NEWS:    1     2     3

June 8th, 2003

Mirko "CroCop" Filipovic (104kg / 229lbs) defeated Heath Herring (108kg / 238lbs) in 3:17 of 1R by TKO (middle kick / punches).
-Herring gets a big pop coming out. Herring and his cornermen have to push their way through the crowd like in old All Japan main events.
-1R: Herring comes after him with punches. CroCop throws him down twice, leaving Herring to get up both times. CroCop goes for a high kick, but it`s block. Herring goes for high kick, also blocked. They go down. CroCop lands some knees from the north-south position. Herring escapes and gets to his feet. Herring goes for a double-leg takedown, but isn’t successful. Big middle kick by CroCop as Herring goes for a low kick. Herring goes down. CroCop gets on him with about 10 unanswered punches. The referee stops the fight.
-CroCop remains undefeated in mixed martial arts competition.
-CroCop said on the microphone that he his big dream is to become the champion in both PRIDE and K-1.
Herring suffered from two broken ribs.

Alistair Overeem (94kg / 207lbs) defeated Mike Bencic (102kg / 225lbs) in 3:44 of 1R by submission (strikes/injury).
-Bencic comes out in a Batman mask and cape. CroCop, who is fighting tonight, is in Bencic`s corner.
-Overeem comes out in an orange ski mask.
-1R: Overeem gets Bencic down in the corner. Bencic gets guard. Bencic goes for a triangle, but Overeem evades it and gets half guard, but Bencic gets full guard again. Overeem throws some punches to the head, while Bencic ties to defend. Overeem gets side mount position. They return to their feet. In a weird moment, Overeem lands a left, hits a jumping knee and takes him down. There was a weird moment where the fight seemed to have been paused, but wasn`t as Bencic appeared to be in great pain. Becic taps out due to an apparent injury. Possibly to the ribs.

mmanews.com

May 30th, 2003
PRIDE 26 will be held in the Yokohama Arena on June 8th.
PRIDE 26 will air on Pay Per View June 13, 2003 on iNDEMAND, DirecTV...
PRIDE 26 card:
Crocop's trainer Mike Bencic is going to fight Alistair Overeem
On the press conference on May 21st Takada said:

Mirko said he wants to fight in the PRIDE ring, in addition to the K-1 ring. He wants to be both the champion of K-1's standing battle and champion of MMA combat in Pride. To be exact, he wants to prove that he is the strongest man in the world. That is Mirko's ultimate goal. No one has yet to become Champion of both these arenas. It is a great undertaking.pridefc.com 

May 23rd, 2003
Mirko "Crocop" Filipovic going for the PRIDE heavyweight title?
General PRIDE manager Nobuhiko Takada announced that he would like to see Mirko fighting current PRIDE champion Emelianenko Fedor August 10th and that their fighters will recieve their official offers for the fight.
Mirko is in excellent form lately and he will use that to attack both titles, PRIDE and K-1.

 

Emelianenko Fedor, PRIDE heavyweight champion
May 21st, 2003
Yup folks, it's official. "Mirko Crocop" Filipovic will fight Heath "The Destroyer" Herring June 8th (PPV is 13th) on PRIDE 26

Heath Herring

    
Name Heath Herring
Nick Name The Destroyer
Record 18 - 7 - 0
Association Golden Glory
Height 6'4 / 193.04 cm
Weight 250 lbs / 113 kg
Style wrestling/Muay Thai
Birth Date 03/02/1978
City Amsterdam
Country United States
   
Heath Herring is a native of Amarillo Texas who is now one of the fastest rising stars in mixed martial arts. Heath Herring got his mixed martial arts start by competing at a USWF show held in his area. Herring managed to make it into the finals of the USWF event with only wrestling experience as a senior in high school and no martial arts training.

Although Herring wrestled in high school, Herring was more into football where he played the defensive line position. After high school, Herring received a scholarship at West Texas A&M to play football there. Ultimately, he went on to study fighting and gave up football. Herring continued to fight and pay his dues while making little money in smaller shows.

