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.

As the last weeks of 2007 approach, the time has come to analyze and absorb the torrent of activity that traditionally accompanies the end of the year in MMA. This year however, it is a completely different landscape than just a year ago and miles away from what it was just two short years ago. By taking a look back just two years at New Year’s Eve events and comparing them to this years festivities, it’s easy to see that the most certain factor that will affect mixed martial arts in 2008 is uncertainty.

Historically, New Year’s Eve MMA was a celebration typically appreciated only by the hardcore fan. At least, outside of Japan. For several years, Pride and K-1 were locked in a bitter feud to rule the television ratings for the evening and utilized some extremely high profile matches as ammunition to try to take each other out.

The last big year for this rivalry was 2005 when DSE put together the highest single fight purse in the history of MMA for Hidehiko Yoshida to fight Naoya Ogawa. This fight drew enormous ratings over K-1, whose Premium Dynamite offering included Royce Gracie vs. Hideo Tokoro and a middleweight tournament final between Genki Sudo and Kid Yamamoto.

Just a year later, DSE was struggling to keep the Pride brand alive after losing a lucrative TV contract amid charges of corruption and involvement in organized crime. Nevertheless, DSE was able to put together one last year end blockbuster card that saw Takanori Gomi destroy Mitsuhiro Ishida, Minotauro and Josh Barnett in a war and Fedor Emelianenko get pushed farther than anyone expected by Mark Hunt. Meanwhile, K-1’s Dynamite 2006 offering included Pride defector Kazushi Sakuraba in a controversial contest with Yoshihiro Akiyama. Without a broadcast TV contract, Pride was forced to offer their card on a pay-per-view basis, a guarantee that K-1 would dominate the ratings.

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With the very exciting news of Fedor Emelianenko finally finding a home with M-1 Global, the internet pundits are raving that the real UFC competition has arrived. For the brief time that this information has been available for the MMA public, it appears to be the case.

M-1 Global has made a great choice in President/CEO Monte Cox. Cox is a seasoned fight manager and has enough understanding of the business to make me feel comfortable with his handling of the new organization. After all, Dana White was once manager to some of the biggest names in MMA today. They have the backing of Sibling Entertainment, who…well I guess I have no clue what they have done, but hey, they have the collective cajones to approach an undertaking of this magnitude. M-1 Global even did what the mighty Ultimate Fighting Championships could not- sign the biggest free agent, the aforementioned Fedor Emelianenko.

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I’m really starting to feel a kinship to the Fightlinker. First of all, I like his gimmick name. That’s a name that kills a man in an alley, and though as an MMA enthusiast I abhor street fight behavior that isn’t done by Steven Segal on TBS, if Kimbo Slice can evolve, then Fightlinker can certainly devolve. I’ve also remembered that the linker is from the great white north, Canada. I have a soft spot for Ottawa. I even finished this week’s podcast, loved the humor this week, and found we agreed on fighter rankings.

Rankings are silly and arbitrary. Anyone can do them. They hold no real value. Unless you put men up against each other you won’t know, and booking matches is more of a feel thing. A guy “feels” top five. A match up with this guy “feels” appealing. One of my favorite pastimes is to listen to a Sherdog podcast and hear some obsessive fanboy caller from their forum hassle editor Josh Gross for ten minutes. I keep wishing that Gross would snap and tell the guy the rankings were put up just to get site traffic because people are marks for that nonsense, but he never does. One day that poor guy is gonna go postal, and you’ll all be left with his chubby buddy TJ. Oh well.

The point is me and Fightlinker, I’m realizing we got more in common then perverse humor. My problem now becomes he’s more productive on his site. I had notes for an article on paper, and he’s so quick I had to find out from Luke Thomas’ Bloody Elbow how smart Fightlinker was. The guy took a short paragraph to give an overview on several points I thought up, and all I could think to do was cross out a few of my notes, and write in, “Must Stop Fightlinker!” I pray I get stopped by the police and they find that cryptic message on me.

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With the official closing of the Pride offices in Tokyo on Thursday, prominent Japanese MMA figures have been openly divulging contrasting views on how Dana White and the Fertitta Brothers have handled the acquisition of the foreign fighting promotion. While it is certainly easy to blame the UFC for the demise of the largest Japanese MMA promotion, a lot is relatively unknown behind the scenes of the Pride offices aside from the corruption and mob ties.

Although my opinions in the past may have unintentionally set the precedent that I am a critic of the largest MMA production and those who individuals who run the show, I do enjoy most of the decisions that emerge from the Feritta’s and Mr. White.

Many enthusiasts, me included, are quick to criticize the Japanese organized crime families for the downfall of Pride, but you still have to remember that the Fertitta brothers are not far removed from their own family’s mob past and it didn’t take long for the Fertitta’s to establish themselves financially thanks to their father, Frank Fertitta Jr, who had ties to Vegas gambling since the 1960’s.

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If the UFC and Dana White want the best guys who are quickly moving up through the ranks, they should have paid more attention to Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou, a young and dangerous Judo and Muay Thai fighter. Why Sokoudjou? Well, any fighter who comes off of two knockout wins against Brazilian Top Team light-heavyweight fighters Ricardo Arona and Antonio Rogerio Noguiera, while up against 16-1 odds, should be given a chance to showcase more of their skills in the largest MMA Organization in the world.

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