Photo: Susumu Nagao
MMA legend Mirko ‘CroCop’ Filipovic lost his last MMA fight by tapping to a neck crank late in the first round to Alexey Oleinik (world sambo champion) at Russia’s Legend 2.
Fedor Emelianenko recently had some harsch criticism about Mirko’s last fight. The two fought one of the greatest battles of MMA history back in Pride:
“Something happened to him and he does not have either the physical condition or mental attitude.”
“There is something that broke in him and he is not the same fighter as he was before. This is evident on his style of fighting and on his look during the fight. I don’t know how to explain… You know when a person goes into the ring to win, or at least not to lose. I mean, when a fighter is ready and goes to fight than it can be seen by his look. Regardless of whether he gets hit or not, he goes forward and regardless of whether he wins or loses, he wants to go forward, and it is clear from his burning eyes.’
“But it also happens that a fighter does not want to, not even to win, but he wants to get out of here so quickly as possible, out of the ring, out of the cage, with any result of the fight.”
Cro Cop has this say about Fedor in reaction via his Facebook (translated from Croatian):
“Fedor commented on me and today I read a comment from his eminent brother,” said Cro Cop. “It’s little to say that I truly respected and liked them both since the time when we fought together in Japan, but that respect is now gone.
“Alexander, who probably caused all the scandal and manfully beat up a 63 years old just so that he doesn’t have to enter the ring with me, I won’t comment too much because the sport is often looked down on because of guys like him, and besides, he doesn’t deserve much of a comment. But Fedor was a grave disappointment. If Fedor fought in my city, I’d come to his hotel, take him out for dinner, have a talk with him, and if I had to tell him something I’d tell it to his face and not talk over newspapers. Afterall, we’re “brothers in arms” and we bled together in Japanese rings, and had a fight that many consider as the best in MMA hisotry, and he not only didn’t have the audacity to say hello, even before the fight in the lockeroom, but he commented on me that I’m this and that, this wasn’t the Fedor that I used to know.
“Every one of his loses fell hard on me, as if it were my own, and this same man then says publicly that he doesn’t know what keeps me fighting, that I’m not in shape and such things. Everyone has the right for an opinion, but till I’m shedding my own blood, enduring the torture and pain, the decision is mine, it’s my thing for how long I’ll fight and why I fight.
“About the fight, I’m sick because of the loss, but I’m glad that I broke the blockade in my head that I had about grappling through my entire career and I’m glad that I tried to go for a guillotine and after that for a triangle. Sadly, I wasn’t able to get it around him, cause if I did he’d be choked out. If I was able to get both legs together, and it was close, I would have finished him and it would have been “Great job, champ!”, “Awesome!”, “You’re in great shape!”, but like this, it’s just gonna be spitting all over me and this and that.”
The famous Mirko vs Fedor fight in Pride:
