'Cro Cop' maintains retirement was due to injuries, admits to using growth hormone

Mirko Filipovic

Mirko Filipovic had the dubious honor of becoming the first UFC fighter to be flagged for a potential U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) violation, but the MMA legend is maintaining the situation is a bit more complicated than it seems.

As MMAjunkie reported on Wednesday, the UFC heavyweight was “provisionally suspended” due to a “potential Anti-Doping Policy violation” – one day after “Cro Cop” announced his retirement from the sport and his withdrawal from a UFC Fight Night 79 co-headliner later this month – though details of the violation weren’t disclosed.

However, in a statement subsequently posted on his official website, mirkofilipovic.com, the Croatian vet admits to using “a little mix of growth hormone.” The 41-year-old maintains it was in an effort to speed up the recovery of a shoulder injury, that he felt he had no other choices, and that “a desperate man will try anything.”

“Growth hormones are on the list of banned substances,” he wrote. “I knew that already. But there was no other way to save my shoulder – at least in my mind – without combining the blood plasma with growth hormones.”

Filipovic (31-11-2 MMA, 5-6 UFC) said he admitted to using growth hormone, but only after USADA officials came to test him. According to the fighter, he hasn’t received the results of the tests, though admitting to using the banned substance is a violation of the policy, which the UFC implemented earlier this year.

The full statement:

I might be the first fighter who has ever been suspended after retirement. Maybe they think it is good for them to sanction someone that is well known. As you all know, the UFC has a deal with the USADA, an anti doping agency, who now tests all fighters.

Every fighter has to fill up questionnaires for the USADA “whereabouts” system. Like all the other fighters, I also had to fill out the questionnaire so they knew where to come and test me.

When my shoulder problems started, basic methods like massages and icing the shoulder did not help. Then I went to blood plasma which went straight into my shoulder. With each blood plasma, I had a little mix of growth hormone to make my shoulder heal faster.

Growth hormones are on the list of banned substances. I knew that already. But there was no other way to save my shoulder – at least in my mind – without combining the blood plasma with growth hormones.

Unfortunately it turns out the only cure was a good break and rest. But a desperate man will try anything.

After 6 days of growth hormone and plasma injections, the USADA came to test me. I gave them my blood sample and urine samples and immediately told the UFC about the test. I also said that I had been taking blood plasma and growth hormone since nothing else was working.

I wanted to have this fight, at any cost. I knew if I didn’t have the fight after an 8 month layoff, it was the end for me. I could not afford to wait 5 or 6 more months to fight.

The test results are not even finished, and I’m not even sure if they are going to find anything because I used the treatment for a few days to recover my shoulder and fight, that’s it. Now they have given me some kind of suspension because I told them myself that I have been getting the treatment, and to top it all of I pulled out of the fight.

It is stupid to even mention that the hormone only heals the body and that the dosages can probably only be detected for a few (10) days. I would be perfectly clean until the fight.

It did not make me any better or increase my performance like testosterone or anabolic steroids would, but those are the rules. On Friday I was still telling them to not cancel the fight and that I wanted to fight because of all the hard work I had done.

I told them I will go to the USADA and tell them what is going on, and I was willing to get a lot of tests before and after the fight and everything would be OK.

I was tested 5 different times up to this point in the UFC, the last time after the Gonzaga fight, and each time the test results were clear.

Saturday training was the last one that I had with preparations in mind, which is when my shoulder “broke” its limit. The MRI showed on Monday that it was a ruptured muscle and damaged tendons, filled with liquid.

And that is when I broke and made my decision.

This calling out and suspensions have no meaning anymore, but I do understand the UFC; I get it. They just want to defend themselves.

Now it will come out that I was taking illegal substances or doping or something, but it is not like that. Now it is what it is; God forbid there is no more trouble.

With Filipovic officially out, opponent Anthony Hamilton (14-4 MMA, 2-2 UFC) has been pulled from the UFC Fight Night 79 card, which takes place Nov. 28 and streams on UFC Fight Pass at Olympic Gymnastics Arena in Seoul. He’ll be booked for a future card, according to officials.

“USADA, the independent administrator of the UFC Anti-Doping Policy, will handle the results management and appropriate adjudication of this case involving ‘Cro Cop,'” UFC officials said in a statement on Wednesday. “Additional information will be provided at the appropriate time in the process.”

For more on UFC Fight Night 79, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.