August 23, 2015
By Ryan Porzl
The fight between Fedor Emelianenko and Mirko Cro Cop was MMA's biggest title fight. Very rarely has a fight been years in the making and not only took place, but did so when both were arguably at their very best. It was a fight you would expect to be contested for a World Heavyweight Championship as the participants were two titans who each had everything to gain. One who achieved things that many would never come close to doing all the while looking to continue his dominance on the heavyweight division. The other would attempt to achieve a dream of becoming world heavyweight champion and end a four year journey that had a couple of speed bumps along the way. This article will take a look at the two legends, the setbacks, the hype, and the fight that became MMA's biggest title fight.
Background
Name: Fedor Emelianenko
Nickname: The Last Emperor
Height: 6'0/1.82 m
DOB: September 28, 1976
Debut: May 21, 2000
MMA Record (PRIDE Record) (at the time of fight): 22-1, 1 NC (10-0, 1 NC)
Reach: 74.5 in.
Notable Wins (at the time of fight): Ricardo Arona, Babalu Sobral, Semmy Schilt, Heath Herring, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (two times), Kazuyuki Fujita, Gary Goodridge, Mark Coleman, Kevin Randleman, and Tsuyoshi Kohsaka
Emelianenko was born on September 28, 1976 in Rubizhne Oblast, Ukranian SSR Soviet Union (now Ukraine) before moving to Stary Oskol, Belgorod of the Russian SSR (now Russia) when he was two. Emelianenko is the second oldest of four children which includes younger brother Alexander who is also a fighter. After graduating from high school in 1991 and with honors in a professional trade school in 1994, Emelianenko joined the Russian Army where he served for two years as a military firefighter. After leaving the army in 1997, Emelianenko began his martials arts career. Having studied sambo and judo for years, Emelianenko began competing in judo and sambo competitions in 1997 where he was a master of sport for both that year. He competed in judo during the late 90s where he placed 3rd in the 1998 Russian National Championships Senior division and 3rd in the 1999 Russian National Championship Senior Absolute division while winning two bronze medals that same year in the International Judo Federation and becoming the international master of sport in 2000.
In Sambo, he achieved bigger success as he won a gold and silver medal in the 1998 Russian Armed Force Championship. He then followed up with a gold medal at the 1999 European Combat Sambo Championship. Even after becoming an MMA fighter, Emelianenko continued to compete in sambo competitions and continued to enjoy success despite also commiting to an MMA career.
With his successes in sambo and judo, Emelianenko turned to mixed martial arts and joined Fighting Network RINGS. He debuted at RINGS Russia: Russia vs. Bulgaria on May 21, 2000 where he submitted Martin Lazarov with a guillotine choke. After racking up two more wins during the summer, Emelianenko entered the 2000 RINGS King of Kings tournament on December 22, 2000. In the first round, he defeated future RINGS Middleweight Champion and future 2005 PRIDE Middleweight Grand Prix runner up Ricardo Arona via decision after having to fight an extra round due to the fight being close. In the second fight, Emelianenko faced Tsuyoshi Kohsaka with the fight ending in controversy when Emelianenko was cut with an accidental illegal elbow. The controversy was the fact that Emelianenko couldn't continue and it would've normally ended in a no contest due to the elbow being accidental but illegal. Unfortunately for Emelianenko, with someone having to advance and him being unable to, Kohsaka was awarded the win. While it went down as an official loss, many fans still considered Emelianenko undefeated until his loss to Fabricio Werdum in 2010 because of the controversy. Emelianenko bounced back on April 6, 2001 where he defeated Mihail Apostolov by submission. Emelianenko then entered 2001 Openweight Championship tournament to crown a new openweight champion. He would emerge as the new champion by defeating Kerry Schall on April 20th, future UFC Light Heavyweight title contender Babalu Sobral on August 11th, and Bobby Hoffman by forfeit to win the championship. As would be the case with Emelianenko, he would never lose the title. He finished his run in RINGS by entering the 2001 RINGS Absolute Class tournament which he ended up winning by defeating Ryushi Yanagisawa in the first round on October 20th, then Lee Hasdell in the semifinals on December 21st, and Chris Haseman in the finals on February 15, 2002.
