Primarily known for his string of head kick knockout victories over highly regarded heavyweight fighters in Japan’s Pride Fighting Championships, former Croatian police anti-terrorist commando Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic began his professional martial arts career in the kickboxing ring, winning notable K-1 fights against Jerome Le Banner, Mike Bernardo, Peter Aerts, and Remy Bonjasky, among others, before transitioning to the world of mixed martial arts in 2001.

From 2001-2003, Filipovic became one of the most feared MMA fighters on the planet, assembling in two short years a career’s worth of gruesome knockout victories over the likes of Pride FC stars Kazuyuki Fujita, Kazushi Sakuraba, Heath Herring, and Igor Vovchanchyn. Filipovic, who famously quipped “right leg, hospital; left leg, cemetery,” was capable of ending a fight at any moment with a well-placed kick to either the head or to the body. At his peak, Cro Cop’s icy, impassive demeanor could visibly rattle opponents as he calmly stalked them around the Pride ring.

Crocop’s aura of invincibility began to crack, however, when he was shockingly submitted in the second round by Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira in a fight Filipovic was dominating at Pride Final Conflict 2003. While he would go on to lose other notable fights to Kevin Randleman in a huge upset during the 2004 PRIDE Heavyweight Grand Prix, Fedor Emelianenko in a decision, and Mark Hunt while competing for PRIDE, Filipovic would remain one of the biggest stars in the promotion, often sensationally defeating top opponents like Aleksander Emelianenko, Josh Barnett (three times), Kevin Randleman, Mark Coleman, Hidehiko Yoshida, and Wanderlei Silva before the collapse of PRIDE FC in 2007.

During his stay at PRIDE Fighting Championships, Mirko "Cro Cop" in 2006 defeated such big names as Ikuhisa Minowa, Hidehiko Yoshida, Wanderlei Silva (alternate for injured Fedor Emelianenko) and Josh Barnett to gain him the prize of the 2006 PRIDE FC Open-Weight Grand Prix Champion. It is an event that Mirko states as one of the happiest moments of his life by winning the Grand Prix on his 32nd Birthday.

Since moving to the UFC in 2007, Filipovic has met with mixed results, including an all-time highlight reel knockout loss at the hands of Gabriel “Napao” Gonzaga. Nevertheless, fans still recall Cro Cop’s halcyon days in Pride, punctuated by his triumph in the Pride 2006 Open Weight Grand Prix, as the stuff of legend. Following a pair of devastating knockout losses to Frank Mir and Brendan Schaub in 2010-11, UFC President Dana White announced that fans had likely seen the last of the Croatian legend in the UFC.

But later in 2011 Dana felt it necessary to give Mirko one last fight stating that "He deserves it", so in October of 2011 Mirko walked into the octagon once more to take on former IFL Champion and TUF winner Roy "Big Country" Nelson. In a very entertaining fight Mirko showed his past former self that many have seen in his PRIDE days, but the very durable Nelson used his tough chin and defeated "Cro Cop" in round 3 in their very competitive contest. After his defeat Mirko thanked his fans for their loyal support and stated that he is retired from the sport of MMA.

Mirko Filipovic is still retired to this day from MMA, but his competitive spirit still shines as he still participates in a sport that brought him into the competitive spot light. That sport is K-1 Kickboxing, were he made his K-1 comeback against the likes of K-1 Legend Ray Sefo were he earned the unanimous decision victory. He is still competing to this day in K-1 and showing no times of stopping his passion for fighting.

After over 1 year of an MMA hiatus, Mirko accepted a fight under the Japanese Promotion Company of Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye or IGF. He faced popular sumo wrestler  Shinichi Suzukawa in his pro MMA debut in a traditional Japanese MMA New Years Event. As the main MMA event in a generally mixed rule card where Mirko took on his opponent and defeated him in non traditional fashion by Mirko winning by an armlock in the very first round. Which makes it Filipovic's  3rd official submission via choke or armlock. It is unknown if Filipovic will continue his passion of MMA, or continue his K-1 Kickboxing roots at this time.