LAS VEGAS — Mirko (Cro Cop) Filipovic and Roy (Big Country) Nelson are each on two-fight losing streaks in the UFC. So their clash on the main card of Saturday’s UFC 137 is your classic definition of a “must-win” in order to keep fighting in the Octagon.
The truth is, win or lose, it could be the last time we see the Croatian legend known mostly by his nickname in competition at all.
“This could easily be my last fight in the UFC,” Cro Cop said at Thursday’s pre-fight press conference.
Cro Cop was asked why he would declare before his fight that he might be ready to call it quits, even if he wins. For him, it’s a numbers game.
“There’s 37 or 38 reasons,” Cro Cop said, referring to how many years old he is (or portions thereof). And he threw out another number.
“It’s 20 years from my first fight,” the former K-1 competitor added, evidently going back to well before he began fighting MMA professionally in 2001. “I’ve had a long and rich career.”
Filipovic (27-9-2, 1 NC) does have some regrets however. The devastating kickboxer, who has been quoted using the catchphrase “right leg, hospital, left leg, cemetery,” was much celebrated when he moved to the UFC from Pride in 2006. But he lost two of his first three fights, one by a stunning knockout at the hands of Gabriel Gonzaga from a kick to the head — ironic considering it was the very thing for which Cro Cop himself was renowned.
He left the UFC to fight in Japan again and after two wins and one no-contest, he returned to the Octagon. But he hasn’t fared much better since.
He did win three of his first four fights in his second go-round. But the one loss and the two on his current slide have come against higher-calibre fighters (including back-to-back against Frank Mir and Brendan Schaub). And he was stopped by strikes in all three.
“(My career has been) successful, just not in the UFC, (for which) I’ll never be able to forgive myself,” Cro Cop admitted. “I blew it up, because when I came I was treated like a king. And I still am.”
Cro Cop said part of his lack of success was due to injuries, and the six surgeries he’s undergone. And that doesn’t just affect you physically but also affects you mentally.
He insists he prepared himself hard and is ready to raise his game against Nelson on Saturday. But the father of two sons feels like it might be time to start a new chapter in his life.
Filipovic also said he’d prefer it if his kids didn’t follow in his fighting footsteps — at least not in mixed martial arts. At the fighter workouts Wednesday he went against the grain of many UFC fighters who have advocated for the safety of their sport.
“I will support them if they choose to fight in MMA, but I don’t want that for them,” Cro Cop said Wednesday. “It’s too bloody.
“One thing is competing in wrestling, like my son, maybe to one day go to Olympics as a wrestler. But MMA is something different. You won’t swallow an elbow in wrestling. Nobody will throw you in the cage or take your head off.”
And then he got a bit stoic (which is not unusual for him).
“If I’m injured or whatever, it doesn’t hurt me. I’ve been all my life in sport. It means nothing for me. You might think I’m selling you some Ghandi s— or something like that. But I’m serious. I don’t care if I’m going to sleep in Mandalay Bay or a tent … I don’t care for any status.
“It doesn’t hurt me, but it hurts when I see tears in my mother’s eyes. She’s suffering because she thinks I’m in pain. But it’s okay for me. I can swallow any damage to my body. I don’t care. But it hurts when I see the pain in the eyes of the people that I (care about).”
If it is to be Cro Cop’s last fight, Nelson (15-6) isn’t going to blink at the opportunity to send him to retirement. He knows there’s a silver lining.
“If I’m his last fight, at least he’s getting paid for it,” Nelson said Wednesday. “That’s all you can ask for, since we don’t get a pension!”
The 35-year-old Las Vegas native continued his joking ways on Thursday.
“Apparently if you lose twice, you have to retire. So apparently, I’m retiring,” Nelson deadpanned before switching to serious mode. “We’re going to put on a fight. That’s what everybody comes to watch.”
As far as his two straight losses go, he sees them in very different lights. After winning The Ultimate Fighter with a knockout of Schaub in December 2009 and then stopping Stefan Struve in 39 seconds in his second bout, he took on Junior dos Santos in a “title eliminator” fight.
He did manage to take the current No. 1 contender the distance — he was the first to do so. But ultimately he lost. Then he dropped another decision to Mir.
“The one thing with the Junior fight, that was my championship fight,” Nelson said. “I thought back then that was the one for me. If it had been two more rounds, it might have been a different story, because I felt like the pressure (I was putting on him) was getting (close) to breaking him. From the first round where I got hit, slowly I felt the swing shift.”
He said in his last fight it was just about not being fully prepared, and underestimating his opponent.
“With the Frank fight, it was just I thought my 60 per cent was going to be enough to beat Frank, and I was sorely mistaken on that one.”
He likely won’t underestimate Cro Cop on Saturday. Even if the latter may be looking to the future. For both of them, the future is now.
NOTES: One of the biggest laughs at Wednesday’s press conference was when Cro Cop responded to a question about a video posted online of him singing in a car with Pat Barry. “I’m not planning a singing career. But Barry sold me out because he released it on YouTube. I will kick his ass the first time I see him.”
