Written by Lyman Hoyt
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Friday, August 15 2008
The ongoing drama that is Mirko Cro Cop's fighting career took another turn today as he indicated he'll be fighting at DREAM.6
Remember the ‘good ol’ days’ way back in the mid 2000’s when Mirko Cro Cop would schedule a fight, show up and win, and then the process would repeat itself? Since his dominant PRIDE Open Weight Grand Prix win in September 2006 followed by his stormy UFC tenure its been more soap opera than fisticuffs from the Croatian striking machine. That may be about to change, as Cro Cop indicates that he’s healthier than he’s been in years and will be fighting on the DREAM.6 card on September 23rd at Tokyo’s Saitama Super Arena. While he suggests that the opponent is “up to DREAM” that’s hardly the case, and all indications are that he may finally get a chance to settle his feud with Dutch kickboxer Alistair Overeem.
The backstory of the (hopefully) impending Cro Cop/Overeem fight reads more like a script for “Days of Our Lives” than a fight preview. Most serious MMA fans know the Cro Cop story; however let’s recap the saga for those who don’t. Mirko Cro Cop won the PRIDE Open Weight GP in dominant fashion, culminating by his performance in the semis and finals where he defeated Wanderlei Silva and Josh Barnett on the same night. Having defeated two of the toughest fighters in the world by TKO and tapout respectively (though it appeared that Barnett tapped as much to a severe poke in the eye as to an accumulation of strikes), a rematch with Fedor Emelianenko seemed all but inevitable. In fact, in late September 2006 it wasn’t difficult to find those who suggested that Cro Cop deserved to be mentioned in the same breath as the “best heavyweight on the planet”.
Instead of fighting Cro Cop, however, Fedor signed to fight New Zealand’s enigmatic Mark Hunt on the PRIDE New Year’s Eve supercard. Though he was originally scheduled to fight on the event, Cro Cop withdrew citing a foot injury (though most indications are that he was frustrated by not getting a fight with Fedor). On December 30th, Dana White announced at the UFC 66 postfight press conference that he’d signed Cro Cop to a two year, six fight deal.
Mirko’s UFC tenure started successfully, as he defeated tough but limited striker Eddie Sanchez at UFC 67 in February, 2007. Everything about Cro Cop’s performance was spot on, and Zuffa did an excellent job at making him a “big deal”. His choice of the famous “PRIDE Theme Song” as his ring entrance music was somewhat prophetic as several months later UFC owners Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta bought the Japanese fighting organization as it teetered on the brink of insolvency. Sanchez was the perfect opponent for Cro Cop’s debut, tough enough to not seem like a pushover but someone who’d stand right in front of his opponent. Cro Cop stalked him all around the cage landing punches and kicks at will en route to a TKO victory.
With Cro Cop’s run of excellence and Randy Couture’s upset victory over Tim Sylvia to regain the UFC heavyweight title, the promotion was presented with an opportunity to reprise the “Rocky Balboa/Ivan Drago” fight in real life. Many suggested that a matchup between the popular and emotional “Captain America” and the taciturn Croatian striker could be the biggest box office attraction in the history of the sport. The plan was undone by some questionable matchmaking by the UFC’s Joe Silva: in what should have been a “tune up fight” to showcase Cro Cop in advance of the Couture fight, the promotion pitted him against rugged striker/BJJ champion Gabriel Gonzaga at an event in Manchester. Gonzaga mauled Cro Cop for most of the first round before landing his own devastating version of the Croatian’s trademark high left kick. Cro Cop went down like he got shot, and Gonzaga went on to get beaten down by Couture in his only defense of the heavyweight title before leaving the company.
Cro Cop’s UFC tenure ended with a lackluster decision loss to French kickboxer Cheick Kongo. Though it could be argued that Cro Cop showed courage by simply surviving against the bigger, more powerful opponent something clearly wasn’t right. Immediately afterwards, he announced that he was having surgery to correct a deviated septum that impacted his breathing. The surgery apparently was a success, and an apparently rejuvenated Cro Cop sounded every bit like a fighter anxious to return to battle.
This is where things get a little murky, beginning with his departure from the UFC. Despite having three fights left on his UFC deal, he somehow was able to work out a settlement with Zuffa that allowed him to sign with the new Japanese MMA promotion DREAM. DREAM, with a multitude of former PRIDE employees in the front office, quickly became the standard bearer of MMA in Japan and presumably Co Cop was to be the centerpiece of their heavyweight division. After a half dozen or so opponents fell through for one reason or another (some didn’t want to fight Cro Cop, while others were nixed by his management), Cro Cop easily defeated overmatched Tatsuya Mizuno.
Cro Cop hasn’t fought since, despite several “false starts” including a “grappling rules” match with Ralek Gracie that was scrapped at the last minute and another match with kickboxer Jerome LeBanner that never materialized. Though Cro Cop publically cited injuries to his elbow and leg, many observers were beginning to question his desire to fight.
One of those doing the questioning was the aforementioned Alistair Overeem. The Dutch kickboxer called out Cro Cop in the postfight of his successful DREAM debut and hasn’t let up since. The latest salvo was launched in an interview where he suggested that he had information that Cro Cop was going to back out of a scheduled fight at DREAM.6. He underscored his disdain by calling the Croatian striker a “douchebag”.
Needless to say, that last blast caught the attention of Cro Cop who’s since responded that he’ll be ready for a fight at DREAM.6. Despite his obvious disdain for Overeem and his insulting comments, he even displayed some typical Cro Cop equivocation as to his choice of opponent suggesting it was “up to DREAM”. That’s hardly the case, as Cro Cop has repeatedly exercised his “veto power” over opponents since returning to the promotion. Its almost as he’s trying to give himself the cover of “plausible deniability” should he not be ready to fight for whatever reason. Should that occur, its almost a given that he’ll blame it on DREAM’s inability to broker a deal.
As far as where Cro Cop is as a fighter its anyone’s guess. Not counting his domination of a vastly overmatched opponent in Tatuya Mizuno (who’d compiled a 3-2 mark in Pancrase before meeting Cro Cop) he hasn’t fought a significant opponent since last September’s loss to Kongo. He hasn’t beaten a top tier opponent since his PRIDE Open Weight GP triumph two years ago.
Overeem is something of a question mark himself, at least as a MMA competitor. He’s dominated most of his opponents but has struggled mightily when stepping up in class. He is off a victory over talented and tough Mark Hunt, but Hunt’s focus and commitment to the sport has been under constant question almost since he started his career. Despite his impressive reversal of a Hunt armbar attempt into a Kimura in their DREAM.5 matchup, he’s a made to order opponent for Cro Cop since he’d prefer to stand and trade strikes. His kickboxing background means that his “comfort zone” is also the perfect range for the Croatian’s devastating kicks.
Or it could be the case that Cro Cop is a made to order opponent for Overeem. If Cro Cop’s intensity and conditioning hasn’t improved since the Kongo fight, it could be Overeem’s night. Overeem looked very sharp in his DREAM.4 domination of Lee Tae-Hyun, knocking out his opponent at the :36 mark of the first round. A victory over Cro Cop, and particularly a dominating one, could vault him into worldwide superstar status.
Ultimately, this is a very intriguing matchup not only in the “in-ring” component, but the meta aspect as well. In the ring, it’ll be a striking war with two of the heaviest hitters (or kickers, in Cro Cop’s case) in the world going toe to toe. Equally fascinating is the fact that it’s a matchup of a riddle versus an enigma wrapped in a shroud of mystery (with apologies to Winston Churchill). There’s really no way to accurately foretell what will happen; only that it should be explosive and brutal.
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