Cro Cop Headed to Retirement?

 After this past weekends UFC 128 card and a new UFC Light Heavyweight came to fruition, there also came to light a much different mood setter. Coming off his recent loss to the quickly rising and young star, Brendan Schaub, Mirko Filipovic announced he may be retiring following his devastating KO. This news coming off the heels of the press conference following the fight.

Dana White announced that Mirko 'Crop Cop' Filipovic has been cut from the UFC. A shocking announcement to many because of the aura he has brought from the once great Pride FC days. It proved not to be a shock to a small number of people (one being White) because of his mediocre performance inside the Octagon, with the loss to 'The Hybrid' he moved to 4-5 in the UFC.

In the final two minutes if the third round, Schaub landed a nasty right hand to the left side of Cro Cop's head as the Croatian simultaneously turned away. With one hard and disorienting landing, Schaub towered over and with one solid finishing right, squarely landing on the nose bouncing Mirko's head off the canvas; at which point referee Herb Dean stepped in to intervene.

The loss came as a surprise due to the loss of a point during the second for Schaub because of stirke's to the back of head. Coming into the third round, Cro Cop had decisively won the first round, and due to points clearly had the second; all that was left was to last five minutes. This proved too much for the thirty-six year old.

A quote from Mirko in a recent interview:
"I feel like somebody stole something from me. I am disappointed by the result, but congratulations to Schaub and thanks to my fans for their support. It's clear that in this sport without hunger, wish and ambition to win there is no success, and its also clear that there is no more left of those in me. He surprised me with that strike, everything was same like against Frank Mir. It seemed to me like I was better. What am I saying? If I was better, I would have won!"

source: MMAmania