At the Rizin FF Open Weight Grand Prix Finals event held in Japan early Saturday morning, MMA legend and former PRIDE Open Weight Grand Prix Champion Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic moved on to the finals by knocking out Baruto Kaito in the semifinal bout he…
At the Rizin FF Open Weight Grand Prix Finals event held in Japan early Saturday morning, MMA legend and former PRIDE Open Weight Grand Prix Champion Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic moved on to the finals by knocking out Baruto Kaito in the semifinal bout held early in the show.
Featured below are video highlights from Twitter that show the devastating former K-1 and PRIDE/UFC star Cro Cop knocking out Kaito with a vicious body shot in the very first round.
A fresh Cro Cop, who also finished Bellator MMA fighter and Rizin FF’s first ever Grand Prix champion, Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal earlier this weekend in the Rizin FF Open Weight Grand Prix quarterfinals, will now move onto the tourney finals where he will meet Amir Aliakbari.
As noted, the second round of the Rizin FF Open Weight Grand Prix tournament took place at the Rizin FF event at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan this weekend.
In the main event of the evening, MMA legend and former PRIDE Open Weight Grand Prix tournament winner Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic defeated Bellator MMA contender, former Strikeforce Champion and the 2015 Rizin FF Tournament winner Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal in a quarterfinal tournament bout.
With the win Cro Cop advances to the semifinals, which also currently include Baruto Kaito, Valentin Moldavsky and Amir Aliakbari. Aliakbari defeated former PRIDE Heavyweight title contender and former UFC contender Heath Herring this week to advance to the semifinals. Also still in the running is Vadim Nemkov, who TKO’d Alison Vicente in 54 seconds in the Open Weight Grand Prix Reserve Fight.
The tournament continues with the next event, live this Saturday, December 31st, with the semifinals and finals of the 2016 Rizin FF Open Weight Grand Prix tournament. The Rizin FF Open Weight Grand Prix Finals will feature Mirko Filipovic vs. Baruto Kaito and Amir Aliakbari vs. Valentin Moldavsky in the semifinal bouts, with the winners advancing to face off against each other in the tournament finals. As noted, Vadim Nemekov could always pop up as a replacement, should one of the aforementioned fighters get injured in their respective fights.
As noted, the second round of the Rizin FF Open Weight Grand Prix tournament took place at the Rizin FF event at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan this weekend.
In the main event of the evening, MMA legend and former PRIDE Open Weight Grand Prix tournament winner Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic defeated Bellator MMA contender, former Strikeforce Champion and the 2015 Rizin FF Tournament winner Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal in a quarterfinal tournament bout.
With the win Cro Cop advances to the semifinals, which also currently include Baruto Kaito, Valentin Moldavsky and Amir Aliakbari. Aliakbari defeated former PRIDE Heavyweight title contender and former UFC contender Heath Herring this week to advance to the semifinals. Also still in the running is Vadim Nemkov, who TKO’d Alison Vicente in 54 seconds in the Open Weight Grand Prix Reserve Fight.
The tournament continues with the next event, live this Saturday, December 31st, with the semifinals and finals of the 2016 Rizin FF Open Weight Grand Prix tournament. The Rizin FF Open Weight Grand Prix Finals will feature Mirko Filipovic vs. Baruto Kaito and Amir Aliakbari vs. Valentin Moldavsky in the semifinal bouts, with the winners advancing to face off against each other in the tournament finals. As noted, Vadim Nemekov could always pop up as a replacement, should one of the aforementioned fighters get injured in their respective fights.
Pride legend and longtime UFC stalwart Mirko ‘Cro Cop’ made his return to mixed martial arts (MMA) today (December 29, 2016), facing former Strikeforce champion Muhammed ‘King Mo’ Lawal in the quarterfinals of the RIZIN FF Openweight Grand Prix from Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. After a run-in with USADA prompted his early retirement
Pride legend and longtime UFC stalwart Mirko ‘Cro Cop’ made his return to mixed martial arts (MMA) today (December 29, 2016), facing former Strikeforce champion Muhammed ‘King Mo’ Lawal in the quarterfinals of the RIZIN FF Openweight Grand Prix from Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.
After a run-in with USADA prompted his early retirement from the UFC, Cro Cop made a thunderous statement by running through Lawal with surprising ease, hitting him with some heavy hands on the feet before following him to the ground to earn a TKO stoppage with a fight-ending onslaught.
Watch the highlights of the stoppage courtesy of Zombie Prophet right here:
Mirko “Cro-Cop” Filipovic was successful in his Rizin FF Openweight tournament second round fight against King Mo Lawal, finishing the American fighter in the second round with a flurry of ground strikes. The bout was the headliner of Rizin FF 3’s second round event, held December 29 in Saitama, Japan.
Lawal, a replacement for Wanderlei Silva, who pulled out of the fight with less than a month to go, found the takedown early, but was unable to finish the dangerous striker. From that point, Cro-Cop seemed to shore up his takedown defense while softening Lawal up with kicks prior to the end of the first. The second round saw Cro-Cop catch King Mo along the ropes, dropping him to the canvass before finishing him with some powerful ground strikes.
The win makes it five straight victories for Cro-Cop (33–11–2 (1)), while Mo (20–6 (1)) loses just weeks removed from his December 16 victory over Satoshi Ishii in Bellator. Cro-Cop now advances to take on Baruto Kaito in the semi-finals of the tournament. The other bracket will see Iranian wrestler Amir Aliakbari, who picked up a win over Heath Herring earlier in the night, face Russia’s Valentin Moldavsky.