With RINGS on the decline, Emelianenko jumped to PRIDE Fighting Championships in the summer of 2002. He made his debut for PRIDE at PRIDE 21: Demolition on June 23, 2002 as he defeated former King of Pancrase champion and future K-1 legend Semmy Schilt by unanimous decision. He followed it up at PRIDE 23: Championship Chaos 2 on November 24th when he took on former PRIDE World Heavyweight Title contender and WVC 9 Heavyweight Tournament winner Heath Herring in a title eliminator fight. Despite coming in as a slight underdog, Emelianenko shocked many when he dominated Herring and scored a TKO win via doctor's stoppage between rounds one and two. While enjoying success in the MMA world, Emelianenko would continue to compete in combat sambo. In 2002, he became the All-Russia Combat Sambo national champion for the first time (he would win the honor five more times between 2003-2012) as well as winning the WCSF (World Combat Sambo Federation) and FIAS (Federation Internationale Amateur de Sambo) gold medals in world combat sambo championships. The Herring win earned Emelianenko a title shot at reigning PRIDE World Heavyweight Champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira which he got at PRIDE 25: Body Blow on March 16, 2003. Going into the event, Nogueira was the #1 heavyweight in the world and was just coming off avenging the only loss of his career against Dan Henderson. He was also becoming well known for being dangerous to go to the ground with and difficult to finish. Ultimately, Emelianenko dropped Nogueira and surprised many by going into Nogueira's guard and repeatedly raining down blows in Nogueira's strongest area which would earn him a decision win to become the new PRIDE World Heavyweight Champion. Emelianenko would then take a fight in RINGS Lithuania on April 5th as he defeated 2001 RINGS Absolute Class Tournament semifinalist Egidijus Valavicius by submission. He returned to PRIDE in June and scored two wins over their top gatekeepers by submitting Kazuyuki Fujita (after getting clipped in the fight) on June 8th at PRIDE 26: Bad to the Bone/Reborn and then TKOed Gary Goodridge on August 10th at PRIDE Total Elimination 2003.
Name: Mirko Filipovic
Nickname: Cro Cop
Height: 6'1/1.85 m
DOB: September 10, 1974
Debut: August 19, 2001
MMA Record (PRIDE Record) (at the time of fight): 16-2-2 (13-2-2)
Reach: 73 in.
Notable Wins (at the time of fight): Kazuyuki Fujita (two times), Kazushi Sakuraba, Heath Herring, Igor Vovchanchyn, Ron Waterman, Josh Barnett, Kevin Randleman, and Mark Coleman
Cro Cop was born Mirko Filipovic on September 10, 1974 in Privlaka, Vukovar-Srijem County, Soviet Republic Croatia, SFR Yugoslava (now Croatia). The youngest of two children, Cro Cop became interested in martial arts by the time he was seven when he took up tae kwon do and later karate. His early inspirations were Bruce Lee & Jean-Claude Van Damme and he began working out in his family's garage with his father's old boxing and weight equipment. When he was an adult, Cro Cop entered the Croatian Army and joined the boxing club. In 1996, he began a career in law enforcement, first as part of the Croatian Police Force and then as part the Lucko Anti-Terrorism Unit. During this time, he also fought as an amateur boxer where achieved a lot of success as he racked up a 40-5 record with 31 knockouts. In 1997, he won a silver medal at the Acropolis Cup and a bronze medal at the Mediterranean Games. A year later, he won a silver medal at the CISM World Military Championships and a bronze at the Usti Grand Prix.
