“Pride or die’, my friend, ‘pride or die’. I had no idea what that meant in Ultimate Fighting, I thought it was some senseless phrase. But when I found myself in the ring with Ultimate fighters, I realized that this was the best phrase I ever heard. I realized that when I watch the match of the legendary champion, Royce Gracia, who was only defeated once, when his opponent put him in a headlock he could not get out of. That lock puts so much pressure on the windpipe, that any fighter will slam his hand on the floor, the sign of surrender, after five seconds. However, Gracia fought against the headlock for a full minute, and no longer was it a question of win or lose, it was a question of life and death. He didn’t surrender, he passed out. And that’s when I realized what the phrase ‘pride or die’ means in Ultimate fighting”, said Mirko Crocop Filipović, the 27 year old new star of K-1 and Ultimate fighting. Filipović entered into Ultimate Fighting by coincidence and began to literally thrash all those who have meant anything in this gladiator sport to date. Pride is also the name of the organization which has a tutoring role over this sport.

“I knocked out Kazuyuki Fujita, former Ultimate champion, with a blow to the head that I practiced for a month: he ended up in the hospital after losing a liter of blood. The whole room cried, he is a Japanese hero Finals at the start

Three years ago, to everyone’s surprise, Filipović became a star in K-1 fighting, a new discipline which, as he explained, is most similar to Thailand boxing and which the Japanese have commercialized to such an extent that over 70,000 viewers attended the annual championship fights between the best K-1 fighters held in the Tokyo Dome. In his first year of fighting, Filipović made it to the finals, where he was defeated. However, he explained that this happened only because one of his opponents in an earlier match had broken one of his ribs. Bone breaking is a regular feature of this sport. When we visited Filipović at the gym in Lučko where he trains as part of the special police anti-terrorist unit, which explains his nickname ‘Crocop’, his neck was quite scratched, but he declined to tell us what had happened.

In 2000, Filipović found himself among the best K-1 fighters. To everyone’s surprise, one year later he was defeated by an unknown Canadian, McDonald, and the reactions by the Croatian public were typical, in the style of “we knew he couldn’t do it…”

“That is the specific nature of this sport. Goran Ivanišević won Wimbledon, then he lost the next 10-15 matches and no one reacts. I beat the 10 best fighters in the world, lose to the 11th and everyone will say – Filipović is no good. Šuker can miss 50 penalty shots, but because he scores one goal at the World Championships, he’s a king and a legend. In the K-1 qualifiers, I underestimated my opponent, I was literally playing around and he landed a punch that shook me. The referee ended the match, even though he didn’t have to, and certain individuals were just waiting for me to lose,” said Filipović, admitting that he was very angry then. It was this anger that drove him to start fighting in Ultimate Fighting, an even bloodier sport than K-1, where everything goes, except for direct shots to the genitals and poking fingers in eyes and mouth.

“After my defeat in Australia in the K-1 qualifiers over a year ago, the Japanese organizers called me and offered me a match in Ultimate fighting. I was so angry with myself after losing, that I was ready to fight a bear. I had no idea who I would be up against, nor did I ever follow Ultimate fighting,” said Filipović.

K-1 champion Jerome Le Banner commented for the Japanese media that ultimate fighting was nothing more than “faggots who roll around on the floor”. He response by Kazuyuki Fujita, then Ultimate champion, was “ Come into the ring and I’ll show you who the faggot is”. Le Banner backed off, as did second placed Ernest Hoost and third placed Peter Aerts, regardless of the prize money offered.

The bloodiest match

“At that time, all three men were more popular than me, they offered me the fight only after they refused it. I accepted the match, but with that I accepted great risk. But I am always attracted to danger, and I amaze even myself. I went to the United States to train for a month and there I literally pissed blood everyday. I wouldn’t wish these training sessions on my worst enemy. For five hours a day, I would lay on the floor and train, since Fujita is a master in bringing his opponent down to the floor and finishing the match there. He has broken necks, vertebrae, arms, he’s something terrible. He is 182 centimeters tall, weighs 130 kilograms without a gram of fat”, said Filipović who is 188 centimeters tall and about 100 kg, 30 less than Fujita.

The epilogue is well known. Fujita, after 32 seconds in the ring with Filipović, ended up in the hospital. “I hit him in the head after practicing that same combination for a month. I knew he would try to take me down by grabbing my left leg, I waited for him to bend down, I didn’t succeed the first or the second time, but I did the third time, literally putting a hole in his head.

“Fujita already lost over a liter of blood in the ring, that was the bloodiest fight in the history of ultimate fighting. A man could die on the spot from such a blow, but Fujita still had the strength after the blow to pull me down to the ground, then he fell over. With that blow, I would have killed an ordinary man, breaking his neck, but Fujita had the strength to walk out of the ring. After that, he passed out in the hallway and spent two days in the hospital,” said Filipović, obviously not lacking any self-confidence. “Fujita has a neck measurement of 60 centimeters, and when you know that Mike Tyson has 52 cm, then you compare. Until that point he was undefeated, he is one of the most popular Japanese fighters ever. I didn’t even swear in the ring, I was so relaxed; I broke him like a horse. The whole room was crying, since Fujita is their national hero,” stressed Filipović.

720 kilogram blow

In the second half of 2001, new fights followed in Ultimate fighting, and Filipović knocked out famous Japanese fight Nagato with a blow to the head after only 21 seconds in the ring. “The Japanese public was so interested in me that they began asking me who I wanted for my next opponent. I told them I wanted to go back to K-1 and fight the current champion, Mark Hunt from New Zealand. With this match I was risking a lot, even financially. Before the fight, set for March 5th, they wanted to extend my contract, but I delayed the signing. If I had lost the match, I would have got a much weaker contract, but I beat Hunt,” said Filipović. There are claims that his left kick is the fastest and the best, that the opponent cannot even see the leg approaching, and the blow measures about 720 kilograms.

