately with that other poster who said that the result of the match decreased my enthusiasm for Bisping vs. Hammil and Henderson vs. Jackson.[/quote]
I have to say it kinda lowered my excitement for the rest of the card also.
Well, he beat a lot of fighters who are considered quite aggressive and dangerous: Kevin Randleman, Josh Barnett, Wanderlei Silva, to name a few. And in his last fights against these three, he was dominating them almost easily. (Although earlier he was was beaten badly by Randleman.)
Because he can be so dominating against strong opponents, it is so supprising he also can get badly defeated by relative unknowns.
[quote]CaliforniaLaw wrote:
“Interesting” thread. What I find interesting is that so many say, “Cro Cop is great!” without saying, well, what makes a fighter great. Sure, Cro Cop has won a lot of fights; but has he beaten a great fighter? If so, why was the fighter he beat great?
Sure, winning matters, as no one can be a great fighter if he has a losing record. (He can be a good fighter, but not great.) But if you are beating weak fighters, are you great?
If you can’t articulate what makes a fighter great, then you’re really no more educated on the subject than the guy who rarely watches MMA matches. All you can really say is, “I watch a lot of TV. Cro Cop wins when I watch him on TV.”
That does not make for a compelling argument.[/quote]
Yeah, a broken rib, a few kicks to the groin - pshaw!
Anywho, thanx to all the armchair psychologists and wanna-be mma champs and their collective two cents.
I really like Filipovic, but what’s going on with the constant speculation over his retirement?
I think he’s probably fuelling it himself by constantly saying he’ll do this and that and then retire, so I’m really unsure what the current situation is.
[quote]Hoffa wrote:
CaliforniaLaw wrote:
“Interesting” thread. What I find interesting is that so many say, “Cro Cop is great!” without saying, well, what makes a fighter great. Sure, Cro Cop has won a lot of fights; but has he beaten a great fighter? If so, why was the fighter he beat great?
Sure, winning matters, as no one can be a great fighter if he has a losing record. (He can be a good fighter, but not great.) But if you are beating weak fighters, are you great?
If you can’t articulate what makes a fighter great, then you’re really no more educated on the subject than the guy who rarely watches MMA matches. All you can really say is, “I watch a lot of TV. Cro Cop wins when I watch him on TV.”
That does not make for a compelling argument.
[/quote]
Cro cop gained his reputation by consistently being at the top of the game. And he did this by fighting against champions (like Silva) and others. The way he fights - stocking, looking for opportunities and using precision execution - revealed someone that was in control, usually. He got beat, occasionally.
Perhaps his reputation is partly earned by his style in the ring - no nonsense, no show boating, and humble in victory. Also, as I mentioned, he usually won decisively, using his trademark high kick, which of course makes for better theatre than someone who G & Ps or uses submission.
There are two fights in which he looked questionable for appearing to have chosen a wrong strategy. The first against Mark Hunt, in which he seemed to be trying to frustrate Hunts lack of agility by staying constantly out of reach and not “bringing the fight”. Unfortunately, it backfired as he appeared to be running away. And his first UFC fight, he did not train intelligently and got beaten against the fence.
The only reason people are questioning him is because of his first UFC fight. And you cant separate that from a UFC vs Pride context - ie, people saying that UFC was better than Pride, as if Cro cops loss proved that. Truth is, anyone can get knocked out by a high kick to the head, Hollywood action heros aside. And bouts can be stopped by the referee because of low blows. And those that break bones (their own) in the ring usually suffer diminished returns for their efforts (go figure).
But I guess if own points out these obvious observations they are automatically “making excuses”.
[quote]Nikiforos wrote:
I really like Filipovic, but what’s going on with the constant speculation over his retirement?
I think he’s probably fuelling it himself by constantly saying he’ll do this and that and then retire, so I’m really unsure what the current situation is.[/quote]
I recall he stated explicitly that he would honour his contract with UFC (1 fight to go) and then retire so he can concentrate on his career in the Croatian anti-terrorist unit.
[quote]Higher Game wrote:
Crocop fought in Japan’s Pride organization for years, and there are no laws or rules about steroids there. I suspect his natural T production has been ruined, as seen in his complete lack of aggression.
He might have a little bit of brain damage after over 50 fights and over a decade of training, too. His ring age is simply far beyond his natural age, but luckily, MMA requires so many skills, it will hopefully force damaged fighters to retire much earlier than in boxing, where you have your Alis and Quarrys.
