Mirko Cro Cop leaves with no regrets
“Listen, that’s life, you know. This is a violent sport, and in most of the cases the end is violent. You leave this sport either from injury, from serious injury …”
Last month Mirko Cop Cop withdrew from UFC Fight Night 79. It was subsequently revealed that he had failed a drug test. Then he was officially suspended from the UFC for two years for HGH use.
The fighter, 41, recently appeared on Ariel Helwani’s The MMA Hour, and said he leaves with no regrets.
“Listen, that’s life, you know,” he said, as transcribed by Chuck Mindenhall for MMAFighting. “This is a violent sport, and in most of the cases the end is violent. You leave this sport either from injury, from serious injury — or you’ve lost three or four fights in a row and you’re employer doesn’t want to give you any more fights. That’s the sad truth about this sport. Either injury or you lost three or four fights and you get fired.
“Of course, it would have been best if I could have finished all three fights on my contract with three victories and after the last fight in the cage say, okay guys, listen, this is my last fight. I’ll never fight again. But it’s not done that way.”
“At the end of the day I had 79 professional fights between K-1, Pride and the UFC. And I think it’s enough.
“I think I’ve had enough. I’ve had a long and successful career but it’s got to stop one day. That’s life, and I think definitely that’s the best decision for me.”