About Cro Cop
Cro Cop, also known as Mirko Filipovi, is a retired professional mixed martial artist from Croatia who was also a kickboxer and amateur boxer. His estimated net worth is $6 million. Cro Cop is undoubtedly one of the most terrifying heavyweight kickboxers and MMA fighters of all time.
Cro Cop, his wife Klaudija, and their son Ivan are currently residing in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. Before starting to combat in 1996, he was a commando in the Alpha anti-terrorist unit of the Croatian police. On the ballot for the Social Democratic Party, Cro Cop was also chosen to serve in the Croatian parliament. He served his first term till November 2007.
Cro Cop has dominated opponents including Jerome Le Banner, Mike Bernardo, Sam Greco, Musashi, Glaube Feitosa, Peter Aerts, Mark Hunt, Remy Bonjasky, Ray Sefo, Bob Sapp, and Ismael Londt in kickboxing. In MMA, he has notably defeated opponents like Kazuyuki Fujita (twice), Kazushi Sakuraba, Heath Herring, Alexander Emelianenko, Josh Barnett (three times), Kevin Randleman, Mark Coleman, Wanderlei Silva, Choi Hong-man, Pat Berry, Gabriel Gonzaga, and Roy Nelson.
Heavyweight boxer Cro Cop has a background in kickboxing. His left high kick’s quickness and deadly force helped shatter an early MMA notion that high kicks weren’t effective in the sport. He is regarded as one of MMA’s all-time best attackers.
Cro Cop is renowned for having a formidable takedown defense as well. Despite not being regarded as a skilled submission fighter, he practices all fighting philosophies, including Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. He actually trained with Fabricio Werdum for a while, and since then, his ground defense has appeared to be stronger.
In 1996, Cro Cop first took up kickboxing. Although he defeated Jerome Le Banner, Ernesto Hoost defeated him the next year.
Cro Cop beat Mike Bernardo, Musashi, and Sam Greco three years later in the K-1 Grand Prix Tournament (the Super Bowl of kickboxing), but was stopped by Hoost.
At the Nagoya Grand Prix in 2000, Cro Cop would lose in a competition once more, this time to Mike Bernardo, who had defeated him in 1999. Later that year, he was defeated by Hoost once more. Even though he started competing in MMA in 2001, he didn’t totally retire from kickboxing until some time later.
Cro Cop defeated Kazuyuki Fujita to start his MMA career in the K-1 league. Following that, he participated 24 times in the now-defunct PRIDE Fighting Championships league, winning matches over top competitors like Wanderlei Silva, Josh Barnett, and Aleksander Emelianenko, among many others. It was one of the most anticipated heavyweight fights ever when he lost by decision to Fedor Emelianenko. In 2006, Cro Cop won the last open weight competition for PRIDE by successively defeating Wanderlei Silva and Josh Barnett.
Cro Cop had a poor tenure in the UFC, going 1-2 with defeats to Gabriel Gonzaga and Cheick Kongo, before switching to the DREAM organization not long after winning PRIDE’s open weight tournament. Cro Cop re-signed with the UFC following two fights with DREAM.
Mirko Filipovic finally retired in 2019 following a stroke. Cro Cop’s net worth is projected to reach $6 million as of 2023. He has one of the most impressive Muay Thai kicks in UFC history.