He was a kickboxer before he did MMA, and has (er, had…) a very aggressive style, so I’m surprised he didn’t start slowing down much earlier in his career. Overall, the fact that he was a top 3 fighter just a single year ago points at the fact that he’s fighting in an organization that tests for drugs now. Besides aggression, he has lost a lot of muscle as well…
He will be a legend forever (like the 80’s Tyson), but today, Crocop is like the late career of Iron Mike: a shadow. The old Crocop will be sorely missed. The current Crocop deserves our upmost respect no matter how bad he does; the man has had an incredible life and I would definitely say he’s a role model for the T men out there.[/quote]
That is a very interesting take on things.
I think he was never a very aggressive fighter under mma rules relative to his k-1 days. He uses only part of his striking arsenal under mma rules.
I was hoping that he would come out against Kongo letting his hands and feet go. I thought training with Remy and having to face a fellow striker he would strike like he did in K-1. Of course years of fighting and training to stop takedowns and throwing left hand and foot counters against orthodox fighters would be hard to shake off under one training camp. So he was just doing what he had trained years to do.
It is sometimes just strange. He could have used a jab. Doubling up and then stepping off to his right. Hooking off his jab at times when stepping off. Then throw his left kick. And repeat. What he did do was not initiate his offense and he stepped to his left into Kongo’s kicks.
Compare that to when Mirko fought Mark Hunt in K-1 when he kept stepping off to his right and circling away from Hunt’s power. Mirko can do these things. He just hasn’t done them. It doesn’t take aggressiveness or steroids or muscle mass to execute those striking basics. So I just scratch my head in disbelief. It is easy to criticize though. He has his reasons for doing what he does, and it can extremely difficult to change one’s habits. Under pressure people revert to what they have doing for years. He can knock nearly anybody out if he connects, so I am sure he has that in his head. I hope he wins his next fight and gets back on track.
[quote]Scotacus wrote:
Nikiforos wrote:
I really like Filipovic, but what’s going on with the constant speculation over his retirement?
I think he’s probably fuelling it himself by constantly saying he’ll do this and that and then retire, so I’m really unsure what the current situation is.
I recall he stated explicitly that he would honour his contract with UFC (1 fight to go) and then retire so he can concentrate on his career in the Croatian anti-terrorist unit.[/quote]
Fair enough. He also said that if he hadn’t won the Pride GP he would have retired. He seems to mention retirement frequently. Just a few months ago he was talking about winning the UFC belt, then going back to Pride to fight Fedor and then retiring.
I guess we’ll see how much truth there is to all that after his next fight. Which brings up the other salient question, which opponent might he be facing next?
I’d like to see a rematch with Gonzaga.
There’s nothing else that would shore up his confidence more than beating the man who KO’d him two fights ago.
Gonzaga would jump at the chance, he didn’t look great against Randy a few weeks ago.
That guy who jumps into the air with the flying knee move is a pretty deadly looking fighter. Gilbert Yvel
From: http://www.sherdog.net/forums/showthread.php?threadid=641034
Mirko’s ex coach interview, 14th September 2007
Link: Bivši Mirkov trener: Bio je izvanredno spreman, ali za neki drugi sport - Index.hr
The translation:
The storm is still not over from Mirko’s second in a row defeat, which was also the most delicate one. Last day many stories were written about Cro Cops questionable professional future, and Marijan Zizanovic, one of the pioneers of Thai box in Europe and Mirko’s trainer from end of 1990’s, gave his expert comment.
At that time Mirko was on a roll, making fighters like Mike Bernardo, Musashi, Fujita and Aerts fall down. Today, the story is a little different. Although many people saw the appearance of Remy Bonjasky, Gilbert Yvel and Ivan Hippolyte as the return of stand up fighting, where Mirko used to be dominant, the results were shocking.
"Believe me, before the match I was assuring my friends that Mirko will finish the fight in the first round. Mladen Brestovac, a fighter I trained for 4 years, fought Kongo in K-1 and lost 2:1, which was a complete robbery. I remember 2000 spectators protesting.
Brestovac destroyed Kongo in that match, and you can’t compare Brestovac and Filipovic. I was expecting an easy and quick Mirko’s victory. However, obviously some things in Cro Cop Team are not done the way they are supposed to be. First of all, I want to emphasize I deeply respect Mirko. He is undoubtly a talent and a hard worker, a worker you rarely meet at all and not just in martial arts.
There are several reasons for what’s happening to him, in my opinion. First one is that he changes coaches too often. That’s my subjective impression. I’ve been in combat sport for a long time, and I know how important continuity is.
Second, I seems to me that Mirko himself is not really sure what he wants to put emphasis on, the ground fighting or the striking aspect of MMA. Mirko is an exceptional striker, and I believe his trainings should focus on that aspect.", Mirko’s ex coach says.
