After 17 plus years as a professional MMA fighter, it would appear that Mirko Cro Cop?s career has come to an end.
The 44 year old Cro Cop recently appeared on Nova TV and announced his retirement from MMA competition.
?It?s over,? he said (via MMA Junkie). ?I hope I?m not going to cry, but it?s the inevitable retirement.?
Cro Cop has fought the best of the best in the professional MMA world, including Kazuyuki Fujita, Yuji Nagata, Wanderlei Silva, Heath Herring, Igor Vovchanchyn, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Ron Waterman, Aleksander Emelianenko, Josh Barnett, Kevin Randleman, Mark Coleman, Fedor Emelianenko, Mark Hunt, Gabriel Gonzaga, Cheick Kongo, Junior Dos Santos, Pat Barry, Frank Mir, Brendan Schaub, Roy Nelson, Alexey Oleinik, Satoshi Ishii, King Mo and more.
A now retired Cro Cop suffered a stroke after the second fight against the aforementioned Nelson, which forced the fighter into retirement.
?I will never enter the ring again,? he said. ?I cannot let anyone hit me. I have to have (an MRI) in three months, (and) after that I will train again, boxing bags, but there is no such thing as a fight.?
Bellator 216 will go down as the final time Cro Cop competed in MMA, as he defeated Roy Nelson by decision in that now historic encounter.