‘Cro Cop’ Vows Renewed Health, Training Will Fuel Rebound at UFC 115

As Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic discusses his next fight against fellow kickboxer Patrick Barry at UFC 115 this Saturday in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, the Croatian striker sounds just as let down about his past performances as his supporters have been.

Filipovic, once known as the most fearsome striker in all of MMA, knows he’s had missteps. Since signing with the UFC in December 2006, leaving a fruitful career in K-1 and Pride Fighting Championships behind him, the 35-year-old former member of Croatia’s elite special forces hasn’t lived up to expectations.

Hopes that Filipovic would continue his string of brutal knockouts -- punctuated by his vaunted left high kick assault -- quickly evaporated when he dropped his second and third Octagon appearances in 2007. Filipovic’s first-round defeat to Gabriel Gonzaga, who turned the tables by lobbing Cro Cop to the canvas with his own high kick at UFC 70, was especially stinging.

A renewal contract with the UFC yielded a loss to rising star Junior dos Santos, who out-struck a waning Filipovic at UFC 103 last September, and Filipovic’s most recent victory to late replacement Anthony Perosh at UFC 110 in February. Filipovic said he’ll complete the last fight on his UFC contract against Barry on Saturday.

Filipovic opened up about his struggles as a UFC heavyweight in a teleconference call last Friday.

“I’m definitely much more relaxed than my previous fights,” said Filipovic. “There are so many small details that I actually wasn't aware about. Fighting in a cage is fighting in a cage. It's not a ring. The cage has its own rules, and it's a big difference.”

Shortly after his first UFC losses, Filipovic had a UFC-sized cage built in the private gym in his home in Zagreb, Croatia. Finding suitable training partners to train there with him has been a challenge, though. Prior to his February bout against Perosh (Filipovic was originally slated to face Ben Rothwell), the Croatian fighter returned to Amsterdam to prepare with retired kickboxing great and longtime coach Ivan Hippolyte at the Vos Gym.

"I don't think (my Zagreb training partners) were on the level like professionals from Amsterdam,” said Filipovic. “I don't want to offend them -- they are my friends who came to help me, but they're just not that kind of level of fighters like Ivan can offer me in Amsterdam or I can find in a (top) gym. One thing is to spar with friends of mine who are good, very solid fighters, you know? But (it’s another) thing to spar with Remy Bonjasky with other K-1 stars. That's something quite different."

Hippolyte and others also traveled from Amsterdam to Croatia to train with Filipovic for a month, he said.

Possibly more pivotal to his rebound, Filipovic said he’s finally healed from a succession of injuries that have plagued his performances.

"I had a very bad injury two years ago. My leg was broken. The knee was completely broken,” said Filipovic. “I had three surgeries for the knee, and of course it reflected in my kicking. I was afraid to kick. It was still very fresh, but I decided to take the risk for the Cologne fight (against Mostapha Al-Turk at UFC 99).

“One year ago, it was still fresh,” continued Filipovic. “It was only six months after the surgery, so it was a suicide according to the doctor, but I decided to take the fight, and I decided to take another fight with dos Santos, which wasn't a smart idea in that condition, but I'm a fighter. I like the sport. I like fighting, and I like competition. But obviously you need to make a decision with the head and not with the heart."

Filipovic said the injury prevented him from using his greatest weapon in the pair of bouts.

“It was really a hard injury, and it really took time,” said Filipovic. “Now it is one-and-a-half years since I had the operation, and it's finally OK. Finally, two months ago, I started with the full kicking.”

With his body on the mend, Filipovic left little doubt regarding his intentions on Saturday.

“With all respect to everyone, but stand-up fighting will be always much more (engaging) than ground fighting,” said Filipovic, “and audiences all over the world recognize better stand-up fighting than ground fighting. You need to be a master at jiu-jitsu or wrestling to finish the fight on the ground, but for the regular fans, it will always be much more familiar (with a) punch or kick than a submission or choke.”