Hello lovely people of the internet. It's me again. Today we talk about the Fedor/Cro Cop fight.
Introducing the fighters
Mirko Cro Cop
Mirko Cro Cop
In the late 90's and early 2000's Mirko quickly became an established K-1 legend in Japan with wins over Remy Bonjasky, Mark Hunt, Mike Bernardo and Jerome Le Banner among others. The Croat came short of a title championship many times with Ernesto Hoost getting the better of him each time. At the same time Japan's MMA sensation PRIDE FC was quickly gaining momentum and fame. Mirko, in search of a challenge went over to MMA and the rest, as they say, is history. His fame became even greater as his fan favorite fighting style and devestating ko's left the Japanese crowd in awe. Before his showdown with the Russian, only 2 people got the best of Mirko in MMA. A a submission loss to the BJJ whizz, Antonio "Minotauro" Nogueira and a huge upset loss by knockout to Kevin Randleman. Mirko quickly bounced back after the losses and gained a 7 fight win streak which included a win by guillotine in a rematch against Randleman, head kick ko over Fedor's younger brother Alex Emelianenko, and a liver kick tko win against Ibragim Magomedov. Mirko was en route to a title fight against the reigning and defending champion. Fedor Emelianenko.
Fedor watching Mirko knockout his brother
Fedor Emelianeko
The last Emperor. The man, the myth, the legend. His decade of dominance is full of former champions that felt the wrath of the mighty Russian. Tim Sylvia, Andrei Arlovski, Heath Herring, Mark Hunt, Mark Coleman, Antonio "Minotauro" Nogueira, Kevin Randleman, Mirko Cro Cop(spoilers, sorry) are just some of the names Emelianenko bested.
Fedor made his Pride debut with a dominant decision win over Semmy Schilt and by his 3rd Pride fight, fought for the title against Minotauro Nogueira, who had only 1 loss at the time to Dan Henderson and even that was a split decision loss. So, naturally the Brazilian was the favorite. His unkillable will, a chin that could take a sledgehammer hit and slick submission skills made Minotauro a nightmare for every fighter he faced. Fedor beat the champion with such ferocity and domination that made Nogueira look like an absolute beginner. After becoming the Pride champion Fedor racked up a 9 fight win streak before facing the Croat. Some of his wins included; rematch against the former champion(Antonio Minotauro), Kevin Randleman(where he survived getting slammed on his head) and "the godfather of ground and pound" Mark Coleman.
Fedor made his Pride debut with a dominant decision win over Semmy Schilt and by his 3rd Pride fight, fought for the title against Minotauro Nogueira, who had only 1 loss at the time to Dan Henderson and even that was a split decision loss. So, naturally the Brazilian was the favorite. His unkillable will, a chin that could take a sledgehammer hit and slick submission skills made Minotauro a nightmare for every fighter he faced. Fedor beat the champion with such ferocity and domination that made Nogueira look like an absolute beginner. After becoming the Pride champion Fedor racked up a 9 fight win streak before facing the Croat. Some of his wins included; rematch against the former champion(Antonio Minotauro), Kevin Randleman(where he survived getting slammed on his head) and "the godfather of ground and pound" Mark Coleman.
The fight
The fight was one of the most anticipated bouts(if not the most anticipated) in MMA history. The two were the best of the best and the winner would without a doubt be the best fighter of all time. Both men were at their physical primes and forces to be reckoned with. Mirko was the betting favorite because of his rangy "punch and move" style, speed, agility and most of all, his deadly kicks.
After the fight
Claiming another soul, the Russian was once again victorious. Beating Mirko with a dominant and one sided decision. Fedor impressed with his improved stand up managing to beat Cro Cop at his own game.
Cro Cop
Mirko made a come back to the ring few months later with a deicision win over Josh Barnett that didn't show the Croat in his best shape, but he got the win. Next up was a decision loss in a rematch against K-1 legend Mark Hunt. Mirko, again, wasn't his old self. The Fedor fight took a toll on the Croatian. However, a career resurgence shortly followed. After grabing quick wins over Ikusha Minowa and Hideko Yoshida, Mirko qualified for Pride's Open-Weight Gran Prix tournament. The finals were on Mirko's birthday and It was "now or never" for him. The finals saw Mirko not only return to his former self but show a performance that was arguably the best one of his MMA career. The violent punishment of Wanderlei Silva and a dominant tko stoppage against Josh Barnett made Mirko the Open-Weight Gran Prix champion.
