So Long, Cro Cop...I Wish It Didn't Have To End This Way

I was listening to Sirius XM's Fight Club on Tuesday afternoon on my way home from work.  Of course, with the upcoming UFC 110, fights were being brought up and analyzed.  One fight that brought up its fair share of attention was the Cro Cop vs Ben Rothwell.  This fight stands out to me for a big reason: it should be the last time we see Mirko Filipovic in a fight.

To be fair, I used to be the biggest Mirko fan on the face of the planet.  He was the reason that I fell in love with MMA all over again.  Seeing him kick his opponents heads into what seemed like the fourth row in those Pride events was the greatest thing ever. 

I used to tell my wife stories of the "Croation Sensation," to which usually fell on deaf ears.  I remember hearing rumors of a potential Cro Cop versus Tank Abbot fight to which I felt would be the first death in an MMA match ever.  To sum it up, I was a supermark.

I know I am beating a dead horse when I say that he is simply not the same person that he used to be.  Since the Gonzaga fight, he has not looked the same in the cage.  After another loss to Kongo, he took a hiatus. His return fight at Dream 1 looked like a different Mirko. The Mirko of old! 

He physically looked different too.  He looked like he was growing at the same rate that Alistair Overeem does!  Ironically, this happened to be his next fight.  And man was I excited to see Mirko again...

And then he got dominated.  He was losing the fight until Overeem decided to throw a knee that gave Cro Cop an involuntary vasectomy.  I literally thought I was going to see Mirko cough up his testicles with how hard Overeem kicked him.

His next fight was a joke that put him back into the UFC.  He easily defeated Hong-Man Choi with leg kicks that looked reminscent of the Cro Cop of old, but was this the last time we would see Cro Cop look good?

It was time for a return to the UFC to take on Mostafa Al Turk.  I wanted to see the Cro Cop of old.  The one who ran through the Pride Grand Prix.  Instead we saw the same gunshy fighter that took advantage of an eye poke that the ref didn't see.  Maybe he saw it, who knows.  Maybe he was a fan of Cro Cop too and wanted to see a vintage head kick from hell.  It didn't happen.  He won this fight with punches. 

Finally, we get to the end of his illustrious career with his last fight against Junior Dos Santos, who I believe has the skills to give any heavyweight trouble.  This is the guy that gave Fabricio Werdum (yes, Fedor's next opponent) an uppercut from hell that knocked him out of the UFC. 

Don't get me wrong, Werdum came into the fight looking fat and out of shape.  Well, like many people expected, JDS dominated Mirko to the point of a verbal submission.

Finally, we reach Saturday's fight.  We have a Mirko who has thought about suicide, fishing while fighting, and countless other ideas instead of actually fighting.  His opponent is Ben Rothwell.  Rothwell may not have anywhere near the same resume that Mirko has, but he still has his head in the game.  After the beating he took from Cain Velasquez in his last fight, look for him to make a statement by dominating a legend of the sport.

I know that Mirko has made claims he has changed his camp and made other changes as well, but is that enough?  Is he just making the same claims that we heard from Chuck Liddell before he was knocked out by Shogun in his last fight?  One thing is for sure, I don't get excited to see Cro Cop fight anymore.

If he loses on Saturday night, look for him to get kicked out of the UFC, to which he may even retire.  I would like to see him get inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame.  Afterall, UFC does own Pride.  With the talks of a Pride revival, make him a Pride Hall of Famer. 

Win or lose, he will never be a contender again.  I don't want to see him get beaten silly by bigger and better fighters.  Who wants to see one of their heros get beaten up over and over again?

On an unrelated side note: for those of you listening to the Fight Club on Tuesday, I was the person who guessed which UFC event sold out the fastest.