Mirko Cro Cop

K-1

In 1996, at the age of 22, Filipovic entered the K-1 World Grand Prix elimination tournament. After defeating the previous year's finalist, Jerome Le Banner, Filipovic was stopped in the next round by Ernesto Hoost. He returned to K-1 three years later in 1999, knocking out British fighter Ricky "Tank" Nicholson, but subsequently dropped a decision against Swiss fighter, Xhavit Bajrami. Despite this, Filipovic was given a wildcard into the world tournament where he shocked the kickboxing world by defeating highly regarded K-1 fighter Mike Bernardo. Filipovic went on to knock out Japanese star Musashi and Australian karate fighter Sam Greco on the same night before being stopped again by Hoost. It was later revealed that Filipovic actually entered the ring with a broken rib, a result of his previous fights.

Filipovic continued to have successes in K-1, winning a number of matches against such top ranked opponents as Peter Aerts, Mark Hunt and Remy Bonjasky. He was the first fighter to beat then-undefeated giant, "The Beast" Bob Sapp in 86 seconds, breaking Sapp's zygomatic bone with a left punch. In 2000 he beat karate fighter Glaube Feitosa and boxer Hiromi Amada to reach the finals of the Nagoya Grand Prix, losing by first-round TKO to Mike Bernardo in a rematch. Once again, previously acquired injuries were the major factors in this loss. Filipovic actually entered the ring limping on one leg due to injuries sustained in previous bouts. Bernardo repeatedly attacked Filipovic's damaged leg and rendered him unable to continue due to injuries. Filipovic, however, gained tremendous respect among Japanese fight enthusiasts for his courage and heart. As a finalist he progressed to the final eight for the 2000 Grand Prix, but once again dropped a decision to his nemesis Hoost.

In 2001 he was unexpectedly defeated by Canadian fighter Michael McDonald in the first round. Shortly thereafter, he began a transition to Pride, a Japanese mixed martial arts organization. He fought four more K-1 matches, however, winning each, most notably against Mark Hunt, Remy Bonjasky and Bob Sapp.



Pride FC

In 2001, Filipovic began his switch to fighting in Pride, citing personal challenge as well as dissatisfaction with K-1 salaries. A year later, he also left his job at the anti-terrorist unit in order to focus fully on his martial arts career. Since then, Filipovic maintained a comparably low kickboxing profile, but nevertheless scored some impressive K-1 victories, most notably against Mark Hunt in March 2002 (unanimous decision), Remy Bonjasky in July 2002 (second round TKO) and Bob Sapp in April 2003 (first round KO).

Following a TKO win over Kazuyuki Fujita in his MMA debut, Filipovic made his Pride debut at Pride 17 against Nobuhiko Takada. The bout featured a special rule stating if it went to a decision it would be ruled a draw. Neither fighter was able to stop the other.

Filipovic's next Pride fight was against then-middleweight (205lb) champion Wanderlei Silva. This bout featured the same rules as the Takada fight and also ended in a draw. On August 28, 2002 Filipovic faced Japanese superstar Kazushi Sakuraba at Pride Shockwave 2002. Filipovic won after fracturing Sakuraba's orbital bone.

His next fight was a rematch with Fujita at the Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2002 event where he picked up his fourth victory, this time by decision.

Filipovic returned to Pride to face heavyweight contender Heath Herring at Pride 26 (June 8, 2003). Filipovic defeated Herring decisively, scoring a TKO victory with a left roundhouse body kick to Herring's liver at 3:17 into the fight. His next fight was against Ukrainian striker Igor Vovchanchyn at Pride Total Elimination 2003. Following the powerful kicks of the Herring fight, this fight continued to showcase Filipovic's kicking power as he knocked out Vovchanchyn with a head kick 1:29 into the fight. Filipovic then defeated Mexican professional wrestler Dos Caras Jr. at Pride Bushido 1, also with a head kick knockout, in 46 seconds.

Filipovic's string of Pride wins secured him a chance to fight for the interim heavyweight championship against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira on November 9, 2003. Filipovic's stand-up fighting proved effective in the first round, allowing him to control the fight from his feet while defending every takedown attempt Nogueira made, and landing a head-kick at the end of the round. Nogueira, however, prevailed in the second round after finally getting a successful takedown, forcing Filipovic to submit to an armbar after being mounted. Filipovic admitted to Bas Rutten in a later interview that he was overconfident against Nogueira.

In 2004 Filipovic put his K-1 career on hold and recruited Fabricio Werdum (a former world champion in Brazilian jiu-jitsu) as his coach, working on improving his ground fighting skills. He went on to win his next two bouts by KO and TKO at a combined time of only 3:49, against Yoshihisa Yamamoto and 280lb. Ron Waterman.

Filipovic then participated in Pride's Heavyweight Grand Prix. In a upset, Filipovic was knocked out in the first round by Kevin Randleman. Filipovic later submitted Randleman in a rematch at the end of 2004.

Filipovic repeatedly requested Pride to let him challenge the heavyweight champion, Fedor Emelianenko. After winning seven straight matches since his loss to Randleman, including a head-kick knockout victory against Aleksander Emelianenko (the 6'4", 255 lb (116 kg) brother of the champion) and wins over Josh Barnett, Mark Coleman and Ibragim Magomedov, Filipovic received a chance to fight Emelianenko for the title on August 28, 2005 at Pride Final Conflict 2005. After three rounds, Emelianenko won by unanimous decision and retained his title. Filipovic later stated on Croatian national television that he came exhausted to the match, mostly because he was not used to the time difference in Japan and he had sleeping problems. He also said many times after the match that he fought too defensively and cautiously. The champion, likewise, was not in his top form. According to Emelianenko he "could not take full advantage of his right hand during the striking exchanges and had to try to close the distance", due to a previous hand injury.

Becoming a champion

Filipovic re-entered the Pride ring, competing in Pride's 2006 Open-Weight Grand Prix on May 5, 2006. It was during this tournament that he came up with the quote, "Right leg, hospital; left leg, cemetery". His first match at the Pride Total Elimination Absolute event was against Ikuhisa Minowa, the lighter but highly acclaimed professional wrestler and mixed martial artist. Filipovic won by TKO 1:10 into the fight. On July 1, 2006 at Pride Critical Countdown Absolute, Filipovic defeated 1992 Olympic judo gold medalist Hidehiko Yoshida by technical knockout (leg kicks) in the first round to move on to the semi-finals.

On September 10, 2006, Filipovic won the Open-Weight Grand Prix at Pride Final Conflict Absolute. In the semi-finals, Filipovic knocked out then-Pride middleweight champion Wanderlei Silva with his trademark left high kick. In the final match, Filipovic won a third victory over Josh Barnett, who submitted after sustaining an eye injury. With these two victories, Filipovic became the Pride Openweight Grand Prix champion, the first widely recognized championship belt he has ever won. In a post-fight interview with Frank Trigg, Filipovic stated if he had not won the tournament, it would have been his last night fighting. The night was also his birthday, and Filipovic dedicated winning the tournament to his deceased father.