Cro Cop fully healed, ready for Barry at 115
On UFC 115 opponent Pat Barry: “Good fighter, very fast, and I saw the way he destroyed (Antoni) Hardonk. It…
On UFC 115 opponent Pat Barry:
“Good fighter, very fast, and I saw the way he destroyed (Antoni) Hardonk. It was amazing. It will be a good fight, and I’m looking forward to it.”
On what went wrong in the UFC:
“There are so many small details that I actually wasn’t aware about. Fighting in a cage is fighting in a cage. It’s not a ring. The cage has its own rules, and it’s a big difference. I spent my whole career fighting in Japan in a ring. The cage is a cage. … (Now) I have an original UFC cage in my house. I have a gym inside my house, and I have cage there.”
On his new camp:
“It is very important to have a camp like Ivan Hippolyte has in Amsterdam. First of all, he’s a first-class coach. Second thing, there are many sparring partners, which I don’t have in Zagreb, in Croatia. It’s good to go there to be isolated. I don’t think [my old training partners] were on the level like professionals. I don’t want to offend them. They are my friends who came to help me, but they’re just not that kind of level of fighters that I can find in Amsterdam. It’s one thing to spar with friends of mine who are good, very solid fighters. But it’s another thing to spar with Remy Bonjasky and other K-1 stars. That’s something very different.”
On the injury:
“It was really a hard injury, and it really took time. Now it is one-and-a-half years since I had the operation, and it’s finally OK. Finally, two months ago, I started with the full kicking. If you noticed, I didn’t even try to do a kick with Mostapha Al-Turk. I didn’t try – or I tried only once – to kick Junior Dos Santos. I didn’t feel very stable in kicking. I didn’t feel my leg good, so I just didn’t kick. Of course it frustrated me a lot, but it was my decision to enter the cage. It was my decision to accept the fight. Nobody forced me in that, but thank God that is behind me now and the legs are OK.”
On recovering from the last injury:
“Thank God finally I have recovered completely. I had a very bad injury two years ago. My leg was broken. The knee was completely broken. I had three surgeries for the knee, and of course it reflected in my kicking. I was afraid to kick. It was still very fresh, but I decided to take the risk for the Cologne fight (UFC 99). One year ago, it was only six months after the surgery, so it was a suicide according to the doctor, but I decided to take the fight, and I decided to take another fight with (Junior) Dos Santos, which wasn’t a smart idea in that condition. But I’m a fighter. I like the sport. I like fighting, and I like competition. But obviously you need to make a decision with the head and not with the heart.”
On the fight:
I just prefer to stay in a standup position. Pat will stay in a standup position. It will be a good standup war, and I think the audience will be very satisfied with the fight. Plus I think there will be many Croatian fans. Vancouver has a strong Croatian community. There will be many Croatian flags. What fighter could wish more than that? A good opponent, an excellent audience, that’s all I can wish.”