I personally believe the reason why crocop couldnt regain his form of pride 06 is mainly mental. This is what i thought before, crocop has confirmed this. to me he didnt even look right in the sanchez fight. he went left kick crazy, and didnt seem like he was in the zone. he was too nervous (unlike himself) in the gonzaga, no excuse, he got ktfo fair and square. however what i saw crocop do last night reminds me of the crocop of old, the one that was destroying the likes of coleman, alexander, igor and silva back in the day. The fight with al turk reminded me of the coleman fight where crocop showed great take down defense. he also kept to his gameplan where he said from now on he will mainly use his boxing skills and use his kicks as finishers. he showed great footwork (countering of it with his straight left) tonight, similar to the silva and ibragim fights.
The Coleman fight is the best example of how he needs to fight. I would't be suprised if Cro Cop became champion in the UFC. Nobody could take him down in the past. At his best he could stuff Randy, Carwins and Lesnars take downs and KO them all with his hands alone imo. When he first signed with the UFC he was seen as a bigger and better version of Chuck with a LHK. Everyone thought that noone could take him down and he would just pick guy's apart with his boxing and finish them with his LHK. I always argued that he could beat Randy with his sprawl and hands alone. I still think he could do this.
i think he could COULD DESTROY randy couture if he is right. he's probably got the best take down defense in mma history.
I would love it if the old Cro could come back. The one who killed Silva. "Right leg hospital, left leg cemetery!" - Cro Cop
Mir vs crocop would be a nice fight. They are about the same size but i give crocop the striking advantage.