In 1996, Cro Cop entered kickboxing by competing in K-1 in Japan. Originally competing with the nickname "Tigar" (Croatian for Tiger), he was eventually given his famous nick name Cro Cop (short for Croatian Cop). His debut was on March 10th when he entered the 1996 K-1 World Grand Prix and scored a massive upset over Jerome Le Banner who was the finalist the previous year. His run ended on May 6th when he lost to future K-1 legend Ernesto Hoost in the quarter finals. Sadly for Cro Cop, it wouldn't be the last time Hoost handed him a tough loss. After a three year hiatus, he returned in 1999 by defeating Jan Nortje on April 25th at K-1 Revenge '99. He entered the K-1 Brave '99 Tournament on June 20th and defeated Ricky Nickolson in the quarterfinals but lost to Xhavit Bajrami in the semifinals. Following this, Cro Cop entered the 1999 K-1 World Grand Prix as a wildcard. On October 5th, he scored a huge upset by defeating 1996 K-1 World Grand Prix finalist Mike Bernardo to qualify. On December 5th, he continued into the tournament where he defeated 2003 and 2004 WGP finalist Musashi in the quarterfinals, then Sam Greco in the semifinals, and went on to lose in the finals to Ernesto Hoost. In 2000, he bounced back with a win over Hiromi Amada on March 19th at K-1 Burning 2000. On June 3rd, he challenged 1996 K-1 World Grand Prix winner Andy Hug for the WKA World Muay Thai Super Heavyweight Title at K-1 Fight Night 2000 but lost. The fight would prove to be one the last fights in Hug's career as he was diagnosed with leukemia on August 17th and passed away on August 24th. He bounced back with another win on September 1st before entering the K-1 World Grand Prix in Fukuoka on October 9th where he made it to the finals before falling to Mike Bernardo. Cro Cop then entered the 2000 K-1 World Grand Prix on December 10th but lost in the quarterfinals to Ernesto Hoost. He then went 2-1 in 2001 with a notably win over 3 time K-1 WGP Winner Peter Aerts as he began to transition to MMA. From 2002 to 2003, Cro Cop went unbeaten in four fights including a win over 2001 K-1 WGP Winner Mark Hunt and future three time WGP Winner Remy Bonjavsky. His last fight was on April 30, 2003 as he quickly defeated 2002 WGP Semifinalist Bob Sapp before focusing on his MMA career full time.
Cro Cop made his MMA debut at K-1 Andy Memorial 2001 Japan GP Final on August 19, 2001 where he defeated 2000 PRIDE Openweight Grand Prix semifinalist Kazuyuki Fujita due to doctor's stoppage because of a cut. He followed up by debuting in PRIDE at PRIDE 17: Championship Chaos on November 3rd where he went to a draw against pro wrestling legend Nobuhiko Takada in a fight that had special rules with the fight going to a draw if it went the distance. He finished the year by quickly knocking out another pro wrestling legend in Yuji Nagata at Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2001 on December 31st. Cro Cop returned to PRIDE at PRIDE 20: Armed and Ready on April 28, 2002 where he went to a draw with PRIDE World Middleweight Champion Wanderlei Silva as the fight had the same special rules from the Takada fight. In only his fifth fight, Cro Cop then had an incredible opportunity when he main evented the PRIDE and K-1 co-promoted Dynamite! Biggest Mixed Martial Arts World Cup - Summer Night Fever in the National Stadium show (known in America as Shockwave 2002) on August 28th. In front of a crowd between 70,000-91,107, he defeated MMA legend Kazushi Sakuraba by TKO. He finished the year by defeating Fujita in a rematch by unanimous decision at Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2002 on December 31st. After ending his kickboxing career, Cro Cop began to climb the ladder in PRIDE. He defeated PRIDE World Heavyweight Title contender Heath Herring by TKO at PRIDE 26: Bad to the Bone/Reborn on June 8th. He followed up by scoring one of his most famous knockouts against 2000 PRIDE Openweight Grand Prix runner up Igor Vovchanchyn via left leg head kick (a.k.a. left leg cemetery) at PRIDE Total Elimination 2003 on August 10th. The fight was considered a passing of the torch given both men came from kickboxing backgrounds and the loss resulted in the end of the declining Vovchanchyn as an elite heavyweight while the win saw the surging Cro Cop become established as the new top heavyweight striker. On October 5th at PRIDE Bushido 1, Cro Cop then extended his unbeaten streak to nine when he scored another left leg head kick over Dos Caras Jr. (future WWE Champion Alberto Del Rio).
