Fighter Breakdown: Cro Cop

Name: Mirko Filipović

Nickname: Cro Cop

Weight class: Heavyweight

Martial arts background: Cro Cop is a very skilled and experienced kickboxer. Before coming to MMA he accumulated a professional kickboxing record of 16-7, with wins against Hiromi Amada, Remy Bonjasky, Mark Hunt, and Bob Sapp. He also received training during his time in the Croation special forces.

Striking breakdown: He has incredibly powerful kicks and is well known for knocking out people with his trademark left high kick. This also gives him a psychological advantage over his opponents because he can feint the high kick and then unload with his hands. Recently, he hasn't used his hands as much as he should and hasn't been setting up his kicks. That said, he still packs tremendous power: he broke Sapp's arm with a kick and then broke his orbital bone with a follow-up punch.

Grappling breakdown: His strong legs help him with his wrestling and his ability to sprawl to avoid the takedown. That said, he has been taken down and does take down people from time to time. He has good, although under utilized, ground and pound. He has also been able to get mount on a few of his opponents. He only has one true submission win: a guillotine choke against Kevin Randlemen. That said, he has also only been submitted once so his defense is exceptional.

Strengths: Cro Cop's biggest strength is his kickboxing and his ability to set up his kicks with punches. He's very dangerous when pushing forward and is unrelenting if he smells blood. That said, he also cuts angles very effectively and is able to slip punches well. He also has above average cardio and a strong work ethic (although it waned after winning the Pride Open Weight Grand Prix). He has an underrated top game, specifically his ground striking.

Weaknesses: Cro Cop has a few key weaknesses. The first is that he's not anywhere near as effective when backing up. He tends to throw less punches and is intimidated by fighters that push forward and aren't generally afraid of him. While he has an above average ground game, elite grapplers can take him down and beat him up. His other main weakness is his somewhat average ability to take damage and recover. He has been stopped multiple times in both MMA and kickboxing.

Gameplan: His general gameplan is to keep the fight standing and knock out his opponent. He likes to set up his high kick and that's how he gets the majority of his KOs. He rarely follows his opponents to the ground, especially if they're elite grapplers. He has even helped fighters return to standing before. If he's facing a weak grappler he might also take them down and pound them out for a little while, although this is fairly rare.

Notable wins and losses:

He has beaten Josh Barnett three times, although the final was the most important of the three. At Pride Final Conflict Absolute he defeated Josh Barnett with an onslaught of strikes to win his first and only title: the Pride 2006 Openweight Grand Prix.

During 2004 and 2005, Cro Cop won 7 straight fights and cemented himself as the number one contender for Pride's heavyweight belt. He would have to defeat Fedor Emelianenko to win the title. This was one of the most hyped fights of 2005 and maybe even the decade. Both fighters, at this stage in their careers, seemed unstoppable. Cro Cop was coming off of wins against Barnett, Randleman, Coleman, and Fedor's brother Aleksander Emelianenko. Mirko came out strong and arguably won the first couple minutes of the fight. As the fight progressed, however, Fedor found his timing and started to back Cro Cop up. Whenever Fedor was in trouble he would take down the Croation and score points that way. The fight was close and hard fought, but Fedor won a unanimous decision.

His losses to Cheick Kongo and Gabriel Gonzaga are significant in that they're back to back and were his second and third fight in the UFC. Mirko was a huge favorite in both fights, being the #2 heavyweight in the world while facing Gonzaga. He was utterly destroyed by Gonzaga and knocked out in his own trademark fashion. The Kongo loss was a bit closer, although still crushing. It is important to note, however, that he was hit in the groin three times during the fight.

Future: Mirko will have a hard time obtaining the heavyweight title, although he might make a run for it. His next fight is against Junior Dos Santos who will be a tough test of the Croation's striking abilities. If he wins that fight then he will probably fight Nogueira for the number one contender spot.