Mirko CroCop: "The Knee is Healed"

[Final Form Snyper.]

Mirko ‘CroCop’ Filipovic says most of his recent performance troubles can be laid at the door of the bad knee injury he was carrying for a prolonged period and which required multiple surgeries to fix. Once the terror of the heavyweight division in PRIDE, Filipovic suffered bad losses when he moved to the UFC and many feel his time is now passed.

Wins over Anthony Perosh at UFC 110 and Mostafa Al-Turk at UFC 99 were relatively unconvincing and Filipovic has yet to demonstrate the fearsome power he dominated PRIDE with. But he says the knee injury is now healed and he is once again able to use his full range of skills.

“I had a very bad injury two years ago. The knee was completely broken. I had three surgeries for the knee and of course it reflected on my kicking. I was afraid to kick, it was still very fresh. But I decided to take the risk for the [UFC 99] Cologne fight one year ago,” he said yesterday.

“If you noticed I didn’t even try to do a kick with my German opponent [Al-Turk], and I didn’t try - or I tried only once to kick Junior dos Santos because I didn’t feel very stable in kicking. I didn’t feel like my leg was good so I just didn’t kick it. So of course it frustrated me a lot but it was my decision to enter the cage. It was my decision to accept the fight. Nobody forced me to do that. But thank god it’s behind me now and my legs are okay now.”

“The wound was still fresh. It was only less than six months after the surgery so it was ‘suicide’ according to the doctor. But I decided to take the fight and I decided to take another fight with Dos Santos, which wasn’t a smart idea in that condition. But I’m just a fighter, you know, and I like the sport. I like fighting. I like competition but obviously you need to make decisions with the head, not with the heart.”

“But the leg is finally completely recovered. It was a very hard injury, you know, so it really took time. Now it is one and a half years since I had the operation and now it’s finally okay. Now it’s finally okay. And finally a few months ago I started with the full [power] kicking.”

That probably won’t be music to the ears of Pat Barry. He faces Filipovic on the main card of UFC 115 in Canada next week. Barry, a former K-1 kickboxer himself, admits that Filipovic is one of his heroes and he knows well that Filipovic firing on all cylinders is going to be a tough night.

I really want to believe this, but as much as I want to he has made claims like these in the past. Even with the supposed healed knne, he is a primary striker who is in a devision of monsters with those of Junior Dos Santos, Shane Carwin, Frank Mir and Brock Lesnar. Pat Barry is a monster kicker, who has KO power in both hands and feet.

Pat Barry is IMO going to be too strong, too agressive and more well rounded than Mirko. I just hope I'm proven wrong though, as Cro Cop in the past has proven he was a monster in Pride........... are those days behind him.

 

[jmt225]

I've never thought his problems in the UFC had anything to do with his knee or any other kind of injury he may or may not have sustained since coming to the company. I am 100% confident that the true reason he has struggled thus far is because of the cage. It does not fit his style in the least bit, and he's had trouble adjusting to the size of it.

However, that doesn't mean Cro Cop can't overcome that obstacle and finally get to the point where he's comfortable inside that octagon. I think the Pat Berry fight will be a sure indication if whether or not that's the case. If Cro Cop gets his ass handed to him, then it's hopeless; his UFC career is over. But, if Cro Cop comes out and looks like the Cro Cop of old, then fuck... the UFC Heavyweight Division will get that much more interesting. I'm definitely looking forward to it.

 

[INDYjon22]

Well if the problem really was his leg, and if you ever saw his fight against Gonzaga and the way he fell on his leg which was fucking nasty, then hopefully we can get back to seeing the CroCop of old. However, I agree with JMT that the problem really appears to just be the cage. There is so much more room in the cage for a fighter to escape the deadly head kicks of CroCop. People in PRIDE could get cornered but it is much harder in the Octagon.

If the leg was the problem then a healthy leg is definitely a good thing. Maybe he had pain in his leg when he threw the high kick, who are we to say he didn't. If all the pain is gone then maybe he will be more likely to throw more kicks. He hasn't thrown many kicks in any of his UFC fights, let alone high kicks, so I could see this idea that maybe he has had a problem with his leg.

All I really hope is that he is healthy and we can see the Mirko CroCop of old one more time. CroCop is a tremendous fighter and a real legend in the sport and it would be nice to see another head kick from him.

 

[Final Form Snyper.]

Have a look at my Avatar. I'm a Cro Cop fan but seeing him get beaten by people he would have smashed 4 even 3 years ago sickens me. He is a fantastic Kick Boxer who should have over the span of his career concentrated more on his ground game. But he seems abit over the hill these days, In Pride Mirko would have smashed Anthony Perosh in 2 minutes.

Mirko seems alot less tentative to mix it up and relies too much on countering, making him...... less effective with those of bigger reach. Cop needs to come in more agressive and really push the fight, Barry wouldn't expect that from him....... alot of dirty boxing and circling is needed. Cro Cop can't stay flat footed...... Pat Barry will damage him severely with leg kicks. His straight punches are needed to unsettle Barry with a higher success rate to hooks of cross punches. This is going to be a good fight, I'm just really hoping the Old Cro Cop comes back into the cage and handles business like people know he can.

 

[sd03]

Cro Cop seems to be lacking the killer instinct he had back in the Pride days. He keeps saying the real Cro Cop will be back in the next fight, but he never shows up. I don't think he can be a real threat in the UFC heavyweight division anymore. Especially with guys like Carwin who will push him against the face and pummel him.