Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic was kind of screwed from the git go when news surfaced that Anthony Perosh was replacing the ill Ben Rothwell for last weekend’s UFC 110. Although Perosh is a UFC vet and one of Australia’s more accomplished grapplers, Cro Cop was fully expected to crush the Aussie, particularly because he took the bout on short notice. If Mirko had lost, however, the curtains couldn’t have fallen fast enough on the Croatian’s UFC career.
Despite dominating throughout the fight, Cro Cop has caught a little flack apparently for not finishing the fight sooner, or even, for not stopping Perosh more ‘convincingly’ (evidently spilling a gallon of blood doesn’t qualify). In an interesting report from Fighters Only Magazine, Cro Cop maintains he took it easy on Perosh, as the fight drew to a close.
“I admire Perosh for accepting the fight. There were much better fighters there who turned it down but I understand why; they did not have time to prepare. [But] I am very sorry that I had to hurt Perosh. I tried to fight with as much consideration for him as I could. I even avoided the ground because I am 7, 8 kilos heavier than he is.”
Damn. You don’t hear that every day. Sounds like Perosh has a nice cozy place in Cro Cop’s Special Forces heart; the guy’s parents are Croatian after all…Ultimately, we get people saying that ‘this is MMA’, ‘he should have finished him sooner etc,’ but really, he got the easy win he was supposed to. Time to move on.