With his second straight knockout loss, former PRIDE champion and K-1 great, Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovi? (27-9-2, 1NC) feels that it’s time to retire but he doesn’t want to go out on a loss.
Filipovi? suffered his second straight third round knockout on March 19 after taking on up-and-comer Brendan Schaub at UFC 128 in Newark, New Jersey. Schaub caught “Cro Cop” with a solid punch in the third round, putting him into unconsciousness before the Croatian hit the mat. The loss was reminiscent of his previous fight with former UFC champ Frank Mir at UFC 119, when Mir caught him late in the third round with a big knee knocking Filipovi? out cleanly.
On returning to his home town of Zagreb, Croatia, “Cro Cop” spoke to reporters about his desire for one more fight so he could finish with a win instead of a defeat.
“There’s one fight left on my UFC contract. I will have this fight, regardless of what the reporters think. However, there’s a possibility that the UFC will insist on not allowing me to fight. I will accept their decision. It’s time to retire, despite the fact that I want to continue. Next year, it will be 20 years since my first fight… I had a great career, and I don’t regret anything. But I don’t want to finish it defeated.”
“I’m very sorry. I was more than ready for my last two fights, but still, I was unable to see the punches coming. I would like to apologize to all my fans. Believe me, I’m also very disappointed. ”
“There’s no other options. UFC is a monopoly. Soon, they’ll swallow Strikeforce, so I have basically nowhere to go. The Japanese market is dead, DREAM is dead, and the tragedy in Japan annihilated all the other Japanese MMA promotions.”
HT: LowKick.com who also have “Cro Cop’s” video interviews on the post, but you’ll have to understand Croatian to know what is being said.