Mirko Cro Cop
Mirko ‘Cro Cop’ Filipovic was one of MMA’s biggest and most feared stars during the PRIDE era He was coming off his biggest achievement. Filipovic was crowned PRIDE’s 2006 open-weight grand-prix champion (defeating both Wanderlei Silva and Josh Barnett by strikes in a single night), before he joined the UFC in 2007. Cro Cop TKO’d Eddie Sanchez in his UFC debut, leading to a heavyweight title eliminator against Gabriel Gonzaga. It ended in disaster when Cro Cop was brutally KO’d by the very technique he had become famous for – a head kick.
A decision loss to Cheick Kongo followed. His disappointing first spell in the UFC came to a premature conclusion.
A couple of years later after a few wins in the DREAM promotion, Cro Cop returned. He picked up a trio of wins over lower-ranked fighters like Mustapha Al-Turk, Anthony Perosh, and Pat Barry But he continued to fall short against high-level opposition, with Junior dos Santos, Frank Mir, Brendan Schaub, and Roy Nelson all stopping him by strikes.
Again Cro Cop left the UFC and again his form improved, H even won the K-1 kickboxing world title in 2013, leading to a third stint in the Octagon. There, he avenged an old loss to Gonzaga. However, his success was short-lived. He was suspended for two years by USADA and released by the UFC after admitting to using HGH. His overall record in the Octagon was just 5-6.
