https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BxSksqCJqas Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic is considered by some to be one of the greatest MMA heavyweights in the history of the sport. One of the reasons for this is because of his dangerous striking which earned him 21 of his 29 career victories. His striking origins trace back to his career as a kickboxer before committing fulltime to MMA. However, most people probably noticed that aside from his striking Filipovic didn't have too many actual MMA skills. He'd developed an early sprawl and brawl game along with very basic submission skills but that was it. Filipovic first started out in his MMA career crossing over from his K-1 career and suffered only four losses in his first 28 matches. His first stint in the UFC only lasted three matches ending with back to back losses to Gabriel Gonzaga and Cheick Kongo. A rebound in Dream led to a return to the UFC but saw him loose to a much larger and better striker Junior dos Santos then slide into a three fight loosing streak by strikes. After this he returned to kick boxing for a while and crossed over into MMA again where he's been fighting primarily in Japan and Russia. It's good to see him fighting but not sustaining horrible punishment.
Matthew Salzer fell in love with Mixed Martial Arts when he watched Pride Fighting Championships on Japanese TV. He is a lifelong wrestler having earned a Bachelor of Science at Missouri Baptist University. Matthew is the Senior Editor at MMA Freak and has written for Funky Monkey MMA, H4 Entertainment, and MMA Fiends.