Products You May Like
“I wake up every morning at 6 o’clock,” he said. “Even if I can afford to sleep ‘til 10, even if I can go to my own coffee bar to have coffee and hang around until 2. I can have lunch, take a nap after lunch, and then go back to the coffee bar and play cards with my friends. But that’s not the kind of life that I want. Even if this is much, much harder. I sparred for the last six weeks and there were a million small injuries. I’ve been punched to the head, kicked to the body, I’ve blocked kicks, so everything hurts.”
He stops suddenly, and gathers his thoughts to make a strong a point as he can.
“You ask me if I need it,” he continues. “No, I don’t need it to survive. But that’s the only life I know and that’s the life that makes me happy. Nothing less, nothing more.”
Those are the words of a fighter, and though Cro Cop may have lost some fights, he has never lost that spirit and desire. It’s why after his last bout, a third-round knockout loss to Brendan Schaub at UFC 128 in March, he returned home to Croatia and was back in the gym the very next day. If you think he’s showing up for a paycheck, you would be wrong. If there’s anything left for him to give in the Octagon, he’s going to give it on Saturday night.
“The feeling after the fight, when I kick somebody’s ass, at that moment I am the happiest man on the planet,” he said. “I don’t think about anything else. I don’t think that somebody’s watching me or not watching. I don’t think about the fight money I earned. I just enjoy the moment. And of course on the other side, if it happens that I lost the fight, that’s the worst moment for me that can happen. And that motivates me and keeps me being a soldier and training twice a day.”
Being in the last fight of his UFC contract, this could very well be the final Octagon march for this soldier. And if he does lose, he doesn’t expect to stick around in the UFC, saying, “I don’t expect the UFC to call me or extend the contract. I don’t want to live on an old glory that I made five, six, or ten years ago. It’s not an option for me. I need to be honest.”
And he has been – with himself, his opponents, and his fans. And having done so, he feels that all that’s left is a bout of 15 minutes or less with Roy Nelson.
“Any fight can be the last one, and not just for me, but for anyone,” he said. “But a loss is not an option that I can see in this fight. It doesn’t mean that I underestimate Roy, no way, he can be a dangerous fighter, and he can be a true danger to anyone in the world. I’m sure that I’m going to win this fight, but this is MMA. When two fighters enter the cage, one of them has to lose, so I don’t want to underestimate or insult my opponent. I really believe that I’m going to win, just like he believes that he’s going to win. The only thing I can see right now and that I’m thinking about is how to beat Roy Nelson. That’s all I’m thinking right now. For any further conversation, I need to kick Roy Nelson’s ass, that’s all.”
Then finally, a chuckle from Mirko Cro Cop.
“That’s how it is. I told you everything, just like I’m standing in front of the preacher.”
For more information and updates, sign up for the UFC Newsletter here.