Quote of the Day: Mirko 'Cro Cop' Filipovic - "I Don't Want to Be Presented in Such a Degrading Way"
by Nick Thomas on Jul 20, 2009 8:16 AM EDT
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"I'm pleased with my return to UFC, the only global mma organization. Unfortunately, every other organization is far beyond UFC. DREAM cannot compete with Americans in sports or financial terms. The UFC has succeded to become in this sport what PRIDE used to be, maybe even more than that. I will always be grateful to the Japanese fans, that is the country where I became famous as a fighter. But the offer I got from Dream was not a challenge for me. "
"I'm sorry that UFC and DREAM argued over me. There was a lot of noise over nothing, I was even called a liar, and I read supposed statement by Dana White that I called him 600 times. Exact number of my calls was - zero. I texted him once and that's all. I wouldn't call anyone 600 times, even if my life depends on that. I don't want to be presented in such a degrading way."
-- Cro Cop comments on his new three-fight deal with the UFC and Dana White.
HT: Nokaut.com
UFC 103 coverage
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As some of us knew at the time, the supposed “Signing” with Dream was unconfirmed. We had to be patient and not believe fake news reports that the deal with Dream had been done.
Cro Cop is at a stage in his career now where only fighting the best will do. What a shame the supposed Cro Cop fans jumped on the bandwagon so quickly, and brandished him a money grabber, amongst other things.
Cro Cop has his true supporters, and we look forward to seeinmg his next 3 fights, whatever the outcome. I am just pleased it is in the premier organisation in MMA today.
"DREAM cannot compete with Americans in sports or financial terms. "
but he’s not a money grabber?
Do you consider everyone who wants to be paid for their work a “money grabber”?
("you don’t like Brock" – helping Weobo out)
http://www.jobprofiles.org/artsportsagent.htm
In team and individual sports the agent works to negotiate contracts that are in the best interest of the athlete. This usually means getting a better salary, making provisions for injuries, or taking other options in lieu of salary increases.
("you don’t like Brock" – helping Weobo out)
by mythbuster on Jul 20, 2009 10:19 AM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
don’t we all, comrade?
like he did back in Pride, he bent over the big promotion and made himself some more money. He took a gamble, albeit a calculated one, because if he’d somehow lost the Al-turk fight (DQ loss?) then he wouldn’t be in a position to play Dream and UFC off each other like he did. Would it have shocked anyone if the UFC backed out of their end of the oral agreement if he’d lost to Al-Turk and suddenly a 3 fight contract with him was a liability?
I don’t think it makes him a bad guy. He is probably still vastly underpaid for what he brings to the table.
The UFC still had him fight after his brutal KO by Gonzaga,
when they could have easily just let him go.
there’s a huge difference between being 1-2 with losses to Kongo and Gonzaga, and being 1-3 with a loss to a guy barely holding onto his UFC parking pass. Who do they try to sell as his next opponent? Can they dig lower than Al-Turk?
Tim Sylvia?
Some people might say that winning a fight makes you a better fighter but I don’t agree with that.- BlueberryMuffin
by ufc4 on Jul 20, 2009 11:51 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
How was it unconfirmed when someone from Dream said that they had signed him?
Some people might say that winning a fight makes you a better fighter but I don’t agree with that.- BlueberryMuffin
by ufc4 on Jul 20, 2009 9:30 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
That depends on what you mean by ‘confirmed’, if they are the source of the rumour that White based his initial alegations on (if they are the ‘Dirty Japanese’‘), then what the officials from Dream subsequently say isn’t confirmation as source can’t confirm itself.
However Sergio Non’s source (Mike Kogan) and Josh Gross’s source (close to a Dream matchmaker) is evidence of Mirko going to Dream. But how reliable that evidence is, is important when considering it’s validity. Considering Mirko was perhaps their most valuable commodity – just look at how they treated him in Dream’s first press conferance when they started the company – and that they are a very weak promotion, they therefore stand something significant to lose if Mirko signs elsewhere. They also have a track record of claiming to have signed fighters before having signed them, and then even booking fights with them. Based on this what they then say has less credibility, and it turns out now that their statements of confiriming Mirko signing a deal with Dream and setting to fight Mighty Mo were just flat out false.
You can really see now how much bragging and boasting Dream officials are willing to do in order to disrupt the negotiating process. But giving them credit, it was very sucessful. They nearly de-railed Mirko’s whole relationship with the UFC.
That’s a good point I hadn’t thought of that. Perhaps the statement from the Dream official was all just posturing to try and disrupt any negotiations betwen Mirko and the UFC. Perhaps this is what Dana was eluding to with all his talk about “shady shit” going on with these Japanese promotions.