Setbacks
Dream Stage Entertainment (the parent company of PRIDE) planned to book Fedor/Cro Cop originally for late 2003. However, in the fall, Emelianenko had a contract dispute with PRIDE when he agreed to compete at Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2003 on December 31, 2003 which would be against PRIDE's first Shockwave New Year's Eve event due to higher pay. In response, PRIDE booked Cro Cop against former champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira with the winner becoming the PRIDE Interim World Heavyweight Champion at PRIDE Final Conflict 2003 on November 9th. The fight would be typical Nogueira as Cro Cop got the better of him in round one but Nogueira eventually got the fight to the ground and forced Cro Cop to tap to an armbar in round two. The loss was a setback for Cro Cop as it was the first time he lost in his MMA career and ended his nine fight unbeaten streak. Meanwhile, Emelianenko made quick work of Yuji Nagata by TKO at Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye.
By early 2004, Emelianenko was back in PRIDE while Cro Cop was on the comeback trail with wins over WEC Super Heavyweight Champion Ron Waterman at PRIDE 27 on February 1st and then against Yoshihisa Yamamoto at PRIDE Bushido 2 on February 15th. In April, both men entered the 2004 PRIDE Heavyweight Grand Prix and while they weren't paired up in the first round, their blocks were close so if both won then they would meet in the quarterfinals. On April 24, 2004, the Heavyweight Grand Prix officially began. In the first round, Emelianenko was paired with 2000 PRIDE Openweight Grand Prix tournament winner and first ever UFC Heavyweight Champion Mark Coleman while Cro Cop was paired with Coleman's protege and former UFC Heavyweight Champion Kevin Randleman. Unfortunately for PRIDE, things didn't go as planned as only Emelianenko advanced by catching Coleman with an armbar while Cro Cop suffered a big upset to Randleman after get caught with a left hand and finished with ground n' pound.
Back on Track
Cro Cop would get on the comeback trail immediately by defeating former PRIDE World Middleweight Title contender Hiromitsu Kanehara by decision at PRIDE Bushido 3 on May 23rd and followed with a TKO win over Shungo Oyama at PRIDE Bushido 4 on July 19th. Meanwhile, Emelianenko continued on in the heavyweight grand prix as he faced Randleman at PRIDE Critical Countdown on June 20th and scored a submission win after surviving a jumping german suplex from Randleman which became one of PRIDE's biggest highlights. Both fighters were on the PRIDE Final Conflict 2004 card which was held on August 15th. Cro Cop faced Emelianenko's younger brother Alexander and defeated him with his signature left leg head kick. The knockout became one of Cro Cop's most famous as he timed it perfectly against the 6'3 Emelianenko before raining down blows. The fight also became well known as Emelianenko watched it in the locker room and famously yelled "Stop!" in English as Cro Cop dropped punches on his unconscious brother before the referee stopped the fight. Emelianenko would participate in the heavyweight grand prix as he made quick work out of Olympic silver medalist Naoya Ogawa by submission in the semifinals which advanced him to the finals in a rematch against PRIDE Interim World Heavyweight Champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Ultimately, the fight went to a no contest after he was cut due to an accidental clashing of heads.
