As for CroCop...so many things come to mind with CroCop. I mean, you could easily make the assessment that he's been Tito'ed, lost his fighting spirit, and that you'll never see the animal he once was emerge again. He's clearly KO conscious, and now seems dreadfully aware that at any given point, anyone they put in front of him could give him a canvas nap. Its hard to believe that this is the same fighter who stood in front the likes of Hoost, Aerts, and Bonjasky. But by another token, Mirko is clearly lacking dimension in his standup. He stands flat footed, loads up for single kicks and punches, and has no head movement to speak of. In K-1, he still relied heavily on his LHK's and straight punches, but he was a far more dynamic and diverse striker by comparison. If CroCop had a glimmer of the variety and timing to his striking that say..GSP did, he'd be nearly unstoppable. You wouldn't know what to defend when the LHK came calling, but as it is, you can tell nearly seconds in advance when the kick is coming and when to counter. You can also tell when to push the action and put him on the defensive.
Which brings me to another point. Opponents seem to be gameplanning CC quite well, but CC can't gameplan his way out of a paper bag. It seems as though he trains each of his skills generically, but doesn't adapt to the style of his adversary. He would have been better served in cutting Kongo off, jabbing him back toward the cage, and then looking for big strikes by stepping back from close range. Launching the LHK in the center of the octagon seems desperately ineffective at present. I thought to myself, "How can Mirko lose a striking battle with Cheick Kongo when training striking with Gilbert Yvel and Remy Bonjasky?" When watching Mirko's training videos, he and Bonjasky would alternate on offense with 20 or 30 second intervals of strikes, launching soft combinations and clinching/kneeing before switching. It seemed like they were basically doing K-1 standup training in a cage. There was no clinching with strikes while backed into the cage, no footwork for positioning or cutting off the cage to the opponent.
So I don't know. Its true that CroCop has lost more than a bit of his moxy, both in terms of taking punishment and taking chances, and its true that he's still ill-adapted for a cage. He showed a few glimmers, as I saw a dirty boxing uppercut as well as some nice groundwork to get Kongo to the cage after the takedown. Hell he even appeared to look for an armbar at the end of the first round. But in reality, it appears that, assuming CroCop isn't going to retire, he's going to have to undergo a complete retooling in order to compete against the increasingly competitive UFC heavyweight division. Striking is simply going to have to become a facet of his repetoire, and he's going to have to learn transitioning from strikes into clinching and takedowns, as well as the ability to win fights on the ground where he has the advantage (ie such as tonight). I think its probably too late for him to change, and considering how hard he took the GG fight, I'm not sure he recovers from this performance. I won't hold out hope, and I won't fault him if he retires. MMA clearly appears to swiftly passing his style by. Its like he's the Mark Coleman of strikers. Sad but true. I wish CC all the best, whatever he chooses, but I wouldn't advise him returning to fight until he's completely broken and remolded himself into a different fighter. More and harder training won't suffice. He needs Muay Thai, Greco, and better usage of his BJJ potential. Or he could just start training with Fedor.
