One of the battles that nearly every hardcore mixed martial arts fan on the planet will be keeping a close eye on during Saturday’s UFC 110 event will be the heavyweight showdown between IFL veteran Ben Rothwell (30-7, 0-1 UFC) and the legendary Croatian kickboxer Mirko “CroCop” Filipovic (25-7-2, 2-3 UFC). The fight won’t be determining any contenders, but it could provide fans with that spark of life they’ve been waiting for from their beloved legend of the sport.
Interestingly enough, we found out this week that MMA fans who frequent BloodyElbow.com have a lot in common with fans of the Chicago Cubs. We should probably all be considered masochists in that we must be gaining some sort of gratification from the awful performances we’ve seen in Mirko’s past few fights, but we continue to be optimistic about his chances in the cage despite those failures. I still consider myself a die-hard Chicago Cubs fan, and I root for these old PRIDE legends like the rest of you. Through the good times and the bad times, right?
CroCop is certainly in a bad time right now. Following his debut victory over Eddie Sanchez at UFC 67, Mirko was dropped by a devastating head kick from Gabriel Gonzaga, dominated on the feet by Cheick Kongo, and punched senseless by Junior Dos Santos. While all of those names are significant competitors in the UFC’s heavyweight division, CroCop has yet to crack even the middle tier of the division as so many fans have hoped for.
The new hope for CroCop comes from his recent interviews regarding his new training regiment. He’s been training heavily with Ivan Hippolyte, and from all indications — training is far from the “nice and easy” days of his home gym in Croatia. In fact, Mirko has stated that he’s being pushed very hard, and it should produce results against Rothwell.
We’ve heard this song and dance before, but I think fans are clinging to the hope that a change of scenery in his training will provide CroCop with a means to ending his drought. Will that wish come true?
Stylistically, this should be a fight that favors Mirko unless Rothwell can use his size to put him on his back. During his PRIDE reign, Mirko wasn’t exactly the easiest guy to keep down on the floor, but the new rules in the UFC allow fighters to use elbows — something Mirko was weak against in the Gonzaga fight.
If Mirko’s speed and kickboxing ability have returned to a quicker form, he should be a much better striker than Rothwell. Rothwell’s reach could be a problem, but Mirko could counter any lunging attacks with brutal leg kicks. Visions of grandeur from Mirko could show up once again, and we could see left head kicks being thrown without any sort of set-up to them. If we see that, I’m sure the pessimism will return quickly.
Interestingly enough, I don’t think a loss on Saturday will drive the fans away from supporting Mirko “CroCop”. For some odd reason, maybe for the same reason I continue supporting a losing effort on the north side of Chicago, we all continue to hope for a glimmer of the old legend from PRIDE. Will we see that from Mirko? I hope so, but I’m not holding out much hope in seeing an improved striker on Saturday night. But I’ll be rooting for him.