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Career Summary: Right leg hospital, left leg cemetery. If I were a lazier columnist I would end it there, and it would work. Cro Cop is the most successful kickboxer to make the switch to MMA. While still kickboxing for K-1, Cro Cop made his MMA debut fighting under K-1’s MMA banner and defeating the much more experienced and well decorated Kazuyuki Fujita by TKO just 39 seconds into the fight. He then made his Pride debut at Pride 17, fighting to a draw with Nobuhiko Takada.
Cro Cop's rise was meteoric, leading him all the way to an interim title fight against MMA legend Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. He wasn’t able to win the fight, but he marked himself as a true mixed martial artist, as opposed to a kickboxer first and a mixed martial artist second.
He kept head kicking his way through opponents in Pride, establishing himself as one of the elite heavyweights in the world. He was upset by Kevin Randleman in April of 2004, but after that he made a run of seven consecutive victories, including avenging himself against Randleman by submission just two minutes in.
He repeatedly requested a chance to take on Pride heavyweight champ Fedor Emelianenko, and eventually Pride had no chance but to cave. He received his title shot in August of 2005. Throughout the fight Cro Cop was extremely cautious and failed to mount much offense. Fedor came out on top after scoring a unanimous decision win. Cro Cop said he was tired throughout the fight due to not being used to the sleep schedule in Japan, and Fedor countered by saying he couldn’t fight to his full potential because of a hand injury.
Cro Cop would fight twice more before entering the Pride 2006 Open-Weight Grand Prix. He finished his first three opponents within the first round before squaring off against Josh Barnett for the title. He defeated Barnett in the first round by submission due to strikes, and with this win he finally captured the title that had eluded him to that point.
For a while Pride was the most competitive promotion in the world and offered Cro Cop the best competition he could face; but soon it began to give way to the UFC and eventually sold out to the rival promotion. Cro Cop signed as well and made his debut at UFC 67, besting Eddie Sanchez by TKO in the first round. He couldn’t keep it up though, as he would lose to Gabriel Gonzaga by a devastating head kick that saw his ankle twist backwards in one of the most gruesome injuries in MMA history. He followed that up with another loss, this time to French striker extraordinaire Cheick Kongo.
After failing in this stint with the UFC he signed on with the new promotion Dream, another Japanese organization. In three fights there he won two of them and fought to a no contest with current Strikeforce heavyweight champion Alistair Overeem.
Cro Cop made his way back to the UFC and re-debuted against Mostapha Al-Turk. In an unimpressive showing Cro Cop knocked out Al-Turk, but only after an unseen eye poke. Rumors began circulating that Cro Cop signed a three year deal with Dream after his fight with Al-Turk, sparking much hatred towards to Croatian kickboxer. However, the rumors turned out to be false and Cro Cop eventually resigned with the UFC.
Even though the false controversy with Dream was over, Cro Cop didn’t exactly gain any fans in his next showing when he went toe to toe with up and coming heavyweight Junior dos Santos. After three rounds of action he was defeated by the rising contender after he said he couldn’t see anymore and the ref was forced to call the fight. Next he was scheduled to fight Ben Rothwell, but unfortunately two days before the fight was scheduled Rothwell was forced to pull because of injury. He was replaced by Anthony Perosh, who was naturally a light heavyweight. Cro Cop dominated the fight for the first two rounds until the doctor was forced to call the match before the third could start. He continued his re-climb to the top against up and coming heavyweight Pat Barry in June. Barry was a former kickboxing star as well, and an admitted super fan of Cro Cop's. In a fight that saw Barry dominate the first round, Cro Cop rebounded and took down the young gun with a rear naked choke in the third, winning submission of the night. From there he considered retirement, but instead took a fight at the upcoming UFC 119 card against heavyweight main stay, Frank Mir.
Strengths: Before he developed a ground game, Cro Cop was just another kickboxer trying to move to MMA; but unlike other kickboxers, he persevered and made a name for his ground defense. He has strong takedown defense and has the ability to defend himself off his back. Though his real power lies in his legs - he coined the phrase “right leg hospital, left leg cemetery” because of his incredible kicks - in his prime there were no fighters who could match him standing.
Weaknesses: Early in his career his main problem was his ground game - he was a one dimensional fighter who dreaded the ground - and even though he won’t be going for takedown after takedown and working for mount anytime soon, he has the ability to defend himself off his back so that he can fight with most people in his division. We’ve also seen where he has a tendency to gas late in fights, but that hasn’t happened in a while.
Where he stands in the division: Cro Cop is a legend, though he probably won’t be challenging Brock Lesnar for the title he can still serve as a gate keeper to see how good hot young prospects really are.
What the future holds: Cro Cop has hinted heavily at retirement, and he was making it sound like the Pat Barry fight could have been his last before taking the Mir fight. Cro Cop is a former member of Croatian Parliament, and if he plans on regaining a form of political post in his home country he could look towards leaving MMA in hopes of helping lead his country.
How close he is to a title shot: It’s doubtful at best that he will ever fight for a title again. Even if he is to leave the UFC and fight in smaller promotions he will probably never wear a belt again. Instead, his fights now provide more for his opponents to gain from than him.
On deck for next week: I’ll be profiling Gegard Mousasi as he fights for the Dream Light Heavyweight Title. He has previously held that organization's Middleweight Title..
Dan Wyatt is a communications major in college looking at a career in sports radio and sports writing. Outside of sports you can find him doing stand up comedy or acting in the upcoming independent film, Company of the Damned.
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