Mirko Cro Cop
Right leg, hospital; left leg, cemetery
- Born
- September 10, 1974, Vinkovci, SR Croatia, Yugoslavia
- Nationality
Croatia- Height
- 188 cm (6′2″)
- Reach
- 185 cm (6′1″)
- Stance
- Southpaw
- Style
- Southpaw head-kicker
- Weight
- Heavyweight
- Active
- 1996–2019
- Status
- Retired · age 52
The record
Kickboxing only, Wikipedia infobox. MMA 38-11-2 with 1 NC (30 KO, 4 submissions), matching Sherdog; amateur boxing 48-8. record
The story
irko Filipović took his ring name from his day job: he served in the Lučko anti-terrorist unit of the Croatian police. A southpaw with a fast left high kick and an amateur boxing background, he beat Jérôme Le Banner in his 1996 K-1 debut and reached the 1999 K-1 World Grand Prix final, losing to Ernesto Hoost. He then moved to MMA, where he won the 2006 PRIDE Openweight Grand Prix, and served in the Croatian Parliament from 2003 to 2008. Late in his career he returned to kickboxing and won the K-1 World Grand Prix 2012 final, held in Zagreb in March 2013, dropping Ismael Londt with a left high kick on the way to a decision. He retired in 2019 after suffering a stroke.
Tap a technique with an arrow to learn how it works.
- K-1 World Grand Prix 2012 champion (final held in Zagreb, March 2013)
- K-1 World Grand Prix runner-up (1999)
- PRIDE Openweight Grand Prix champion (2006, MMA)
- Rizin Openweight Grand Prix champion (2016, MMA)
- Sherdog MMA Hall of Fame
Defining fights
- 1996WINvs Jérôme Le Banner (decision, K-1 debut)
- 1999LOSSvs Ernesto Hoost (KO 3, K-1 World GP final)
- 2013WINvs Ismael Londt (unanimous decision after a head-kick knockdown, K-1 World GP 2012 final in Zagreb)
- 2014LOSSvs Remy Bonjasky (majority decision, Glory 14)
Throw the left high kick like Cro Cop, from your normal southpaw stance with no telegraphing step, so it starts from the same look as your straight left.