Full results from the event are below:
Mirko Filipović def. United States Muhammed Lawal by KO (Punch), Round 2, 6:41
Baruto Kaito def. Tsuyoshi Kohsaka by unanimous decision
Amir Aliakbari def. Heath Herring by unanimous decision
Valentin Moldavsky def. Szymon Bajor by unanimous decision
Rin Nakai def. Kanako Murata by submission (Rear Naked Choke), Round 3, 11:16
Tenshin Nasukawa def. Nikita Sapun by TKO (Punches), Round 1,2:45
Kazuyuki Miyata def. Andy Souwer by submission (Armbar), Round 1, 4:39
Yuki Motoya def. Allan Nascimento by split decision
Tatsumitsu Wada def. Kai Kara France by unanimous decision
Yusuke Yachi def. Mario Sismundo by TKO, Round 1, 0:18
Alyssa Garcia def. Kanna Asakura by unanimous decision
Vadim Nemkov def. Alison Vicente by TKO (Punches) Round 1, 0:54
Satoru Kitaoka def. Daron Cruickshank by submission (Guillotine Choke), Round 1, 8:18
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHLlGnPCI00
Mirko “Cro-Cop” Filipovic was successful in his Rizin FF Openweight tournament second round fight against King Mo Lawal, finishing the American fighter in the second round with a flurry of ground strikes. The bout was the headliner of Rizin FF 3’s second round event, held December 29 in Saitama, Japan.
Lawal, a replacement for Wanderlei Silva, who pulled out of the fight with less than a month to go, found the takedown early, but was unable to finish the dangerous striker. From that point, Cro-Cop seemed to shore up his takedown defense while softening Lawal up with kicks prior to the end of the first. The second round saw Cro-Cop catch King Mo along the ropes, dropping him to the canvass before finishing him with some powerful ground strikes.
The win makes it five straight victories for Cro-Cop (33–11–2 (1)), while Mo (20–6 (1)) loses just weeks removed from his December 16 victory over Satoshi Ishii in Bellator. Cro-Cop now advances to take on Baruto Kaito in the semi-finals of the tournament. The other bracket will see Iranian wrestler Amir Aliakbari, who picked up a win over Heath Herring earlier in the night, face Russia’s Valentin Moldavsky.
Full results from the event are below:
Mirko Filipovi? def. United States Muhammed Lawal by KO (Punch), Round 2, 6:41
Baruto Kaito def. Tsuyoshi Kohsaka by unanimous decision
Amir Aliakbari def. Heath Herring by unanimous decision
Valentin Moldavsky def. Szymon Bajor by unanimous decision
Rin Nakai def. Kanako Murata by submission (Rear Naked Choke), Round 3, 11:16
Tenshin Nasukawa def. Nikita Sapun by TKO (Punches), Round 1,2:45
Kazuyuki Miyata def. Andy Souwer by submission (Armbar), Round 1, 4:39
Yuki Motoya def. Allan Nascimento by split decision
Tatsumitsu Wada def. Kai Kara France by unanimous decision
Yusuke Yachi def. Mario Sismundo by TKO, Round 1, 0:18
Alyssa Garcia def. Kanna Asakura by unanimous decision
Vadim Nemkov def. Alison Vicente by TKO (Punches) Round 1, 0:54
Satoru Kitaoka def. Daron Cruickshank by submission (Guillotine Choke), Round 1, 8:18
It was announced during the broadcast of the Rizin FF 2 event in Tokyo, Japan this weekend that Wanderlei Silva vs. Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic 3 is booked.
The highly-anticipated Silva-CroCop trilogy bout will take place in the quarterfinals of t…
It was announced during the broadcast of the Rizin FF 2 event in Tokyo, Japan this weekend that Wanderlei Silva vs. Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic 3 is booked.
The highly-anticipated Silva-CroCop trilogy bout will take place in the quarterfinals of the Rizin FF World Grand Prix tournament, which kicked off at the Rizin FF 2 event this weekend.
In the opening round, CroCop defeated Hyun Man Myung via arm-triangle choke submission in the first round. Meanwhile, Silva received a “bye” in the first-round of the tourney.
The Rizin FF World Grand Prix tournament quarterfinals are scheduled to take place on Dec. 29 in Saitama, Japan.
Former Pride open weight champion Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic’s MMA return has been made official. After an admittance of using human growth hormone (HGH) last year caused an unceremonious early retirement, Cro Cop will return to action against Hyun Man Myung (3-2) in the opening round of RIZIN Fighting Federation’s World Grand Prix 2016 according
Former Pride open weight champion Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic’s MMA return has been made official.
After an admittance of using human growth hormone (HGH) last year caused an unceremonious early retirement, Cro Cop will return to action against Hyun Man Myung (3-2) in the opening round of RIZIN Fighting Federation’s World Grand Prix 2016 according to a report from MMA Fighting. The event will kick off on September 25, 2016, from the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan.
The bout will be Filipovic’s first since his comeback win over Gabriel Gonzaga in 2014, a fight where he got some sort of revenge for the iconic headkick from “Napao” that stopped Filipovic’s perceived run to a UFC title shot.
Former Pride star and UFC veteran Wanderlei Silva is also slated to fight in the second round of the RIZIN Grand Prix, which will feature “The Axe Murderer” against a yet-to-be-named opponent, whom many have speculated will be longtime Pride heavyweight champion Fedor Emelianenko. Fedor made his comeback for RIZIN in their debut show, trouncing grossly overmatched Jaideep Singh by TKO before moving onto to a highly controversial decision win over former UFC light heavyweight Fabio Maldonado in Russian promotion EFN.
