Titled “The 3rd Degree with Minotauro Nogueira,” UFC Fight Pass will feature the former interim UFC heavyweight champion during “Pride Never Die” week beginning Tuesday. Nogueira, who was a legend in PRIDE FC before coming to the UFC, travels the world to immerse himself in MMA. The full six-episode season will be added to the […]
Titled “The 3rd Degree with Minotauro Nogueira,” UFC Fight Pass will feature the former interim UFC heavyweight champion during “Pride Never Die” week beginning Tuesday. Nogueira, who was a legend in PRIDE FC before coming to the UFC, travels the world to immerse himself in MMA. The full six-episode season will be added to the […]
Legendary heavyweight striker Mirko “Cro Cop” Filopovic has announced his retirement from mixed martial arts according to a report from Croatia Week. Cro Cop last competed this past weekend in the Rizin Fighting Federation Open-Weight Grand Prix Tournament in Saitama, Japan, winning three straight fights to take home the tournament crown. Despite his successful performance,
Legendary heavyweight striker Mirko “Cro Cop” Filopovic has announced his retirement from mixed martial arts according to a report from Croatia Week.
Cro Cop last competed this past weekend in the Rizin Fighting Federation Open-Weight Grand Prix Tournament in Saitama, Japan, winning three straight fights to take home the tournament crown. Despite his successful performance, the 42-year-old knockout artist said that he’s dealing with ‘health problems’ and that he would no longer be competing:
“That was definitely my last tournament. I have health problems and this is definitely the end of my career,” Filipovic said. “I know I have announced my retirement before, but this is definitely it.”
It is indeed the second time he has announced his retirement, as he withdrew from a scheduled UFC Fight Night 79 bout in 2015. Filipovic said that he was dealing with an injury at the time and that he would no longer be fighting, although it was later announced that he had been popped by USADA (United States Anti-Doping Agency) for a potential anti-doping agency. The UFC cut ties with the Croatian and he was suspended from fighting in the UFC for two years.
Cro Cop will undoubtedly be remembered for his legendary run in PRIDE, and although his success in Japan may not have transferred over to the UFC as well as many had expected, he remains a legend of the sport as does his lethal left high kick.
Longtime MMA star Dan Henderson officially retired after his close unanimous decision loss to Michael Bisping in the main event of last night’s (Sat., October 8, 2016) UFC 204 from Manchester Arena in Manchester, England, and he did so in the style that only the heavy-hitting “Hendo” could. A throwback to an earlier era of MMA
Longtime MMA star Dan Henderson officially retired after his close unanimous decision loss to Michael Bisping in the main event of last night’s (Sat., October 8, 2016) UFC 204 from Manchester Arena in Manchester, England, and he did so in the style that only the heavy-hitting “Hendo” could.
A throwback to an earlier era of MMA where fighters fought to compete rather than gather social media followers, “Hendo” went out with a bang by nearly finishing now-champ Bisping in the same fashion in which he so iconically did at 2009’s UFC 100. In the end, the 46-year-old Henderson was edged out by Bisping’s far superior aggression, striking volume, and accuracy, but the two “H-Bombs” that nearly put “The Count’s” lights out in the first and second round were more than enough for most Hendo fans to believe their man had done enough to win.
While that’s a tough proposition to do against the champion in his home (and in a fight where he rarely pushed the action), the once-named “Hollywood” made things as dramatic as ever, and that is why he will go down as one of the most revered fighters in UFC and MMA history.
His story is a unique one. After a Greco Roman wrestling career that twice saw him compete in the Summer Olympics, Henderson first fought in the UFC in only his third MMA fight, defeating Allan Goes by decision on May 15, 1998 before outlasting Carlos Newton on the same night to win the UFC 17 Middleweight Tournament Final. After a string of six decision wins in seven bouts saw him dubbed “Decision Dan,” Hendo refuted the notion by becoming “Hollywood” in Pride due to his highlight reel finishes.
There, he fought a who’s who of Japanese MMA at the time, winning the welterweight championship and defeating Wanderlei Silva for the middleweight belt to become the first simultaneous two-weight champion in Pride. He remains the only man to do so.
In the Octagon, Hendo never won the one title that eluded him, falling just short against elite fighters such as Anderson Silva, Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson, and Bisping. Obviously he did etch his name into UFC history with possibly the most infamous knockout ever for his one-punch decimation of Bisping at UFC 100.
