Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic Fighting For His Legacy Against Frank Mir At UFC 119

It’s rare that a fighter can change so much with just one fight, but when it comes to Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic taking on Frank Mir at UFC 119, that’s the case.  Cro Cop is a bona fide MMA legend due to the feared high kicks, excellent striking skills, and solid takedown defense he showed from 2002 through 2006 while competing for the PRIDE organization.  But as PRIDE began its fall, Cro Cop signed with the UFC.  Most thought that he would simply run through their heavyweight division. 

They were wrong.

After a decent debut against Eddie Sanchez at UFC 67, Cro Cop took on Gabriel Gonzaga.  Simply put, in the first round he was absolutely destroyed by a head kick.  The poison that he had used to down so many opponents during his career was now the one that had put him away.  Since that fight, he’s never looked the same again.  All told, he’s gone 4-3 in the UFC.  Hardly the record most thought he might have coming in.  But against a high level fighter like Mir, Cro Cop could write some of the wrongs.  He could get the ship sailing in the right direction.  Heck, if he somehow defeated Mir, the whole UFC debacle would suddenly seem less noteworthy.

A lot could change with just one fight.  That black mark against his career- the UFC- would suddenly turn several shades lighter.  We would suddenly read on MMA message boards everywhere that Cro Cop was back.

“I don’t know if he’s ever really lost his step. I just think the fighters now in the UFC are just a little bit more aggressive than the fighters in PRIDE,” Mir told Ariel Helwani on Monday’s installment of The MMA Hour. ”Studying game on him, I noticed that guys that back away from him and give him that respect, it seems like they get unleashed on a little harder than the guys that come forward.”

In a way, what’s probably nicely being said here is that Cro Cop fought against lesser competition in PRIDE.  With the exception of Fedor Emelianenko, the fighters there either didn’t figure out that an aggressive approach was the way to handle Cro Cop or weren’t good enought to employ that game plan.  Could that be the case?  Well, there are certainly a lot of people feeling that way.  Maybe Cro Cop was never quite as good as we all thought he was.  Or perhaps he is just getting older, which is something that happens to every fighter.  We just don’t know.  And those questions will plague his legacy for sure…unless, he’s somehow able to defeat a fighter that most don’t believe he can at UFC 119.

This is a huge fight for Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic.