Rankings in MMA: The Cro-Cop Problem
Posted by Alan Conceicao on April 9th, 2009
With the second anniversary of PRIDE’s funeral now having passed, its brought about much discussion about questions regarding how good PRIDE was compared to the UFC and whether or not its fighters were overvalued. None of this has resulted in questions about whether or not said overstated evaluation of PRIDE’s competitors has led those people to, by virtue of strawman #1, over value the fighters whom have beaten them in the UFC. And that’s what brings me to this post and to discuss Mirko “Cro-Cop” Filipovic, who single handedly has screwed up the heavyweight rankings for about the next 5 years. How did this happen? A touch of smoke and mirrors & a willing public were key.
We first go back to 2005. Following a loss to former K-1 Grand Prix champion Mark Hunt, there were serious doubts about Mirko’s ability to compete at the top level of the sport. He had been dominated by Fedor Emelianenko 2 fights prior and was buoyed in the top ten thanks to a win over ex-UFC heavyweight champion Josh Barnett, along with long lists of wins over second rate fighters like Magomedov, Randleman, Coleman, and the like. PRIDE, now under direct fire from a newly resurgent and money laden UFC, as well as stuck with an injured heavyweight champion, decided to throw together its biggest non-injured names into a heavyweight tournament that was under the guise of a “Open Weight Grand Prix”. In this Grand Prix, woefully few talented lighter weight class fighters competed; Only 4 of the 16 contestants were, in fact, not “naturally” heavyweights, and one of them had only competed at heavyweight up to that point (Nishijima). The other three? Mirko Cro-Cop’s opposition outside the finals. Only one of those fighters were, additionally, even a top 10 fighter in their weight class (soon to be middleweight Wanderlei Silva).
Meanwhile, the other side of the bracket had a familiar face to Mirko emerging as the chief competition: Josh Barnett. Rather than be given cakewalks, Barnett arrived at the finals having beaten Aleks Emelianenko and Mark Hunt, both highly ranked heavyweights at the time. The same night as his 3rd fight with Mirko, Barnett was not given a light heavyweight, but rather the former PRIDE heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Noguiera, whom he beat in a very close decision. Barnett, bruised and battered, lost the rematch to Filipovic, and Mirko was awarded, as part of winning a tournament that featured most of the world’s top 10, the #2 spot in the division.
And that is where everything went wrong. In retrospect, Filipovic’s ranking seems ridiculous. Just as none of us would want to crown Gabriel Gonzaga UFC heavyweight champion or a legit #2 were he to face the winner of Mir/Lesnar II immediately following the conclusion of that fight, the fanbase should have been more honest with themselves about just where Cro-Cop stood. Yes, Josh Barnett did agree to the format, and yes, in theory, Cro-Cop/Silva was less competitive than initally imagined given their first bout years prior. None of that changes what actually occurred. That Mirko beat Barnett in the third fight in more impressive fashion than the second fight is not really proof of anything when you realize that Barnett had been in a back and forth war with one of the greatest fighters of the era. Mirko should have easily beaten Barnett. He had every appreciable advantage in the world.
The aftermath also gave an aire of legitimacy to fighters like Kongo and Gonzaga once they too defeated Mirko that did not carry over to men like Mark Hunt. During the rush to convict Fedor as a fighter who beat no one, Hunt’s actual success was ignored, and Fedor criticized for his choice of opposition. And yet, by virtue of Cro-Cop’s failures well after he had lost to that obese, singluarly talented Samoan, fighters such as Heath Herring, Brock Lesnar, and Shane Carwin have become part of the Mirko Bubble, seeing regular justification by internet denizens to demand they be pushed ahead of the Josh Barnetts and Andrei Arlovski’s of the MMA world.
