Would be a great fight that I don't see going the distance,when I first saw Stipe I never thought that he would end up being as good as he has proven to be but i'm biased as Cro Cop was 1 of my original favourite fighters and I feel that prime Mirko is a different animal to almost everybody Stipe has fought and I favour him to win via mid-late KO. If they fought a few times I can see results going both ways especially with both not having great chins although most of Cro Cops KO losses came when he was past his best.
Filipovic was absolutely devastating in his K-1 and Pride days, ridiculously fast, accurate and powerful, the likes of which we've never seen in MMA before or since. Stipe is a very average striker in comparison, slow, sloppy hands, virtually zero kicks; he just doesn't impress in any way at the top level of strikers. Which isn't to say he sucks, but I can't see him beating CroCop at his own game at any stage of his career. This content is protected
Cro cop was a devastating striker, with a ramrod of a cross and probably the most devastating roundhouse kicks ever seen in mma. I favor Prime Cro cop 9 times out of 10
A lot of people say Mirko was past it when he came into the UFC, but just a year before he had dominated and KTFO'd Wanderlei. That performance is often brought up as a sign of his greatness.
Mirko was at the end of his prime when he transferred over, that plus injuries and years of wear and tear cut him really short of his years. He was an amateur boxer, world class kickboxer and MMA fighter, that is a lot of damage to the body. He wasnt exactly at his best when he beat Wandi either.
Jeez, looking back Stipe couldn't even contend with Cro Cops striking, I feel bad for not remembering how good he was. Stipe doesn't see the end bell imo.."Right kick hospital, left kick cemetery " lol
Still too big of a drop off from Pride to UFC. I don't buy that he was instantly shot after Pride. Especially since his body was more rested at the UFC since he wasn't kickboxing. He even lost to Schaub in the UFC. Then he went back to kickboxing and did well enough there as well as in MMA after UFC. Although he didn't fight the best of competition in MMA after UFC.
He was already leaving Pride FC not in his prime. The injuries plus the Gonzaga crippling leg kick sealed the deal. MMA is tougher than kickboxing, how was his body rested?
Pride is where Cro Cop was prime, he had wars there, he lost to much lesser fighters after that because of it..Schaub gets unmercifully hurt by Pride Mirko, Gonzaga too