Some people might say that winning a fight makes you a better fighter but I don’t agree with that.- BlueberryMuffin
by ufc4 on Jul 20, 2009 10:55 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
I think there was an element of posturing involved, and the timing of the statements they made is an indication of this as well. But Mirko did ligitimately consider Dream as he himself states – with issues of lengths between fights in the UFC – so it’s a mixture. But considering options is completely different to making definitive statements of having signed a 3 fight deal and being set to fight Mighty Mo, which the Dream officials gave out to the willing media.
For what it’s worth I always thought he would end up signing with the UFC as there is a real pattern to his career. He consistenly sites personal challenges, whether it’s for a single fight, moving from K1 to Pride, moving from Pride to the UFC, from Dream to the UFC and in his latest interview (Monday 20th at index.hr) he again sites personal challenges for his signing with the UFC. But when your life has been driven by ambition of being in the special forces, being in parliament, being a worldclass kickboxer or MMA fighter, it is challenges that drive the ambitious types and will be the decisive factor in making a decision – which is why i can’t understand where people’s recent comments of ‘being driven by money’ come from, I can’t understand how you can infer that from ‘given an offer he cannot refuse’.
agreed – couldn’t have said it better.
by Ronnie Liddle on Jul 20, 2009 8:13 AM EDT up reply actions
That’s what I was thinking. Dana didn’t say that but it makes sense.
Some people might say that winning a fight makes you a better fighter but I don’t agree with that.- BlueberryMuffin
by ufc4 on Jul 20, 2009 9:30 AM EDT via mobile up reply actions
I don't think we've heard the whole story
I don’t suspect that Cro Cop and his management are blameless in this whole situation.
by SES 84 on Jul 20, 2009 9:04 AM EDT reply actions 5 recs
rec'd
This is one of the reasons management exist. So that they can do all the dirty work that is necessary to squeeze the most out of a possible contract for their client, while leaving their client capable of acting like the honest guy who was mis-understood/quoted/etc…
by Razreshat on Jul 20, 2009 9:37 AM EDT up reply actions 3 recs
This story is more and more bizarre, and the language barrier doesn’t help. I think Cro-Cop’s best days are behind him—he looked over weight and out of shape in the Mustafa Al Turk fight—but I’d love to see him drop down to LHW.
A wise man told me don't argue with fools
Cause people from a distance can't tell who is who
Phone Records
Oh if only every cell phone company in the world sent out excruciatingly detailed statements detailing every calld own to the second and every text message down to the character…
oh wait…they do. This should be funny, one of em’s lying and it should be easy to verify which. Cro-cop, you tried to use the UFC as a quick rep boost and then go make some money in Japan fighting cans… we get it. He’s gonna lose more fans trying to deny it.
If this was Brett Farve maybe he’d lose fans, but at this point this story is so far off the radar. He’s gonna win or lose fans based on what he does in the Octagon.
David Beckham’s reception in LA yesterday was something! You can double cross Dana White and he’ll just whine a little and call you names… Soccer fans will try to kill you.
Youtube some 80' 90's soccer
Hooligan riots, Brutal is an understatement, You would NOT be wearing opposing teams colors at their home field, Each team’s hooligans have nicknames-“Red Army”, “Headhunters” “Zulus” A crazy culture over there, Check a couple out and you’ll never talk about how violent MMA is again, They have refs and rules at least.
Doesn't anybody think before they speak/post anymore?
by Big Boob Lover on Jul 20, 2009 1:28 PM EDT up reply actions
Wow
I love how people won’t admit they were wrong about Cro Cop having no honor and never fighting in the UFC again and would rather try and push blame off on Dream than admit they jumped to strong conclusions WAAAAAAAY too early.
"Japan is half-Machida" - iiowyn
by Day Man on Jul 20, 2009 1:14 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs
Yes, and these same people are still trying to disrespect him by talking more crap. Let it go now, he is back in the UFC, and wants to challenge the best Heavyweights.
People can keep harping on about him not being what he was, and that’s fine. However, at least he is in the mix, and not hiding in Japan like again, people were accusing him of doing.
by Rob J Nathan on Jul 20, 2009 1:37 PM EDT up reply actions
Rec'd
The drama was in force.
http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2009/6/14/908986/another-view-on-mirko-cro-cop
This actually got 7 recs:
Do you honestly thing Dana White would sit down and negotiate a contract with him after this? Cro Cop burned that bridge pretty bad. The guy had to know he was signing with Dream when he was saying that, I mean he told Dana White he was leaving right after his fight.. He didn’t wait a week or even a day to have negotiations with anyone else he knew the whole time he was BS’ing everyone with these statements. That is my issue with the whole thing he negotiated to start with in bad faith and lied to his fans about his intentions, perhaps I’m old fashioned and actually take people keeping their word seriously but to get up there and talk about honor knowing you are full of it just doesn’t set well with me.– Who Me
.
