Crop Cop “owes a lot to the UFC”

Former Pride superstar Mirko ‘Crop Cop’ Filipovic believes he ‘owes a lot to the UFC and to UFC fans’.

Cro Cop will return to the Octagon on Saturday at UFC 99 after disappointing in his last spell for the organization.

“I think I owe a lot to the UFC and to UFC fans,” Cro Cop told MMA FanHouse. “Right after (knee surgery early this year) when I was in the hospital, I was thinking that I would fight in Cologne, because UFC was coming to Germany, and it was my big, big wish to participate. People — even my doctor — didn’t think I would make it, but I did.”

Cro Cop has revealed that he had never heard of Mostapha Al Turk before agreeing to fight against him at UFC 99.

“To tell the truth, it’s hard to say 100 percent why I struggled in my first appearance in the UFC, my first three fights,” Cro Cop said.

“I won one fight and then I lost two fights, and I just think I wasn’t the bold Mirko Cro Cop that I used to be. I don’t know the reason. I spent too much time thinking about it. Maybe I was just empty after I won the Pride Grand Prix. I don’t know. To tell the truth, I don’t know. Maybe I wasn’t adapting to fighting in a cage. Maybe I wasn’t hungry enough. I don’t know. I don’t know. I just didn’t smell the blood — I don’t mean blood for real — but I just didn’t smell the blood like I did in my previous fights. I don’t know.”

Tags: Mirko Cro Cop, UFC