Mirko Cro Cop

Mirko Filipović (born 10 September 1974), better known by his ring name Mirko Cro Cop, is a Croatian former professional mixed martial artist, kickboxer and amateur boxer.

He is mostly known for his time in Pride Fighting Championships.

Cro Cop fought in the UFC, K-1, RIZIN and Bellator.

He is widely considered one of the greatest Heavyweight Kickboxers and MMA fighters of all time.

Filipović was born on 10 September 1974 in Vinkovci in eastern Croatia, then part of the Socialist Federal Republic Yugoslavia.

He was raised in a working-class family with his sister, who is three years his senior.

Mirko grew up training in track and field, namely the shorter distance events (100m, 200m, and 400m dashes).

After seeing Jean-Claude Van Damme's performance in the film Bloodsport, he began training in his parents' garage with his father's boxing equipment and weights.

His father, who worked as an electrician for a railway company, fashioned his son a crude but effective punching bag filled with sand and cotton, and would bring home track scraps for Mirko to use for weight training.

Filipović began formal training in taekwondo at the age of 7 and later studied karate.

Filipović's father died in 1994 when Mirko was 19 years old and after Filipović had joined the Croatian Army as a radio telegraphist the year before.

After writing a request to the commander of his military base to train with the Croatian national kickboxing team, his request was approved.

The colonel told Filipović: "I don't think you will be a special soldier, but I believe you will be a good fighter one day. So you don't have to learn [with the radio telegraphists]. I release you and I want you to train twice a day. And I want you to make your country and your homeland proud one day."

Filipović described this as one of the best days of his life.

After this, he embarked on a career in professional kickboxing.

Filipović started his professional career in 1996 as a kickboxer, following in the footsteps of his compatriot Branko Cikatić.

Before turning pro, he had accumulated an amateur boxing record of 48–8 (31 KO's).

He defeated Jérôme Le Banner in his debut, but after losing to Ernesto Hoost in his next match, he turned his attention back to boxing and his law enforcement career.

He had success in both areas as a three-time national amateur boxing champion and later joined the Lučko Anti-Terrorist Unit where he served for six years until he was elected to the Croatian Parliament.

He was a successful amateur boxer and medalled numerous times in international competition, and was also a member of Croatia's world team when he competed at the 1997 Amateur Boxing World Championships.

Filipović took part in the 1997 World Amateur Boxing Championships, losing his first round match-up against Olympic medalist Alexei Lezin.

At the time, he was working as a commando in the Croatian police anti-terrorist unit Alpha (stationed in Lučko near Zagreb), which earned him his nickname "Cro Cop".

He fought several times early in his career under the nickname "Tigar" (Croatian for "tiger").

In 2001, Filipović began his switch to fighting in mixed martial arts promotion Pride Fighting Championships, citing personal challenge as well as dissatisfaction with K-1 salaries.

A year later, he also left his job at the anti-terrorist unit in order to focus fully on his martial arts career.

Cro Cop's first 6 professional MMA fights were in K-1 2001 GP Final, PRIDE FC and the New Year's events Inoki-Bom-Ba-Ye.

He defeated veterans Kazuyuki Fujita (twice) and Japanese legend Kazushi Sakuraba, while drawing with Nobuhiko Takada and reigning PRIDE Middleweight Champion Wanderlei Silva.

Now fighting exclusively in PRIDE, Cro Cop's 7th MMA fight was against former title challenger Heath Herring, who sported a 20–8 record and had gone the distance with current champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in addition to fighting soon-to-be champion Fedor Emelianenko, against whom he lost when the doctor had to stop the fight after the 1st round.

Cro Cop defeated Herring via body kick and punches 3 minutes into the fight.

In his 8th fight, he became the first fighter to defeat legendary striker Igor Vovchanchyn by KO (with his trademark head kick).

This was witnessed as a passing of the torch in the heavyweight division, as Vovchanchyn went on a decline and Cro Cop continued his run at the heavyweight title.

Cro Cop then defeated Dos Caras Jr. via head kick KO in 46 seconds, and then told the fans that he would see them in his next fight for the title against Fedor Emelianenko.

After a contractual dispute between PRIDE and Fedor Emelianenko, PRIDE matched up Cro Cop against former champion Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira for the PRIDE Interim Heavyweight Championship.

From 23 December 2003 until 11 January 2008 he served as a Member of the Croatian Parliament for the 1st electoral district.

He was elected as an independent candidate on the list of the Social Democratic Party.

Cro Cop is the 2006 Pride Open-Weight Grand Prix Champion, the 2012 K-1 World Grand Prix Champion and the 2016 Rizin Openweight Grand Prix Champion becoming the second fighter in the world to win mixed martial arts and kickboxing championships and tournaments.

He is also a former IGF Champion.

His nickname, Cro Cop, short for "Croatian Cop", comes from his employment in the Lučko Anti-Terrorist Unit, Croatia's elite Police Special Forces tactical unit.

Cro Cop's signature move was his lightning-quick left high roundhouse kick, once famously described as "right leg, hospital; left leg, cemetery."

On 1 March 2019, he announced his retirement due to health reasons, specifically a stroke he suffered.