Cro Cop's comeback trail continued at PRIDE 28: High Octane on October 31st when he defeated the debuting former UFC Heavyweight Champion & King of Pancrase Openweight Champion Josh Barnett by TKO after Barnett tore his shoulder less than a minute in. They then shared a card at PRIDE Shockwave 2004 on December 31st as Cro Cop quickly avenged his loss to Kevin Randleman by submitting him in less than a minute while Emelianenko solidified his status as the #1 heavyweight in the world by defeating Nogueira in a rematch to unify the PRIDE titles as well as win the 2004 heavyweight grand prix. Entering 2005, Cro Cop racked up a third straight win over a former UFC Heavyweight Champion when he TKOed Mark Coleman at PRIDE 29: Fists of Fire on February 20th. Meanwhile, Emelianenko had one last task to accomplish which was to take on the one man who held a victory over him: Tsuyoshi Kohsaka. The two would meet at PRIDE Bushido 6 on April 3rd and Emelianenko was successful in avenging the only loss of his career when he earned a TKO due to doctor stoppage. Cro Cop would fight one more time at PRIDE Critical Countdown on June 25th where he defeated one of Emelianenko's red devil sports club teammates: Ibragim Magomedov by TKO. With Cro Cop having racked up seven straight wins as well as lobbying for the title shot, it finally happened as the two agreed and signed the contract on June 27th, making the long awaited fight official. The fight was to be held at PRIDE Final Conflict 2005 on August 28th at the Saitama Super Arena.
The Hype
As is usually the case, there was a hype video leading up to the fight. Strangely, the video was almost all about the challenger Cro Cop while champion Emelianenko was barely featured. Outside of comments from Emelianenko as well as highlights from the first Noguiera fight, Fujita, and Goodridge, and him shadowboxing, he was almost absent from the video. Instead, it focused more on Cro Cop including Croatia, Cro Cop training, his K-1 career, his wins over Herring & Vovchanchyn, setbacks against Nogueira & Randleman, and the highlight kick over Alexander Emelianenko. Other clips showed Cro Cop with his wife and son while his mother gave comments and visited his father's grave. Clips of the contract signing also were featured. The hype video also featured The Terminator theme playing over most of it.
The Fight
The entrances of both fighters was nothing unusual. Cro Cop came out first to the song "The Wild Boys" from Duran Duran which has become his signature theme song. Emelianenko came out second to "Enae Volare (Mezzo)" by French music project ERA.
Round One sees Fedor stalk Cro Cop for the first few minutes while both would go into a brief flurry. The fight begins to pick up with Fedor trying to corner Cro Cop but does unleash a flurry while Cro Cop is on the ropes. A highlight of the fight happens as Fedor grabs Cro Cop's leg and tries to get him to the corner only to fall out of the ring and on to the apron. Cro Cop begins to unleash more combinations and kicks. He hits Fedor hard and starts to pounce but Fedor comes back with an overhead right that staggers Cro Cop off balance. Cro Cop counters with left leg cemetery (left leg head kick) but doesn't get all of it and Fedor gets a takedown while following with ground n' pound. The fight is briefly stopped to check on Fedor's cut from left leg cemetary as well as a broken nose but the fight continues and they're restarted in the middle of the ring. The last five minutes of the round was Fedor in Cro Cop's guard while occasionally getting up to dive in for ground n' pound but Cro Cop would kick back. For the most part, Cro Cop's defense would hold up as Fedor was unable to land enough strikes or get a submission hold in the north/south position.
Round Two began with Fedor stalking Cro Cop and outstriking him mostly with body shots but Cro Cop was able to prevent the takedown. Cro Cop starts to come back with some kicks to the liver and the two fight over a body lock with neither getting the takedown. Fedor clinches to the ropes but Cro Cop counters with his own body lock. Takedowns are prevented by Fedor who then corners Cro Cop and hits some more combos. Cro Cop is beginning to fade as he throws another head kick. Fedor gets the clinch and hits some knees to the stomach but can't get the sambo throw but does land a left hand that seems to daze Cro Cop. Fedor gets another clinch near the ropes and sweeps the leg for the takedown. They're repositioned in the middle with Fedor getting the occasional offense but is unable to pass guard. The round ends with Fedor in Cro Cop's guard.
