Mirko 'Cro Cop' Filipovic Announces Retirement After Suffering Stroke

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Dragi prijatelji,zadnja borba je bila i moja posljednja borba.nekoliko puta sam najavljivao kraj pa se vracao jer je to bilo jace od mene ali sada je zaista kraj.u ponedjeljak na jutarnjem treningu dozivio sam mozdani udar.da ne duljim,imao sam ogromnu srecu da me nije paraliziralo ili deformiralo lice.danas sam izasao iz bolnice i osjecam se dobro,i nadam se da ce tako i ostati.liječničke upute i upozorenja sam shvatio vise nego ozbiljno i sada je ispred mene faza oporavka gdje moram biti vrlo discipliniran.nakon cca 3 mjeseca ukoliko magnetna rezonanca pokaze da je oporavak bio uspjesan moći cu nastaviti sa treninzima ali vise nikada necu smjeti sparirati i primati udarce u glavu jer bi to bilo prerizično a kamoli se boriti.ali sve je to zivot.ovo je upozorenje koje sam ozbiljno shvatio.zahvaljujem svima koji ste me pratili tokom moje karijere i bili uz mene i u pobjedama i u porazima.imao sam bogatu i jako dugu karijeru i zaista nemam žaliti za ičim.hvala svima

A post shared by Mirko Filipović (@crocop1009) on Mar 1, 2019 at 12:24pm PST

Just two weeks removed from a win over Roy Nelson in Bellator MMA, Mirko Filipovic has retired from MMA after suffering a stroke.

The news broke on Friday following an interview Filipovic gave to Nove TV. In his interview, he stated via translation, "It's over, I hope I'm not going to cry, but that's the inevitable retirement." Following that, he said, "I will never enter the ring again, I cannot let someone hit me, I have to have a control magnet to do in three months, after that I will train again, boxing bags, and there is no such thing as a fight end, but that's right, that's life."

On his Instagram account, he posted a retirement message, which via translation reads: "My dear friends, last fight was my last fight. I have been announcing many times so many times and they came back because it was stronger than me but now it's really over. On Monday morning I got a stroke on the morning training. No longer, I had a huge luckily that he did not paralyze or deformed my face. Today I left the hospital and feel good, and I hope to stay that way."

"Cro Cop" continued, stating: "I understand the instructions and warnings more than seriously and now I have a phase of recovery in front of me where I have to be very disciplined. After about 3 months if the magnetic resonance shows that the recovery was successful I will be able to continue the training but never again will I be able to shoot and receive headaches because it would be a bit tough to do. That’s all this life. It’s a warning I am seriously understood. I thank everyone who followed me during my career and were with me and in victories and defeats. I had a rich and very long career and I really do not have to complain about anything."

"Cro Cop" retires after incredible careers in both MMA and kickboxing, spanning nearly 23 years of combat sports competition. A champion in K-1, he was also the winner of the 2006 Pride Fighting Championships Openweight World Grand Prix after finishing all four of his opponents. Ten years later, the Croatian heavyweight came back to win the 2016 Rizin Fighting Federation Openweight World Grand Prix by again finishing all of his opponents. In his most recent appearance at Bellator 216 in February, "Cro Cop" beat Nelson on the scorecards to become the first fighter in MMA history to ever record wins inside the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Pride FC, Rizin and Bellator. He retires on a 10-fight win streak -- the longest of his career.