Aleksander Emelianenkos misshandel av en 63-årig man och brodern Fedors uttalande om Mirko ”Cro Cop” Filipovic har fått den sistnämnde att ändra sin inställning till de ryska bröderna.
Den kroatiske Pride-legenden Mirko ”Cro Cop” Filipovic (28–11–2, 1 NC) skulle ha mött Aleksander Emelianenko (23-6) i en returmatch från Pride på Legend 2. Emelianenko blev dock arresterad för att ha misshandlat en 63-årig man på en bar. På grund av dessa juridiska bekymmer ersattes Emelianenko av sin landsman Alexey Oleinik, som besegrade ”Cro Cop” på submission i den första ronden.
Efter att Emelianenko bytts ut och hans bror Fedor Emelianenko (35-4, 1 NC) gjorde ett uttalande om Filipovic i en rysk tidning så har dock kroaten förargats. Enligt Filipovic så ska Fedor ha uttryckt sig negativt om ”Cro Cops” fortsatta karriär, något som den kroatiske tungviktaren inte uppskattade, och skrev ett långt inlägg om Emelianenko-böderna på sin Facebook, transkriberat av Middleeasy.
”Greetings! After resting a bit, let me look back at the fight and some of the events that happened after the fight. Fedor commented on me and today I read a comment from his eminent brother. It’s little to say that I truly respected and liked them both since the time when we fought together in Japan, bot that respect is now gone.
Alexander, who probably caused all the scandal and manfully beat up a 63 years old just so that he doesn’t have to enter the ring with me, I won’t comment too much because the sport is often looked down on because of guys like him, and besides, he doesn’t deserve much of a comment. But Fedor was a grave disappointment. If Fedor fought in my city, I’d come to his hotel, take him out for dinner, have a talk with him, and if I had to tell him something I’d tell it to his face and not talk over newspapers. Afterall, we’re ’brothers in arms’ and we bled together in Japanese rings, and had a fight that many consider as the best in MMA hisotry, and he not only didn’t have the audacity to say hello, even before the fight in the lockeroom, but he commented on me that I’m this and that, this wasn’t the Fedor that I used to know.
Every one of his losses fell hard on me, as if it were my own, and this same man then says publicly that he doesn’t know what keeps me fighting, that I’m not in shape and such things. Everyone has the right for an opinion, but till I’m shedding my own blood, enduring the torture and pain, the decision is mine, it’s my thing for how long I’ll fight and why I fight.
About the fight, I’m sick because of the loss, but I’m glad that I broke the blockade in my head that I had about grappling through my entire career and I’m glad that I tried to go for a guillotine and after that for a triangle. Sadly, I wasn’t able to get it around him, cause if I did he’d be choked out. If I was able to get both legs together, and it was close, I would have finished him and it would have been ’Great job, champ!’, ’Awesome!’, ’You’re in great shape!’, but like this, it’s just gonna be spitting all over me and this and that.”
Efter tre raka förluster på knockout i UFC så gick Filipovic i pension tillfälligt innan han valde att fortsätta tävla, men valde att fortsätta kampsportskarriären i kickboxning. ”Cro Cop” vann sex raka matcher i kickboxning över bland andra Ray Sefo, och segrade även i återkomsten till MMA mot Shinichi Suzukawa. Med förlusten mot Oleinik så är Filipovic nu 1-1 sedan återkomsten till MMA, nästa match blir mot Satoshi Ishii i Japan på nyårsafton. Inga av Emelianenko-börderna har kommenterat Filipovics uttalande.
