Forty-year-old heavyweight mixed martial artist Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic does not forget his defeats.
He clings to them, obsessing over those fighters who bested him in the past.
Now, he wants his revenge.
According to a post on his official website (translation via MMAFighting.com), Cro Cop eyes some rematches in his future, and he wants to right his past wrongs.
“This [fighting in rematches] is something I really want to do,” Cro Cop said. “It’s something I owe to the sport and I owe it to myself to beat some of those guys.”
Cro Cop, who is 31-11-2 with one no-contest, has plenty of options. Of his 11 defeats he has yet to avenge, six came against fighters who are still active in the UFC’s heavyweight division. A seventh—his 2008 no-contest against Alistair Overeem—can also be added to the mix.
Alongside Overeem, Cop Cop holds losses to Frank Mir, Roy Nelson, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Brendan Schaub, Junior dos Santos and Mark Hunt, all fighters who are still going strong today under the UFC banner.
Schaub recently announced he would try his hand at light heavyweight moving forward, but he’s also said he’s mainly interested in superfights, and a rematch against Cro Cop could potentially fit the bill.
Of these opponents, though, Cro Cop singled out a few in particular that he’d love to run back sooner than later.
“[Antonio Rodrigo] Nogueira is definitely there, Roy Nelson is definitely there, and some other fighters,” Cro Cop said. “Junior dos Santos is definitely there. And perhaps [Alistair] Overeem too.”
Perhaps this idea took root after Cro Cop’s most recent outing, a third-round TKO of Gabriel Gonzaga in April. Gonzaga and Cro Cop previously met at UFC 70, where the Brazilian shocked the world and delivered a picture-perfect head kick that ended Cro Cop’s night.
Apparently, Cro Cop liked the taste of revenge, and now he’s after more.
Who would you like to see him face next? Do you like any of those options for him moving forward?
Sound off, and we’ll discuss the Croatian legend’s future inside the UFC Octagon.
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