Mirko Cro Cop: I will retire if the UFC decide to cut me
PRIDE legend Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic discussed his future, declaring that he may retire if Dana White decides to officially cut him from the promotion. Thirty-six year old Cro Cop is 27-9 in his illustrious MMA career, currently having two back-to-back KO losses to Frank Mir and Brendan Schaub. The Croat is 4-5 in his UFC campaign, having 4 of his defeats via TKO.
Here’s what Mirko Cro Cop had to say to the local media after his return in Zagreb, Croatia last week:
There’s one fight left on my UFC contract. I will have this fight, regardless of what the reporters think. However, there’s a possibility that the UFC will insist on not allowing me to fight. I will accept their decision. It’s time to retire, despite the fact that I want to continue. Next year, it will be 20 years since my first fight… I had a great career, and I don’t regret anything. But I don’t want to finish it defeated.
I’m very sorry. I was more than ready for my last two fights, but still, I was unable to see the punches coming. I would like to apologize to all my fans. Believe me, I’m also very disappointed.
On fighting for other MMA promotions:
There’s no other options. UFC is a monopoly. Soon, they’ll swallow Strikeforce, so I have basically nowhere to go. The Japanese market is dead, DREAM is dead, and the tragedy in Japan annihilated all the other Japanese MMA promotions.
Original translation by ValeTudo.ru from Croatian to Russian. If you speak Croatian, here’s the real thing (For full translation, check out the user “Noah” in the comments section below):