Round Three sees Cro Cop start with a leg kick but Fedor comes back with combinations including a body kick. Cro Cop attempts a takedown but Fedor's balance allows him get back in Cro Cop's guard. After they're moved to the middle, the fight resumes with Fedor getting some shots in while in guard. Cro Cop attempts a triangle armbar but Fedor hits some hammer fists and attempts to mount only for Cro Cop to block it with Fedor back into guard. With two minutes left, they're stood up and Cro Cop is issued a yellow card (yellow cards were given to fighters who didn't engage or commited a foul. A yellow card deducts a percentage of a fighter's paycheck while three disqualify them). Fedor immediately would get another takedown and would follow with occasional hammer fist. They're stood up again with one minute left and Cro Cop is issued another yellow card. Cro Cop attempts to attack but there's no power in anything. Fedor gets some combinations and another takedown with the fight remaining there until it ends with Fedor retaining by unanimous decision.
Aftermath
The fight would earn critical acclaim, has been considered one of the greatest fights in MMA history, and won many accolades since. In 2006, it won MMAFighting.com's 2005 Fight of the Year award as well as FightMatrix's 2005 Most Noteworthy Fight of the Year award and 2005 Fight of the Year award. Four years later, it won two more awards as it captured both Sports Illustrated and Yahoo! Sports' 2000s Fight of the Decade awards.
In the years since this fight, there have been attempts to make a rematch but none has occurred. The first was in 2006 after Cro Cop won the 2006 PRIDE Openweight Grand Prix as DSE planned to book a rematch at PRIDE Shockwave 2006 on December 31st. However, Cro Cop would pull out in October due to undergoing foot surgery and eventually signing with the UFC. In 2008, Fighting and Entertainment Group (the parent company of DREAM) attempted to possibly put a rematch together as Cro Cop took on Alistair Overeem at DREAM 6 on September 23rd. With Emelianenko present, it was hinted that the winner would face Emelianenko at Dynamite!! 2008 on December 31st. Unfortunately, the Cro Cop/Overeem fight ended in a no contest due to Overeem hitting Cro Cop in the groin and Emelianenko wouldn't fight for the remainder of 2008.
For Fedor Emelianenko, he continued to compete in PRIDE until it was bought out in 2007. He went on to score three more victories over freak show fighter Zuluzinho, a second win over Mark Coleman, and Mark Hunt who he successfully defended the PRIDE World Heavyweight Title against. After PRIDE, Emelianenko became one of the very few PRIDE fighters not to sign with the UFC in the aftermath or in the years since. As a result, there has been debates over Emelianenko's career as many fighters and fans have supported him while he has been voted the greatest of all time while critics like UFC president Dana White have questioned his credibility because he never fought in the UFC. In spite of this, Emelianenko continued to enjoy success for another three years as he competed in companies like Bodog Fight, Affliction, and Strikeforce while scoring wins over Matt Lindland, Hong Man Choi, Tim Sylvia, Andrei Arlovski, and Brett Rogers. During this time, he also became the first and only WAMMA (World Alliance of Mixed Martial Arts) World Heavyweight Champion. After ten years of dominance, Emelianenko suffered the first decisive loss of his career in June 2010 when he lost to Fabricio Werdum. Following this, Emelianenko would enter Strikeforce's Heavyweight Tournament in early 2011 but lost in the first round to Antonio Silva. His last Strikeforce fight saw him take on Dan Henderson where he suffered a knockout loss. Following his departure, Emelianenko bounced back with a three fight win streak over Jeff Monson and Pedro Rizzo in M-1 and over Satoshi Ishii in DREAM. On June 21, 2012, following his win over Rizzo, Emelianenko announced his retirement from MMA. For the next three years, he continued to be involved in the sport as part owner of M-1 while serving as president of the Russian MMA Union. On July 14, 2015, Emelianenko announced his return to fighting and retired from his position at the Russian Ministry of Sports to focus on his comeback. As of August, Emelianenko has yet to announce where he'll fight but is highly in demand.
In 2010, Emelianenko was recognized by Sports Illustrated, MMAFighting, Bleacher Report, Vale Tudo.ru, FIGHT! Magazine, and About.com as the 2000s Fighter of the Decade along with also winning Bleacher Report's 2000s Heavyweight of the the Decade award.