Here were some other gems:
I’ve got a feeling Cro Cop has about as much chance at getting anyone from the UFC to negotiate with him again as Mark Dion does.– Who Me
CroCop is a coward and a liar. … Without honor, without confidence, and without fear, what is left of an MMA fighter? Nothing but a trained circus act.
- Cyph (also got 7 recs)
("you don’t like Brock" – helping Weobo out)
by mythbuster on Jul 20, 2009 1:48 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Look
Cro Cop would’ve dipped if he hadn’t gotten salmonella. I’m glad he did, and as a result ended up fulfilling what he promised Dana he would do. I’m more interested, frankly, as to whether DREAM deliberately lied about signing Cro Cop in order to stir shit up.
I still laugh at the people that claimed his self interest as an excuse.
When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are in a confederacy against him. - Jonathan Swift
by Derek Suboticki on Jul 20, 2009 1:57 PM EDT up reply actions 1 recs
Yeah, let’s not pretend like he was never going to sign with Dream, he would have been fighting this morning if not for his trip to the hospital. He intended to screw the UFC it just didn’t work out.
Some people might say that winning a fight makes you a better fighter but I don’t agree with that.- BlueberryMuffin
by ufc4 on Jul 20, 2009 2:27 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Do you guys have any basis for this claim? Right now, we don’t know whether Mirko was ever really ready to sign with DREAM or whether they were false reports. It could be that he would have signed the contract for the Mighty Mo fight had he not gotten sick, and it could be that they were false rumors floated by DREAM (or someone else) and Cro Cop was telling the truth.
I realize that you want this salmonella explanation to be true, but wanting doesn’t make it so.
Rule #1: The UFC is the Truth, the Light and the Way.
Rule #2: See rule #1.
("you don’t like Brock" – helping Weobo out)
Some people are ridiculous. Just fucking admit you all jumped the gun and were wrong. Don’t try to justify it further; just man up. It’s ok to love the UFC but still not side with them 100% of the time.
BOOSH
no
I was agreeing with you. The way certain people blindly defend certain promotions (not just UFC) reminds me of how the Republicans were right after 9/11. If you questioned ANYTHING the President did, you were anti-american.
BOOSH
I get that you want to believe that DREAM saying CC was signed wasn’t a good enough reason for Dana to get pissed off, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t.
When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are in a confederacy against him. - Jonathan Swift
by Derek Suboticki on Jul 20, 2009 4:40 PM EDT up reply actions
At least you were big enough to admit that you may have jimped the gun a bit, and credit to you for that!
by Rob J Nathan on Jul 20, 2009 10:24 PM EDT up reply actions
One could argue
that those people influenced Mirko to stay in the UFC. I don’t think its the case given the language barrier and nascent MMA media, but we’ve seen similar things in other sports.
Just my speculation.
Dana always exaggerates his statements to make a point. Dana saying Cro-Cop called him 600 times was Dana trying to make the point that Cro-Cop had gotten a hold of him and without a doubt saying the rumors of him going to DREAM were not true.
How many times do we see in news conferences where different reporters ask basically the same question over and over because they keep getting a somewhat non-committal vague answer to the question. Dana over exaggerated the answer to make the point and to move on.
I see where Cro-Cop might have his panties in a bunch about the statement but it wasn’t meant to degrade him in anyway what-so-ever.
by mattman73 on Jul 20, 2009 2:30 PM EDT reply actions 2 recs
The awesome thing that gets lost in this
Is CC professing his opinion that the UFC is the best org in the history of MMA.
When a true genius appears in the world, you may know him by this sign, that the dunces are in a confederacy against him. - Jonathan Swift
by Derek Suboticki on Jul 20, 2009 4:44 PM EDT reply actions 1 recs
I can’t believe that people are trying to spin this for CC, he was being shady from the start if it wasn’t for Dana going off and exposing him and his management i’m not sure that CC would have re-signed with Zuffa. The backlash got to him and forced him to re-think what he was doing because you don’t fuck over the biggest mma promotion in the world that isn’t smart business. So he backtracked and now is getting Dos Santos a young hungry killer sound familiar?, don’t be shocked if CC ends up KTFO and released after UFC 103.
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