Cro Cop (right) and Fedor (left) before the fight for the PRIDE belt. Photo: Disclosure/DSE
Two of the biggest names in the extinct PRIDE once again fought a battle, this time outside the cage. In October last year, shortly after Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic's defeat to Oleksiy Oliynyk, the Russian Fedor Emelianenko he stated that the Croatian was no longer the same and that he did not have the physical conditions or mental attitude to fight. At the time, Cro Cop had already seemed quite hurt by Fedor's statements and now, in an interview with the podcast “The MMA Hour”, he reignited the controversy and countered the criticisms of the legendary heavyweight.
“Of course he has the right to give his opinion, he is a legend of mixed martial arts. But I didn't like his comment, to tell you the truth. I never made a comment about his fights. All of Fedor's defeats, I felt like they were mine. At the end of the day, we fought together in the PRIDE ring, we shared locker rooms so many times. I was fighting in his city and he didn't even show up for the press conference. If Fedor came to my city, I would meet him a few days before, take him to lunch, dinner, whatever, shake his hand. And I just saw him there, in the ring. But he is like that. I think and act differently”, revealed the Croatian.
As he continued to comment on Emelianenko's attitude, Cro Cop, who returns to fight next Saturday (8) at the “Glory” kickboxing event, made his message to the Russian tougher and stated that it is not up to other people to decide on its time to stop or not. “I like Fedor and I respect him a lot, but it's not his job or his concern to act like my mother and give any kind of advice, especially to me. I think I'm old and wise enough to know when it's time to stop. What happened to me in that fight could happen to anyone. I really don’t know why Fedor said that”, he said.
Two of the main names in the history of heavyweights in MMA, Mirko Cro Cop and Fedor Emelianenko they made history in Japan and faced each other at PRIDE Final Conflict 2005. In the fight, one of the most acclaimed of the now defunct event, Fedor beat Cro Cop by unanimous decision and retained the heavyweight belt. At 39 years old, Mirko Filipovic has a record of 28 wins, 11 losses, two draws and one fight without result. Already Fedor Emelianenko has a record of 34 wins, four losses and one fight without result. The Russian ended his career in June 2012 with a victory over Brazilian Pedro Rizzo at the M-1 Global event.
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