Outside of MMA, Emelianenko enjoyed continued success in sambo as he won the Combat Sambo Federation of Russia's National Championship five more times in 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2012 along with winning a gold medal at their 2008 President's Cup. He also captured another FIAS gold medal in 2007, won a bronze in 2008, and has since been inducted into the FIAS Hall of Fame. Along with his sambo honors, Emelianenko has become a celebrated figure in his native Russia to the point where he was a torchbearer for the 2008 Summer Olympics and the 2014 Winter Olympics.
As for Cro Cop, he continued to compete in PRIDE for another year. He went 1-1 for the remainder of 2005 as he defeated Josh Barnett a second time (this time by unanimous decision) at PRIDE 30: Fully Loaded/Starting Over but fell to Mark Hunt by split decision at PRIDE Shockwave 2005. He then had the biggest year of his career in 2006 when he entered the 2006 Openweight Grand Prix and won it by defeating Ikuhisa Minowa in the first round, Hidehiko Yoshida in the quarterfinals, Wanderlei Silva in the semifinals, and Josh Barnett in the finals. After backing out of a rematch with Emelianenko for Shockwave 2006 due to injury, Cro Cop signed with the UFC in December 2006. Originally coming in as a huge game changer for the UFC Heavyweight division, Cro Cop's UFC run was a tremendous disappointment as he went 1-2 in 2007 with a win over gatekeeper Eddie Sanchez before suffering two big upsets to Gabriel Gonzaga and Cheick Kongo. In 2008, he left the UFC and bounced back in the newly formed DREAM where he spent 2008 as he went 2-0, 1 No Contest by defeating 2010 DREAM Light Heavyweight Grand Prix finalist Tatsuya Mizuno and Hong Man Choi while going a no contest to Alistair Overeem. In June 2009, he returned to the UFC for one fight where he defeated former Cage Rage Heavyweight Champion Mustapha Al-Turk by TKO. From there, he signed a new deal with the UFC where he competed for another two years but was still never able to recapture the magic as he went 2-4 with wins over Anthony Perosh and Pat Barry while losing to Junior Dos Santos, Frank Mir, Brendan Schuab, and Roy Nelson. Cro Cop eventually left in October 2011 after suffering a three fight losing streak and contemplated retirement. He eventually resumed his MMA career in 2012 by defeating Shinichi Suzukawa at Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2012. He then went 2-1 from 2013-2014 with an upset loss to future UFC fighter Oleksiy Oliynyk but scored two wins over Satoshi Ishii while winning the Inoki Genome Federation Championship and then successfully defending it. In January 2015, Cro Cop returned to the UFC and avenged his loss to Gonzaga in April 2015. He still continues to fight with the UFC.
In 2012, Cro Cop returned to kickboxing where he defeated Ray Sefo in a fight that was thought to be a retirement fight. Despite this, he continued fighting as he fought in kickboxing for another two years in K-1 where he won the 2012 K-1 World Grand Prix and then in Glory. By winning the 2012 K-1 WGP, he became only the second Croatian to win the honor after Branko Cikatic who won the first in 1993. He also became the second, after Alistair Overeem, to be a kickboxing and MMA world champion. He's also the only fighter to have won a grand prix in both K-1 and PRIDE.
In 2010, Cro Cop was honored by Bleacher Report as the 2000s Striker of the Decade.
Closing
Fedor vs. Cro Cop is a memorable fight that stands the test of time and deserves it's position as one of MMA's most celebrated fights and possibly it's biggest title fight. It showed talented heavyweight go the distance and that heavyweight MMA can be epic and not just two oafs lumbering around. It also gave MMA that "Frazier/Ali, Heavyweight Championship of the World" type fight that fans remember fondly as a true clash of the titans affair between two elite heavyweights in their athletic prime. It also was a perfect example of a huge title fight where the planets were aligned right and was not a sequel. Regardless of who won or lost, both Fedor and Cro Cop should hold their heads high at the performance they gave and treasure that fight, like fans will, forever.
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