The objections don’t end here. Zizanovic claims that a lot of mistakes were made during preparations, that too much emphasis was put on the development of so called apsolute strength.
"If you work on apsolute strength, disregarding explosive strength, condition or flexibility, you wan’t get a good fighter.
In martial arts the most important thing is the balance between condition, flexibility and explosive power. Besides that, it’s visible that Mirko lost some of his striking technique, and technique is the basis of each sport. I read somewhere that the Kostelic family [Croatia’s skiers, winners of several Olympic medals], in their prime, every year before the beginning of the season, hired a coach to work on polishing of technique that got lost during the season.
It’s the same in martial arts. Unfortunately, Mirko today, as far as his striking is concerned, is a mere shadow of what he used to be while fighting in K-1.", Zizanovic honestly says.
Psychology of training has an impact, too.
"Mirko has quite a big number of all kind of experts, doctors, professors etc. in his team today. It’s all nice on paper, however coaches prove themselves in the gym. With all due respect to education and titles, coaches are coaches because they make fighters and not because they have a title like dr. in front of their name.
I think Mirko should have one coach, and that one should be a striking coach, since Mirko is, first of all, a striker like few in the world. Of course, additional trainers are needed, there are no results without a team, but one has to be in charge. It seems to me that each of those experts in Cro Cop Team does his own job without much thought on what the other ones are doing. There are too many of them, and they are not coordinated.
Which leads us to another problem, and that’s a lack of classical relationship between a coach and a fighter which has to be full of confidence and respect. I don’t want to promote myself, but it’s a fact that I was an authority to Mirko. I respected him as a fighter, and he respected me as a coach.
Today, surrounded with a huge number of experts and those who are not experts, Mirko not only doesn’t have a coach he considers an authority, it’s actually exactly the opposite - he is an authority to people that should prepare him for fights! That’s an unnatural environment in which there can be no progress. Drogba [football player], no matter how good he is, will sit on the bench if Mourihno [his coach] says so!"
In his detailed analysis, he also mentions claims of fear in Mirko’s head after the brutal defeat from Gonzaga. "There is not a single fighter that doesn’t rewind a KO, knockdown or something similar in his head. Mirko is too experienced to be seriously distracted in Kongo fight by memories of a KO from the Gonzaga fight. A man of Mirko’s intelligence, and he is an extremely intelligent guy, can put 2 and 2 together, rationally analyze the fight with Gonzaga and draw conclusions on the factors that led to the defeat.
No, I don’t think something like that played a role in the Kongo fight. People that enter the ring or octagon are not afraid. There is tension, but it’s not paralyzing. I’ll repeat, I think it’s a matter of inadequate physical preparation.
From what I can hear, Mirko was in excellent shape. It might me true that he was ready - ready for some other sport. But not for MMA. And since psychological condition is in correlation with physical condition… well, draw your own conclusion."
Mirko mentioned retiring even before being defeated by Kongo, but his ex coach believes in his return. A big style one.
“It’s his personal decision, but if I were in his place, I’d show all the weak believers in Croatia and the world who and what I am. I assure you, Mirko can still beat anyone. If he comes back to 80 percent of his K-1 days striking skills, no one in the UFC will be able to answer his attacks. And he can do it!”
Interesting. Thanks for posting that.
Cro Cop Undergoes Nose Surgery, Details
September 28, 2007
By Jason Perkins, MMAFightLine.com Staff
The following is a loose translation of a Croatian article:
Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic was quite stunned yesterday, but it was not because of a punch, it was because of anesthetic.
Mirko decided to undergo nose surgery. Dr. Vladimir Bedekovic was surgeon who operated on Mirko’s septum deviation – this deviation was obstructing intake of oxygen.
Mirko was excellent prepared for every fight, but because of that problem he’s had problem in the second and third round specifically.
"When I came to examination and when he saw how closed is my nose canal, surgeon was shocked, he could not believe that I could be top-line athlete with that deviation.
It seems that this problem took 50% of my stamina in fights,"said Mirko before he underwent surgery.
The fact that he decided to operate on his nose tells us that Mirko wants to continue his career with new enthusiasm.
The original Croatian article can be found here: http://www.vecernji.hr/newsroom/sports/more/2923703/index.do
If that post is even half true, it explains a lot. Stamina low of course. But even more than that intesity of strikes and aggressiveness in the overall fight. So if we have only seen Cro Cop at half his level or even 25%, then based on that its over for his division, if he still continues.
Mirko is a fool if he’s just now getting this surgery. I first heard about this problem almost 2 years ago.