Mark Hunt Against Mirko Cro Cop Pride 2005
A lot of UFC fans will only know Mark Hunt and Mirko ‘Crocop’ Filipovic from their time in the Ultimate Fighting Championships. Here are these two legends in the world of stand-up going at it at PRIDE Shockwave 2005. Both Hunt and Filipovic were purely standup fighters for many years and known for their knock out power in k-1, prior to taking part in MMA. How would they measure up when going toe to toe here in PRIDE.
Both fighters have had similar career paths in that they both started out exclusively as strikers. Both were seasoned veterans of K-1 kickboxing, before making the move to mixed martial arts. And so both men were still on a learning curve when they met in the Pride ring.
Cro Cop started the fight with his trademark kicks as Hunt following up with his very own. And while Hunt was known for his explosive hands, he was also partial to using kicks in the right situations. Throughout this fight, Mirko tried to land the big head kick. And not to be outdone, at one point Hunt went for a reverse spinning kick!! Woah!
Both fighters landed some ripping shots, with Mirko’s trademark kicks, including an axe kick. Hunt fired back with some hard kicks of his own in a back and forth standup war. Landing kicks that would concuss most other fighters.
But in the end, it was the Super Samoan who had his hand raised at the final bell. In a real bac kand forth battle between these two warriors from opposite ends of the planet. Yet another awesome fight fro the Pride FC days, with two fighters that both ended up again fighting for the same promotion. Mark Hunt vs Mirko Cro Cop, yet another one for the combat sports history books.