This is not to say that the UFC doesn’t have a great many talents at heavyweight: They certainly do. In fact, they have more highly regarded prospects than all the other promotions on earth combined (TUF 10 will only assist further). It isn’t to say that being a PRIDE fighter didn’t boost one’s credibility in spite of evidence to the contrary (Kharitonov, Fujita, Herring, the Hammer House boys). However, its ridiculous to claim that the UFC had a equal talent base at heavyweight to PRIDE circa 2004 based on how Mirko Cro-Cop did years later. It didn’t. It wasn’t even close. That justification should have been thrown out the second Noguiera tapped Tim Sylvia or when Gonzaga was manhandled by Werdum. The fact that Josh Barnett and Fedor Emelianenko don’t fight for the UFC proves desperately little, particularly when combined with fighters such as Andrei Arlovski leaving Zuffa’s stable for bigger paydays. Nor does the elimination of someone like Fabricio Werdum from the UFC establish that he wasn’t capable of competing there; only that the UFC is likely willing to pay him about what they will most of their regular losers (McCully, Hardonk, the occasional Colin Robinson type) and Werdum thinks he can get more from Jungle Fight. These secondary issues mean that the Cro-Cop Bubble will likely be with us for a long time in the UFC, perhaps long enough that the frailty of man sets in before it can ever be popped. But that doesn’t mean we must pretend it is not there.
April 10th, 2009 at 9:16 pm
The Heavyweight rankings are fine as they are: Fedor is unanimously at the top and the rest is just a pack of feral wolves clawing and scratching at each other. Does it matter who’s number two when number one is so vastly superior?
April 11th, 2009 at 11:18 am
Yeah, and this has basically been true since Fedor has been unquestionably #1 since about 2003, so I really don’t see the point here.
Cro-Cop was clearly among top five heavyweights in the world until he came to the UFC, where he just seemed disinterested, and hasn’t really gotten his mojo back since. Why? Who knows for sure. He’s a veteran of 32 pro MMA bouts, 23 K-1 bouts, 50+ am boxing matches, Croatian Parliment, a marriage with a kid (whoa!), a career in an anti-terrorist squad, and a stint in a bad action movie. That’s a lot, even for a guy who grew up in a war zone.
April 12th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
lol this is the most stupiest article ever written.
April 13th, 2009 at 7:50 am
Face it, the guy was on roids and without them he cant win - ala Ken Shamrock.
April 13th, 2009 at 10:31 am
Very well written article and very good points raised.
Also, to “John”, I’m pretty sure it’s only “the most stupidest”, because you can’t seem to grasp the concept of the english language. He uses big words, I can see where You’d get lost there.
April 13th, 2009 at 8:43 pm
“lol this is the most stupiest article ever written.”
….Wow, just wow…
April 14th, 2009 at 11:17 am
don’t write anymore articles and shut down this site.
July 26th, 2009 at 6:46 am
This is stupid post really. This post is making comparison between current UFC fighters and pride fighters 2 3 years back. Isn’t this illogical. May be now UFC is having better fighters than pride had 2 3 years back but only because pride is closed now. So fighters can only join UFC now.
Shogun rua, jackson, Wanderlie silva, Noguiera and even cro cop has come from pride to UFC. Cro cop is veteran now and passed his best days. Just because he lost 2 fights in UFC doesn’t mean he was overrated 2 3 years back.
Current UFC best fighter “anderson silva” also comes from pride, you should know.
Cro cop is by far the most exciting fighter I have ever seen. Who cares what his ranking is or was.
Also is Brock Lesnar really the best heavy weight in the world currently?
He has record 4-1. beating
(1) Min-Soo Kim - waste. Let’s say this never happened. Any fighter would beat this guy.
(2) Heath Herring - Even Cro cop has beaten him in 2003.
(3) Randy Couture - Just like it was mentioned Cro cop v/s Wanderlie silva was never heavyweight v/s heavyweight, Lesnar v/s Couture is also not heavyweight v/s heavyweight. Even after loosing to Brock, Randy himself doesn’t think Brock Lesnar can beat Fedor. Why don’t you people shutup.
(4) Frank Mir - He is always 50 - 50 against any heavyweight fighter because of BJJ. He has already beaten Lesnar so there was nothing to prove for him in UFC 100. Frank Mir is no different than Noguiera.
Lesnar is now so popular because of his WWE style. He talks too much(just as every one does in WWE) to become popular. So the WWE marketing strategy is coming into UFC now.
Lesnar has long way to go.And GSP is welterweight(not heavyweight). Currently Fedor is still best heavyweight because of win over Arlovski & Tim Sylvia.
November 28th, 2009 at 6:44 pm
Making up numbers is just retarded.