Legend of the sport Mirko Filipovic known as Crocop suffered a devastating stroke one week ago. Filipovic stunned his fans by sharing this last night ahead of his appearance in croatian news to announce retirement:

 

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A post shared by Mirko Filipović (@crocop1009) on Mar 1, 2019 at 10:42am PST

The fans first thought FIlipovic had had a seizure and was suffering from epilepsy but he soon clarified the situation:
Mirko said he was suffering from intermittent neck pain for the last two months, but all medical tests (MRI, Color doppler) came back fine. Suddenly, in the last couple of days he felt faint several times especially during driving and when turning his head back while reversing the car, until completely losing consciousness during training the other day.

He seems fine now, speaks perfectly normal, though a bit sad and disappointed, but all of his fighting and contact training days are over, period. He said he’s not taking any more chances with his brain or life, as any hit to the head could result in another stroke that would be almost certainly fatal.

Card

My dear friends, last fight was my last fight.I have been announcing many times so many times and they came back because it was stronger than me but now it’s really over. On Monday morning I got a stroke on the morning training. No longer, I had a huge luckily that he did not paralyze or deformed my face. today I left the hospital and feel good, and I hope to stay that way. I understand the instructions and warnings more than seriously and now I have a phase of recovery in front of me where I have to be very disciplined. After about 3 months if the magnetic resonance shows that the recovery was successful I will be able to continue the training but never again will I be able to shoot and receive headaches because it would be a bit tough to do. that’s all this life. it’s a warning I am seriously understood. I appreciate all those who followed me during my career and were with me in both victories and defeats. I have a rich and very long career and I really do not have to complain for anything else. Thank you all

 

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Dragi prijatelji,zadnja borba je bila i moja posljednja borba.nekoliko puta sam najavljivao kraj pa se vracao jer je to bilo jace od mene ali sada je zaista kraj.u ponedjeljak na jutarnjem treningu dozivio sam mozdani udar.da ne duljim,imao sam ogromnu srecu da me nije paraliziralo ili deformiralo lice.danas sam izasao iz bolnice i osjecam se dobro,i nadam se da ce tako i ostati.liječničke upute i upozorenja sam shvatio vise nego ozbiljno i sada je ispred mene faza oporavka gdje moram biti vrlo discipliniran.nakon cca 3 mjeseca ukoliko magnetna rezonanca pokaze da je oporavak bio uspjesan moći cu nastaviti sa treninzima ali vise nikada necu smjeti sparirati i primati udarce u glavu jer bi to bilo prerizično a kamoli se boriti.ali sve je to zivot.ovo je upozorenje koje sam ozbiljno shvatio.zahvaljujem svima koji ste me pratili tokom moje karijere i bili uz mene i u pobjedama i u porazima.imao sam bogatu i jako dugu karijeru i zaista nemam žaliti za ičim.hvala svima❤️

A post shared by Mirko Filipović (@crocop1009) on Mar 1, 2019 at 12:24pm PST

He ended his career on a ten-fight win streak overall, capped by the decision win over Nelson in Bellator.

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