It was one of the most anticipated fights in MMA history. The clash between two of the greatest heavyweights in the world, Mirko Cro Cop Filipovic and Fedor Emilianenko. Two fighters who have held the title of “the Last Emperor” of MMA, and have been considered the best in the world for more than a decade.
Mirko Cro Cop Filipovic
Cro Cop, from Croatia, had previously defeated some of the best fighters in the world, including Wanderlei Silva, Josh Barnett, and Kevin Randleman. He had also won the 2006 Pride Openweight Grand Prix.
Mirko Cro Cop Filipovic’s most memorable win was his victory over Wanderlei Silva at PRIDE Final Conflict 2005. Cro Cop was able to land a powerful left high kick to Silva’s chin in the second round, which knocked Silva out and earned Cro Cop the victory via knockout.
As a build up to this fight, Pride decided to throw into the ring Fedor’s brother, Alexander Emilianenko and that fight has finished like many others when you have Mirko Cro Cop in the ring – with the powerful left high kick. Fedor was watching this fight and it is needles to say that he was not happy about it:
Fedor Emilianenko
Fedor, from Russia, had also defeated some of the best fighters in the world, including Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Mark Coleman, and Mark Hunt. He had also won the Pride Heavyweight Championship in 2003.
He was a brutal and fearless opponent who was known for his power, dominance, fight IQ, and emotionless expression of his face. When he was entering the ring, everyone was so excited except Fedor himself, he was looking like he was going to a local grocery shop.
The Fight
Entering the ring, Cro Cop was well known for his left mid and high kicks. He would usually land a couple of powerful mid kicks which will open the doors for his devastating high kick: “Right kick hospital, left kick cemetery”
But Fedor was ready for that, hi prepared a very good tactic. To block mid and high kicks, Fedor used the Muay Thai technique called “high checks” to protect his ribs and the head.
Beside that Fedor, was constantly moving and attacking CroCop not even giving him the chance to throw a left high kick. However, Mirko was able to pressure Fedor at some point and put him against the ropes where he throw the power left kick and it landed on Fedor’s head but his ground foot slipped and the kick lost his power.
Using this tactic Fedor did stop all the attacks, and completely dominated the fight in later stage.
By the way, this was unbelievable lineup of fighters who competed on this tournament:
Wanderlei Silva, Alistair Overeem (as a middleweight fighter), Fabrizio Werdum, Shogun Rua, Igor Vovchanchyn, Ricardo Arona…
Pride Grand Prix Final Conflict 2005 was an event of epic proportions. It was the ultimate showdown between some of the best mixed martial artists in the world, and the winner would take home the prestigious Pride Grand Prix Championship belt. From the opening bell to the final seconds, the action was non-stop and the crowd was on their feet. Pride Grand Prix Final Conflict 2005 was a night to remember, and it will go down in history as one of the greatest MMA events of all time.
This legendary and historic event Pride FC “Final Conflict” 2005 you can watch here:
