Cro Cop Will Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night, Will Fight Again

Cro Cop at UFC 128

Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic was once one of the most feared strikers in all of mixed martial arts. When he fought for Pride Fighting Championships in Japan, dropping fighters like Wanderlei Silva and Igor Vovchanchyn with his vicious head kicks, many fighters wouldn’t even dare to look his way outside the ring.

Over the past few years, however, Cro Cop’s stock has dropped. He hasn’t been the same explosive striker that he once was in the Land of the Rising Sun. His transition to the Octagon has been difficult at best.

He has dropped three of his last five fights, basically each time he has stepped up the ladder in competition, trying to make some headway in the UFC’s heavyweight division.

But the once-feared Croatian isn’t ready to call it a day… at least not yet.

UFC president Dana White, following the UFC 130 prefight press conference, said that Cro Cop wants another shot in the Octagon… and he’s going to give it to him.

“I owe him another fight,” White stated. “Do I think he should have retired? Yeah.”

On the other hand, the UFC boss doesn’t see Cro Cop’s situation – even though he has suffered a knockout in each of his last two fights – the same as a fighter like Chuck Liddell, whom White did everything he could to persuade into retirement.

“He’s a man; he’s a grown man. If he wants to continue to fight, that’s his right.”