Cro Cop Talks Dana White, Steroid Users and the Possible End of His Career During Live Video Chat on Croatian Website Last Night
Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic has never been a fighter who holds his tongue when he disagrees with something even if his choice of words might land him in hot water.
The live video chat he did with the Croation sports news website Gol.hr last night was no exception.
During the hour-long segment on the episode of F2F Sport, Mirko touched on a number of topics including his upcoming UFC 128 bout with Brendan Schaub, the possibility of retirement, his thoughts on Dana White and the rampant use of performance enhancing drugs in MMA.
Here’s what Cro Cop had to say:
About how prepared he is for his fight with Schaub:
”I am in excellent condition. I’ve never been in such good condition. I think I’ve reached the peak. Six weeks of bloody sparring we did. I had three great heavyweights who were lined up changing every minute. It was a torment to endure them.”
About how he sees the fight going:
”It is impossible to predict anything. It all depends on what Schaub will do. I think Schaub will try to take it to the ground. My stand-up is better than his and I’m physically stronger. I expect a long, hard fight.”
About his plans moving forward:
”To continue fighting, we need to win both of the last two fights on my contract. If I do not get past Schaub, it would not be fair to continue. If I lose to Schaub, I will have to think long and hard about whether I will fight again or whether it will be my last fight. It would be time to move on, admit that the blade is dull for me and how my life has changed. If I win this fight and my next fight and extend the contract, the third fight will be qualifying for a title shot. Mirko difference in PRIDE and UFC
About why his performance against Frank Mir was less than stellar:
”I could not train much – because I broke my orbital bone. I expected that Mir would attack, but he was passive. I am sorry that the fight took place in a manner in which the fans were not pleased. I apologize to all those who were left disappointed by it.”
About why, mentally, things have changed for him as a fighter:
”I am now a father of two children. I have had five operations. I experienced a lot. I was always in good physical shape, but there is always the subconscious that you can not control. You can figure out that the issue is probably the fear of injury, but it’s not fair to the fans when you hold back because of a mental issue like that.”
About whom he gives the edge to in the Shogun-Jones fight:
”I would even dare to give the edge to Jon Jones in that fight. He’s hungry, young and very explosive. I’ll Cheer for the Shogun, as he was my colleague from PRIDE, but Jones has a better chance and could win.”
About whether or not he would consider dropping to light heavyweight:
”I’m not sure if they would license a fighter with one leg. I would have to cut off my leg to lose 13 pounds. My ideal weight is 102 or 103 kilograms.”
About Fedor and the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix:
“Fedor’ for me always has been and always will be the greatest fighter of all time in this sport. Antonio Silva had an advantage in his size and with his long arms. The man was hard up, hungry for victory, which is no surprise. But the Strikeforce Grand Prix is diluted. They should have all the heavyweights to fight in one place and do the quarter-finals. Unfortunately, with the unfortunate defeat of Fedor it will still dilute it further.”
About UFC president Dana White:
“Dana is a top manager who has done a superb job with the UFC. I do not approve of the way he works because the UFC too often revolves around him and he’s often in conflict with everyone. He also has a very rough way of talking about Fedor. I understand that White was exasperated because he refused to sign with the UFC, but he is to disrespectful with the words he uses about Fedor. He has no right to talk about Fedor like that. No one does. I’m sure dana had his five minutes after he lost to Werdum — a fighter ufc basicly kicked out. He is an extremely intelligent man, and the UFC know why it works having him as their president.”
About fighting in a cage as opposed to a ring:
”Even I have not adapted to the cage. I do not like fighting in a cage. I find the wire disgusting, but I have to respect the rules. The ring will always be my favorite. It has a sporty feel to it. A cage is barbaric and animalistic.”
About whether or not there is a PED problem in MMA:
“Many fighters take hormones for growth, I’m sure of it. That’s the stuff that can’t be detected in urine tests. In Japan there were no tests. They did some just for the sake of it, but it was an, “I swear I did it,” kind of thing. The contract was fighter’s word. Guys could easily take someone else’s urine and give it to the tester. I’m not even convinced that they even sent the urine to test at the end at all.”
About who he thinks are obvious culprits:
“Overeem used something for sure and so did Lesnar. They didn’t get that big from eating potatoes.”
