UFC 119 recap: Frank Mir knocks out Mirko Cro Cop with knee
Frank Mir knocked out Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic
on Saturday after 14 minutes of lacklustre, low intensity fighting.
The headlining bout for Ultimate Fighting Championship 119 featured former UFC heavyweight champion Mir taking on former Pride open-weight Grand Prix Champion Mirko Filipovic.
The crowd at Indianapolis’ Conseco Fieldhouse was most likely looking forward to a slugfest between two well-known strikers. What they got was almost the polar opposite.
Mir and Cro Cop stepped to the centre of the Octagon and touched gloves to start the action.
Mir rushed Cro Cop and unsuccessfully attempted to take him to the ground. The fighters then ended up against the cage where Cro Cop delivered an accidental low blow to Mir. Referee Herb
Dean then gave Mir some time to recover. Mir’s antics as he tried to get everything back in place drew some laughter from the crowd and eventually he informed Dean he was ready to continue.
Mir again attempted to rush Cro Cop for the takedown, but the Croatian avoided Mir by simply stepping out if his way. Cro Cop then attempted one of his patented head kicks but it failed
to connect.
Mir then held Cro Cop against the cage and the big man really leaned into Cro Cop, looking to use his size and weight to tire out his opponent. Herb Dean eventually saw enough inactivity
and reset the fighters to the centre of the octagon.
Round two began the same way round one ended, lacking any real excitement. The Indianapolis fans began to quickly get restless and started showering boos at the combatants.
Most of the round was spent with Mir holding Cro Cop against the cage while Herb Dean urged the fighters to do something.
Round three started off with more of the same inactivity from the fighters and the crowd again verbalized their disgust with the lack of action from the fighters.
Dean seemed to be separating the fighters and resetting them just to have something to do inside the cage.
At one point it appeared as if Mir and Cro Cop stopped their leaning against the cage and had a brief conversation with each other.
With less than one minute left in the fight, Mir delivered a big right knee to the head of Cro Cop that knocked him out cold. The fight ended with 58 seconds left on the clock and Frank
Mir improved his MMA record to 14-5 and his UFC record to 12-5, while Cro Cop dropped to 27-8-2 in overall MMA and 4-4 with UFC.
No “Knockout of the Night” award was presented to Mir, despite the fact that he was the only fighter to KO his opponent during UFC 119, suggesting the UFC brass was highly displeased with
both men's showing that evening.
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