Where did it go wrong for Filipovic?
In the wake of his loss to Junior dos Santos, Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic told the world that the places in his mind once filled with a focus on kicking opponents in the head had been replaced by thoughts of fishing in Privlaka. Given the dismal turn the former K-1 standout’s career has taken in the past two years, it comes as little surprise that he’s thinking about calling it quits. Nonetheless, the stark and one-sided beating he took from Brazilian heavyweight prospect dos Santos on Saturday at UFC 103 has led fans and pundits alike to wonder how we came to this point, where MMA’s formerly most-feared striker has been relegated to a disappointing also-ran in a division he was supposed to reign over with impunity. The answer is much less simple than you might think. Most discussion of his decline has centered on the physical, which is understandable, as it is certainly the most visible component. It is important to consider why Cro Cop was seen as the ideal K-1 fighter to cross over in