In 1999, Herring competed at SuperBrawl 13 in Hawaii. He defeated Rocky Bastini by submission with a rear naked choke. Herring advanced to the second round to fight Bobby Hoffman but Herring loss a unanimous decision.

It wasn't until he joined the Golden Glory team when Herring received the opportunity to fight in PRIDE. Herring gave up a football scholarship in a Pennsylvania college to move to Holland and work with the Golden Glory team.

Heath Herring made his PRIDE debut fighting against Willie Peters at PRIDE 9 "New Blood". Herring won in under minute with a rear naked choke. In his next PRIDE fight at PRIDE 11, he defeated the then undefeated (7-0-1) Tom Erikson. It was in this event where Herring started sporting a new unique haircut for PRIDE. Herring was victorious the next two PRIDE events defeating the tough Enson Inoue and Dennis Sobolev.

MMAFighting.com
Heath Herring is currently ranked as one of the top Heavyweights in the world. Expect to see big things in his future of MMA. 
May 10th, 2003
On the next PRIDE 26 in June, Mirko "CroCop" Filipovic is going to fight Heath Herring or Mark Kerr.Fight is going to be under full PRIDE rules. His opponet will be known in a few days.

Heath Herring

Mark Kerr
May 2nd, 2003
After great victory over Bob Sapp, Mirko took some time off to relax and think about his next opponent.He decided to focus on MMA this summer, since K-1 semifinal is in October.The major plan is winning the PRIDE Heavyweight title, by beating current champion Fedor Emelainenko. Latest information from Japan suggest this fight will happen in August, so Mirko already started to work hard.

Some notes from Mirko:

«Fedor is a dangerous opponent, but I'll win this fight. I don't care about the opponent – anyone who face me in the PRIDE ring will be deafeted. My goal is to become PRIDE HW champion, and I'll do my best to do it. This is my year.»

Mirko will fight in June on PRIDE 26. His opponent is yet to be arranged. 

from Slaven Vujic,  slaven@mirko-crocop.com
April 3 rd, 2003
Because of the injury in match with Mirko, Bob Sapp will be out of training for six weeks.

You can see Sapp's interview about fight here
There is also possibility of organisation the fight between Mirko and Ernesto Hoost, July 10th in Fukuoka, but Mirko's plans are MMA fights until the fall and then K-1 tournaments at the end of the year.

April 1st, 2003
Tyson next? Organisators of K-1 offered Mike Tyson few appearances in the ring which he accepted and Mirko was choosen as his first opponet. Mirko said that he will accept the challenge.
Mirko's wish is to fight Emalienko Fedor for PRIDE heavyweight title and winning K-1 tournament.
Hospital tests confirmed that Sapp has two fractures in his right eye socket and he will be out for at least a month.Sapp said that he was seeing double after the fight. He has cancelled other media activities after the fight and he was rather disappointed with his loss and performance in the fight.

March 30 th, 2003      K-1 WORLD GRAND PRIX   -Saitama super arena-

Bob "The Beast" Sapp lost by KO in the fight that lasted 1:26 seconds in the 1st round. After middle kick in the liver and two powerful directs in the head, which broke Sapp's right eye orbital, Sapp fell down and fight was over. Mirko dedicate his victory to his son Ivan.
 

March 26 th, 2003
Mirko has flown away to Japan today in the morning. He had slightly raised temperature past few days, but we hope he will be OK and ready when the fight comes.
March 7 th, 2003

On friday night Mirko's wife Klaudija gave birth to a baby boy named Ivan. Webmaster of this site congratulates family Filipovic for their newly born child and wishes them best of luck in their future life.
February 14 th, 2003
Other matchups:
1st MATCH:
Jan 'The GIANT' Nortje (South Africa / Steve's Gym) vs. Evgueni Orlov (Russia / Chinuk Gym)

2nd MATCH:
Remy Bonjasky (Holland / Mejiro Gym) vs. Bjorn Bregy (Switzerland / Vos Gym)

3rd MATCH:
Ray Sefo (New Zealand / American Present Boxing Gym) vs. Pele Read (UK / Saint Thomas Gym)

4th MATCH:
Peter Aerts (Holland / Mejiro Gym) vs. Stefan 'BLITZ' Leko (Germany / Golden Glory)

5th MATCH:
Ernesto Hoost (Holland / Vos Gym) vs. TBA
February 10 th, 2003
According to the roumors Mirko "Cro-Cop" Filipovic is going to fight Bob "The Beast" Sapp on the next K-1 event.

   
Name Bob Sapp
Record (W-L-D) 3 - 1 - 0
Height 205 cm
Weight 350 lbs / 160 kg
Style Ground and Pound, Wrestling
Birth Date February 11, 1964
Country U.S.A.
Weight Class Heavyweight
Birth Place Colorado Springs, CO. USA
100m "Best time" 11'03"
Bench press 300 Kg
Reach 86 cm
Neck 69 cm
Chest measurement 153 cm
Stomach 107 cm
Thigh 94 cm
Arm 65 cm
Shoes size 45 cm
Span 35 cm

Bob Sapp is known for his time in the NFL as well as his time in the WCW training center (pro wrestling). However, in such a short amount of time, he has taken the world of mixed-martial arts by storm.

Sapp made his MMA debut at PRIDE 20 and started right at the top with highly regarded Norihisa Yamamoto. Bob Sapp made quick work of Yamamoto, dispatching of him after a flurry of strikes on the ground that ended the fight giving Sapp the victory via TKO.

From there, Bob Sapp went on to fight another great fighter in Kiyoshi Tamura at PRIDE 21. Again, Sapp got a fairly easy victory via TKO after a flurry of punches.

Sapp may have went too far when he went on to have his next fight against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Nogueuira, who many consider to be the top heavyweight in the world, gave Sapp his first loss when he made him submit to an arm bar.

Bob Sapp is one of the biggest draws in the MMA game in such a short time, and his future, if he keeps focused, could turn out to be legendary.

mmanews.com

31th December, 2002  Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye - Saitama Super Arena in Japan -

Mirko "Cro-Cop" Filipovic defeated Kazuyuki Fujita on unanimous decision 3-0.
14 th December, 2002     Zagreb
Mirko Filipovic is not member of anti terrorist force any more. He gave his resignation as a police member because he was preoccupied with his preparatios for tournaments. His nickname "CroCop" was questionable because of his resignation, but he will remain fighting under his nickname "CroCop".
30th October, 2002

Mirko "Cro-Cop" Filipovic will be fighting Vs. Kazuyuki Fujita on Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye

   
Name Kazuyuki Fujita
Record (W-L-D) 6 - 2 - 0
Height 6'0 / 182.88 cm
Weight 220 lbs / 100 kg
Style Wrestling
Birth Date 10/16/1970
Country Japan
   
Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye starts at 17:00 (Japan time). Ticket prices from ¥7000 to ¥100000 for vip area
12th October, 2002   Zagreb
Mirko Filipovic got married to his 26 years old girlfriend Klaudija Suker in church St. Barbara
August 28th, 2002   PRIDE 22  "Shock Wave"
Mirko "Cro-Cop" Filipovic defeated Kazushi Sakuraba by TKO Eye Injury, Broken Eye Orbital.
August 1st, 2002

   
Name Kazushi Sakuraba
Nick Name The Gracie Hunter
Record (W-L-D) 13 - 3 - 1
Association Takada Dojo
Height 6'0 / 182.88 cm
Weight 183 lbs / 83 kg
Style Submission Wrestling
Birth Date 07/14/1968
Country Japan
   
April 28 th, 2002    PRIDE 20
After a 5 rounds match between Vanderlei Silva and Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic was declared a draw.
April 20 th, 2002

   
Name Vanderlei Silva
Nick Name The Axe Murderer
Record (W-L-D) 19 - 3 - 0
Association Chute Boxe
Height 5'11 / 180.34 cm
Weight 199 lbs / 90 kg
Style Muay Thai
Birth Date 7/3/1976
City Curitiba
Country Brazil
   

NEWS:    1     2     3