Mirko Cro Cop: I Won’t Be 100 Percent Against Frank Mir at UFC 119
As expected, the UFC has confirmed that veteran Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic will replace an injured Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and face former champ Frank Mir in the main event of UFC 119 on September 25 in Indianapolis.
Cro Cop says he won’t be 100 percent for the short-notice matchup, but was the UFC’s only option and couldn’t disappoint fans.
“I am aware that I am not going to be 100 percent for this fight because in this sport five weeks notice is basically last minute notice,” Cro Cop recently said (via Fighters Only). “But I know the UFC had no other solution and so I could not refuse the owner of the UFC, who has made me financially secure, or the UFC fans, who I do not want to disappoint.”
The UFC 119 fight card is co-headlined by Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Ryan Bader and also includes Chris Lytle vs. Matt Serra and Evan Dunham vs. Sean Sherk.
For complete UFC 119 coverage, including UFC 119 results on Sept. 25, stay tuned to MMAFrenzy.com.
Pictured: Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic
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Interesting that a fight would admit that. I assume that he is letting us know in advanced if he has a lack luster performance.
fighter*
i always admire a fighter who’s willing to step up on short notice, but this “i won’t be 100%” attitude won’t get him any closet to a victory…just sayin!
He does have a point though. 5 weeks with what I assume will be ground/grappling training isn’t going to be enough time for frank mir’s jitz.
We shall see!
Yeah, I think Mirko’s ‘spartan-like’ training camp is normally quite long and arduous. Can’t remember how long it was for his last few fights, but I’m sure it was far beyond 5 weeks. He also has to factor in travel time, and time change adjustment assuming he is training in Europe. Mir, in the meantime has been training in the USA and probably started a while back.
However, now Mir has to change his gameplan for a completely different style of fighter.
fighters never come into a fight 100%.
True but CroCop (im assuming) is stating that he won’t be fully prepared, as Jazz pointed out above.
Well this becomes A better card. So in a nice way I’m glad this happened.
I think Mirko CroCop’s willingness to take a short-notice fight against one of the best HWs in the world speaks to those of us, myself included, who have on occasion questioned CC’s current commitment and passion for MMA…
Well said
Hey buddy what part of Newfoundland r u from?
I think Mir rocks Mirko in the stand up and will not even need to submit him
I think that would be a bad game plan
but i would love to see mir engage in a stand up battle with cro cop it could be epic :D
I think this should be interesting, I think Mir will not want to stand too much because Mirko can take a beating we saw that in the beginning of the fight Mirko had with Pat Berry. So I think Mir will want to try to get it to the ground and ground and pound Mirko or will try to submit him.
No one is expecting Cro Cop to win – not even Cro Cop himself…
I hope that isn’t his way of doing damage control. You know, covering is a$$ now for when he get it handed to him on UFC119.
Maybe it is just a big rouse and in fact Cro Cop comes out and lands a big LHK for his last big hurrah?
Ok I am joking, that woun’t happen.
Or could it…? ha!
I wish…
this is a ploy to take mir off his game and make him think ” i got this one in the bag ” then BAM LHK and nitey nite for mir… i love CC but even i can see through this bs…
it is hard not to like a humble warrior like cro cop who
CroCop is a gamer and in MMA, he has only been KO’d twice (Randleman & Gonzaga) Crocop is tough as hell and his striking is above Mir’s, Mir should use his awesome grappling skills and sub Mirko (assuming he gets the chance.)
But remember folks, its MMA, anything can and will happen.
Cro Cop could be using a bit of a psychological game here, yes he is taking it on short notice, but maybe by stating this he thinks Mir will look at this fight as a push over and take his training a bit lighter and just not be as serious about Cro Cop.
Frank Mir is one bad man but id like to see him get busted by Cro-cop and have to spend some time in the “recuperation facility”.
Cro cop is not as bad on the ground as everybody makes him out to be. He has trained in BJJ himself, and did well against Barnett on the ground. Not to say he’s better than Mir on the ground, just that this isn’t a foregone conclusion. If CC comes in with the right mental attitude, he could still win – although his pre-fight comments have me worried.
Agree with what DF just said above. Let’s hope CC is playing mind games with Mir. I couldn’t stand to see a replay of the Kongo fight.