Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic is an athlete that has certainly had his ups and downs through out his career and this latest win over Tatsuya Mizuno may be just another part of that roller coaster ride . From being brutally knocked out by Kevin Randelman and Gonzaga to becoming the Pride OWGP champion and also giving Fedor all he could handle, no one really knows which “Cro Cop” will show up. Cro Cop’s greatest obstacle to holding a divisional title has never been the likes of Fedor, “Minotauro” Nogueira, or Josh Barnett but his very own psyche and game plan has been whats holding the Croat down for these past years.

Cro Cop really didn’t face much trouble in Pride until he fought Nogueira, which is where the fatal weaknesses in his mental gameplan where brought out into the open. Nogueira, unlike many of Mirko’s opponents, seemed to be immune to the KO that had slain so many other and he was also persistent with his TD attempts. He kept coming at Mirko despite the brutal punishment he was taking, upsetting the trend of opponents constantly backing away from the Croat and fearing him. Cro Cop has always been a fighter that could sniff out the slightest sense of fear or doubt and could turn into your living nightmare within the first minute of the fight, just ask Igor Vovchanchyn.

In many people’s opinions Mirko lost his fire when he couldn’t topple Fedor and this is certainly true in some aspects. Unlike Nogueira, Fedor’s win was not brought to him by an unbreakable chin, but by just being better at every aspect of the game that night. Mirko had been defeated, not by a lucky punch or a freak chin, but by sheer skill and better game plan giving him his first utter defeat in MMA. Everyone was counting him out after he dropped yet another loss, this time to the human tank that is Mark Hunt, losing in a very similar manner that cost him the Nogueira fight.

“Cro Cop” looked washed up and tired of fighting in the Hunt fight, certainly looking nothing like the monster that terrorized K-1 and Pride. Everyone on the internet forums were saying “He’s done, his game has been figured out” or calling him a “has-been” but oh how it all changed in the new year with the Open-Weight Grand Prix on the horizon. Tearing through Minowa in the first round certainly didn’t change the minds of the masses, but after handily defeating Hidehiko Yoshida with some of the most brutal leg kicks ever seen in MMA people started to jump back on the bandwagon.

His true test was in the semi-finals where Wanderlei Silva, fresh off of a brutal TKO win over Kazuyuki Fujita and with a burning hatred for Cro Cop ever since their first fight. Mirko silenced all doubters after giving Wanderlei Silva the most brutal KO loss of his career (Vitor has nothing on this one) and by beating a highly skilled Josh Barnett for the third time in the finals.

Mirko looked to be back on the right path, with a Grand Prix championship belt around his waist and a new contract with the UFC. He looked poised to take over the world once again, but all of the cries for Cro Cop’s take over were silenced during his fight against Gabriel Gonzaga, after being dispatched by the very high kick that had slain so many of his past opponents and sending him crumbling to the mat along with his immediate hopes of capturing the title any time soon. The chance of redemption presented itself in his match against Cheick Kongo but all that the fans were given was a half hearted attempt just to survive the fight, fueling more fans theories that he was once again done.

Anyone who has followed the fight game long enough knows about the “Mirko Cycle” of storming the scene and destroying opponents left and right but ultimately degrading back into timidness and lack luster fights. Will this latest win in DREAM catapult Cro Cop back into success just as the Minowa fight did? Will Cro Cop finally get all of the problems with his mental game plan figured out? Everyone who calls themselves a fan of MMA should certainly hope so because this man has the talent to beat any Heavyweight in the MMA world, including Fedor, if he keeps his head on straight.

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