Filipović’s next match is scheduled for April 28 in Tokyo, where he will fight Vanderlei Silva from Brazil, the Ultimate champion. 75 thousand tickets have already been sold. “Who ever is in the ring with me, be it my own brother, I want to destroy him. Where does that instinct come from? Every man has that instinct, it’s just a question of whether he wants to develop it or not. In ultimate fighting, no one wants to kill their opponent, and no one even thinks about killing them, which is very difficult since these are exceptionally trained fighters. This is unfathomable for the average person. This is the most difficult sport in the world. The best is that I am a Japanese hero, an idol, there is not a single Japanese person who has not heard of me,” said Filipović, commenting how Mike Tyson or Lennox Lewis would not last a minute in the ring with an ultimate fighter. “I would pound them as though they were children, I bet my life on it.”

Filipović does not talk about himself and his colleagues as demolition men, instead he says, “I am an artist, I am not just fighting, I am combating. My specialty, a kick to the head when the opponent does not even see my leg is, my friend, an art.”

There is no other fighter that has been so successful in ultimate and K-1 fighting, no one ever has been champion in both sports. “I hope that I will become a part of history as the only fighter to ever accomplish that,” said Filipović. K-1 and Ultimate fighting are two different sports which require a different training approach. “ I am a stand-up fighter, while most of the ultimate fighters are experts in ground fighting, they bring their opponent down to the ground, and then there is no saving him. Each round lasts ten minutes and you get really tired wrestling. This fight with Silva will be the fight of my life,” believes Filipović, adding, “Today Filipović is king, the greatest, the most wanted, the most famous and the best paid fighter.”

Preparations in Los Angeles

For the last year and a half, Filipović has had help training from Damir Siser, who he first took on his team as a nutritional advisor, and who later became his trainer. “Mirko says when he feels that something is missing. A year and a half ago, when we first met, he told me he was missing gym training. Fighters hate training in the gym because they feel that it will make is slower, however Mirko is not slower, he is stronger, more prepared and confident”, commented Siser.

After the fight with Silva, Filipović will return to K-1. He will participate in the qualifying rounds in Las Vegas in August and Osaka in October for the final tournament in Tokyo to be held in December. In the coming days, he will be in Los Angeles where he will be conducting many sports and business discussions. “A Hollywood producer which represents many film stars noticed me. He is a crazy fan of fighting sports, and has watched my match with Fujita 300 times. He personally called me and invited me to L.A. to meet me,” smiled Filipović. When he talks about his success, Filipović is always quick to mention Zvonimir Lučić, owner of Zvonimir Security.

Dream – house with a gym

“He has stood behind me like no one else has. I call him my second father. When I came to Zagreb, I didn’t have a penny in my pocket. I was sleeping in the student dorms, and five years ago he came to me and said – kid, you’re going to be a champion. Every month he gave me the equivalent of several average salaries, to me, who came to Zagreb with two bags and no experience. It was important to him that I have the best nutrition, to pay for my apartment and to not worry about those things. If it weren’t for him, I could have been a security guard. What else, with only high school?” asked Filipović, a boy from Privlaka near Vinkovci who would fill glass jars with concrete and use them as weights while the other boys were playing soccer or basketball. “There was a fire in me. I admire the Kostelić’s, but they were driven by their father, no one drove me. My late father would tell me to stop when he saw me training in the garage with a concrete floor, while outside it was snowing and -10°. It’s amazing that I never got sick.”

Filipović, as a member of the anti-terrorist unit Lučko, the source of his nickname Crocop. “I fit in great at ATJ Lučko. Those young guys are underpaid, they receive 4000 kunas a month (about $500), and they never received apartments. I don’t need that salary. I don’t want to talk about our operations, but I could take a bullet and my career would then be over. Not even the Japanese understand, they ask me what I need that for, they can’t believe that my salary is less than $500. What is important is that I am satisfied,” smiled Filipović who dreams that one day he will live with his family in a house he intends to build in Zagreb. “I am not a megalomaniac, I only need a house with a basement where I could put a gym, and where the guys could come over on Sunday for a barbeque and a game of cards. I don’t know what else I could ever need,” concluded Filipović.

Interview with Filipović in a Japanese sports paper

Mirko Filipović was born on September 10, 1974 in Privlaka near Vinkovci. After an amateur boxing career, he became interested in Thailand boxing and full contact. Since K-1 is the most profitable and attractive sport which combines these two sports, Filipović got involved, and in 1996 he made his way to the finals in Tokyo, among the eight best fighters. Though unknown, Filipović beat the famous fighter Jerome Le Banner by a unanimous decision in the first round. He was defeated in the semi-finals by Ernest Hoost by a knockout in the third round. He found himself in the K-1 finals again in 1999. He was given the least chances, but in the first match he took out Japanese fighter Mushashi in the second round, and in the second he took out Sam Greco, also in the second round. Unfortunately, he surrendered in the third round to Ernest Hoost after fighting with a broken rib. At the end of 2000, Filipović was again among the best eight fighters in K-1, and though he was among the favorites, he lost by a unanimous decision in the first match, again to Ernest Hoost. One year later, Filipović was defeated in the K-1 qualifiers by unknown Canadian McDonald, after only 84 seconds in the ring, when the referee stopped the fight after a blow to the head. At that time, Filipović began to fight in Ultimate Fighting, but he did not leave K-1, with two fights this year. The referee stopped the fight against Yanagisawa in the first round, and in early March he beat Mark Hunt, actual Ultimate champion by a unanimous decision.