Fedor Emelianenko
Though lacking in competitiveness of fellow fighters, Fedor continued his reign of dominance with quick wins over Zuluzinho, Mark Coleman and Mark Hunt.
Later in their careers
After Mirko's impressive wins over Wanderlei Silva and Josh Barnett, the fans wanted the rematch of the fight of the century. There were talks, there were negotiations but ultimately nothing materialized as Pride FC began to crumble and both men went their separate ways.
Fedor Emelianenko
After making short work of UFC's former champions Andrei Arlovski and Tim Sylvia, the Russian's reign of dominance came to a halt in 2010 at the hands of the current UFC HW champion. Fabricio Werdum. It was shocking, it was unexpected, it was unbelievable. It was like being dumped by your girlfriend. The undefeated Russian suffered his first real loss, since suffering a loss via cut against Tsuyoshi Kohsaka in late 2000. Another shock came in Febuary of 2011, when in the qualifying rounds of Strikeforce's HW tournament, Fedor got dominated by Antonio Silva. The dream was over. Fedor's aura of mystery and inhumanness was gone. Bad luck turned to worse, lighting struck 3 times in the same place as later that year Fedor suffered another(this time controversial)loss to Dan Henderson. At that point fans just wanted the agony to be over with. The best fighter ever has clearly lost his edge. However, Fedor managed to bounce back and end his career with a 3 fight win streak against Jeff Monson, Satoshi Ishii and Pedro Rizzo.
Mirko Cro Cop
After becoming Pride's Open-Weight champion, Mirko's career has been filled with many ups and downs. After a quick win over Eddie Sanchez in his UFC debut, his momentum came crashing down as Gabriel Gonzaga scored a shocking upset win with a head kick ko. After the ko loss, things didn't go all that well as he suffered another loss, this time to Cheick Kongo. Mirko then went to Dream, earning a quick win over Tatsuya Mizuno and a no contest(illegal groin strikes) against the hulking (and terrifying) cluster of muscles that is Alistair Overeem, then another win against the towering Hong Man Choi and a return to the UFC followed shortly. As he returned, a familiar pattern returned as well. Mirko is tentative, scared of throwing punches and kicks and just doesn't seem to get a hold of the American style of MMA(Octagon, elbows strikes, no soccer kicks...etc.). Again, some fights he won, some he lost and ultimately fought out his UFC contract and called it quits(for the time being). Being the busy bee that he is, he tried his luck with a K-1 return. There he qualified and won the K-1 GP tournament and added another trophy to his collection. However, his competitive side still wanted more and a MMA returned followed. A win over Shinichi Suzukawa and a loss to Oleksiy Oliynyk kept him busy for a while before signing with Glory and there losing to Remy Bonjasky and winning against Jarrell Miller. That would mark the end of his kickboxing career and the start of his last run in MMA.
Where are they now?
Cro Cop
With 2 wins over Satoshi Ishii, Mirko resigned with UFC and avenged the loss that haunted him for years, by beating Gabriel Gonzaga with some nasty elbows. Mirko's next fight is scheduled to be against Anthony Hamilton at UFC's fight night 79 in Seoul, South Korea. He has stated that after he fights out his current UFC contract, he is retiring for good.
Fedor Emelianenko
The Russian had officially retired in 2012 and stayed that way up until a few months ago, when he announced that he is returning to MMA and wants the best competition possible. Since Bellator's Scott Coker dismissed the option of Fedor signing with the company, many are under the impression that it is only a matter of time(or formality) before it is announced that Fedor has finally signed with the UFC.
Ok, that's it from me. At first I just wanted to post a link to the fight and maybe write a sentence or two, but then I was all like "naw" and wrote all this. Hope you've enjoyed the read as much as I enjoyed writing it. Liking me on facebook won't get you a free hooker, but it will get you a free "thank you" from me. So don't be shy and click here. I now leave until our paths cross again.
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