He even left for Strikeforce after a contract dispute following his historic knockout of Bisping, becoming their 205-pound champion by knocking out Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante. Henderson then knocked out arguably the best heavyweight of all-time when he floored Fedor Emelianenko in 2011.
That was enough for the UFC to re-sign him, and his third UFC run began with a fight that many feel may be the greatest MMA bout of all-time, his classic UFC 139 war with Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. It was the kind of bouts fans came to love and respect from Henderson.
That fight lead to a light heavyweight champion to dominant then-champ Jon Jones, but the bout never happened when Henderson injured his knee and ‘Bones’ refused to fight anyone on short notice, leading to the the promotion’s first ever cancellation of an event with UFC 151.
Hendo never seemed to quite bounce back from the over yearlong layoff that resulted, dropping narrow, uninspired split decisions to Lyoto Machida and Rashad Evans in 2013 before he was knocked out by the almost superhuman force of TRT-era Vitor Belfort (yes, it also deserves to be noted that Henderson was a pioneer of sorts of TRT use in MMA, being one of the first to secure a therapeutic use exemption (TUE) for the treatment).
His UFC run ended with seven losses in his last 10 bouts, but any MMA fan couldn’t help but forget all about those when Henderson rallied to knock out Hector Lombard with, of all things, a back-elbow, head kick, forearm smash combination at UFC 199. It was enough to get him a revenge-based title shot against Bisping despite the backlash due to the bout’s accused refusal to adhere to anything close to resembling a fair rankings system.
It happened, and Henderson and Bisping delivered a classic. True, Henderson came up just short, but even the Manchester fans gave him a rousing ovation after he nearly knocked out their famed hometown champion on more than one occasion.
Henderson was a throwback of MMA gone past who still brought the excitement needed to gain attention in today’s increasingly fast-paced, attention-starved world. There simply won’t be another fighter like him, and while he may not have had his hand raised every time, it was most certainly guaranteed you would be seeing a show.
“Hendo,” “Hollywood,” “Dangerous,” or even “Decision Dan,” Henderson was, is, and always will be an MMA legend. In his case, the UFC belt doesn’t prove or disprove that, yet he battled the only way he knew how to in one last war last with Bisping night.
Yeah, so remember that time that Charles “Krazy Horse” Bennett actually tried to wage a one man army on the famed Chute Boxe team back in the days of Pride? Well, it seems like Wanderlei Silva hasn’t forgotten. Not. One. Bit. Check out the video after the jump of Wanderlei Silva and Krazy Horse nearly coming to blows at the Rizin Hotel.
Yeah, so remember that time that Charles “Krazy Horse” Bennett actually tried to wage a one man army on the famed Chute Boxe team back in the days of Pride? Well, it seems like Wanderlei Silva hasn’t forgotten. Not. One. Bit. Check out the video after the jump of Wanderlei Silva and Krazy Horse nearly coming to blows at the Rizin Hotel.
Pride really never dies.
Jonathan Salmon is a writer, martial arts instructor, and geek culture enthusiast. Check out his Twitter and Facebook to keep up with his antics.
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.
The men and women of MMA are tough, that’s a given. Realistically, you couldn’t fight if you weren’t tough to some degree, right? Eventually, as a fighter, you’re going to get hit and you’re going to have to fight through it if you want to win- and everyone wants to win – otherwise, what’s the point?
The men and women of MMA are tough, that’s a given. Realistically, you couldn’t fight if you weren’t tough to some degree, right? Eventually, as a fighter, you’re going to get hit and you’re going to have to fight through it if you want to win- and everyone wants to win – otherwise, what’s the point?
Well among the sea of professional fighters that want to win, there are a select few that want it just a little more than the others. These fighters are willing to do what others won’t and can take what others can’t. They’ve been labeled as too many things to list, but for the sake of simplicity, let’s just call them tough.
The text book definition of tough is “strong enough to withstand adverse conditions or rough or careless handling” or “involving considerable difficulty or hardship; requiring great determination or effort“. Now those descriptions are nice, but they don’t do it justice. To really capture the grit that these pugilists represent, we have selected 10 fighters that physically embody the term itself. These fighters push through the pain like no other and have left us occasionally shocked, sometimes speechless and always inspired.
These are the human beings that can rally back after all hope appears lost. They have that extra gear that most are not built with that takes them to the finish. The effort is not always a winning one, but they give it all they have and don’t give in to the demands of their body to quit. These fighters have minds constructed of greatness, with the ability to push past physical boundaries and run on nothing but fumes and the desire to get their hand raised. The criteria for this list? Super human level resilience, nothing less.
