Cro Cop wishes he’d gone fishing

It was obvious to everybody watching Saturday’s UFC 103 that Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic was not the same Croatian headhunter of his PRIDE FC days. He was tentative, hesitant, timid, reluctant to engage, unable to pull the trigger, just plain uncomfortable. And the fearless and aggressive young lion Junior dos Santos made him pay. He ate a knee and a right to the eye that forced him to verbally submit. It marked Cro Cop’s third loss in the UFC in five attempts and he hasn’t defeated a top-level fighter since he made Josh Barnett quit at Final Conflict Absolute to earn him the PRIDE FC 2006 Open Weight Grand Prix Championship.

And it turns out Cro Cop couldn’t agree more. Croation media Jutarnji has an interview with the heavyweight:

“Maybe the ones who have said that I’m done are right. Obviously, I can’t break my mental block in the octagon. Besides, I’ve been training like a Spartan for 20 years now — my body is worn out. The years caught up to me, I’ve been worn out…. [Junior dos Santos] won that fight and would have won it by decision. Simply put, he is younger, more hungry, more aggressive. He wanted to win a lot more…. The mat was slippery like glass. I almost fell down trying to do the left high kick. But I’m not looking for an alibi. This was not the performance the public would pay for. I don’t feel the hunger anymore. I started playing it safe, I’m not ready to take risks. I would like to thank everybody that supported me and stood by me and everyone who helped me to prepare for this fight. I’ve been living a military life for 20 years now. Getting up at 6 a.m. and having physically challenging task up to 8 p.m. I want a normal life. I’m entering a cage and thinking about fishing in Privlaka. You can’t win that way. Maybe I should’ve quit after I won the Open Weight Grand Prix.”