Assuming Mirko will get past Gonzaga, Couture will defend his belt next against Filipovic.
I know there have been 20 threads about this potential matchup, but after doing some research I don 't think it's as one sided as it initially appears.
Jeff Monson had an almost impossible time taking Tim Sylvia down. Jeff Monson is a WORLD CLASS grappler in every sense of the word. Absolutely World Class.
Randy took Sylvia down at will during their 5 round matchup.
Mirko is renouned for his takedown defense, especially his sprawl which is as good as it get's in MMA. When Mirko faught Sakuraba 5 years ago, his sprawl was already well established and he repeatedly stuffed Kazushi's takedown attempts.
But....... Saku eventually got Mirko down, and more than once. Saku was 185 to 190 for that fight at the very most and is a master tactician but not known for his strength.
Randy is far and away stronger than Saku, and in my opinion has a great chance of taking the fight with Mirko to the ground and controlling him from there. Mirko does a great job of dishing out damage from the bottom, but, Randy's Ground and Pound is top notch, and he'll do a much better job of containing Mirko on the ground once he get's him there.
Everyone's knee jerk opinion is Randy is going to get hurt in this matchup, but I think he has a better than 50% chance of winning, You won't find a more cerebral fighter in all of MMA, and he'll come up with a suitable gameplan to deal with Mirko's straight left and leg and LHK.
Cro Cop could just as easily knock the Natural out in the first round, but I will not be at all suprised if we see a repeat performance of the Sylvia <> Couture matchup.
I think the problem with Crocop vs Randy is that I don't see Randy finishing Crocop and 5 rounds is a long time for Randy to have to work for that takedown at the beginning of every round and after some stand ups. I just don't think Randy can get away without being caught a few times and it only takes one clean one. I really would love to see Randy win however.
Crocop had only fought MMA fight full rules like once or twice at the time when he fought Sakuraba. He has evolved lightyears beyond that in both his groundgame and his takedown defense.
"Randy is far and away stronger than Saku"
Yeah and Crocop is far and away stronger than Barnett who beat up Randy
cro cop is the exact opposite style fighter sylvia is. tim jabs to decisions and is big and slow. mirko is not fast but sudden. hes a knock out artist who completely destroyed everyone hes faced with little exception. crocop could in all likelyhood submit randy. crocop was very nervous when fighting fedor as well he should have been and he struck with a on par striker in hunt but other than that since nog beat him in a fight he was dominating, he hasnt lost a round. cro cop is on a bigger roll than randy but randy is on a bigger high so who knows. randy just isnt as fast as he used to be and hell need his reflexes vs mirko.
Randy may or may not take Mirko down in their fight, but even if he does, he won't be able to hurt him much. Fedor couldn't, and his G&P is much more aggressive than Randy's. Conversely, Randy will be in big trouble if Mirko ever gets the top position. Remember Randy on top of Josh Barnett? Remember what happened when Josh got the reversal? And remember Mirko pounding the hell out of Josh? I rest my case.
The one time Cro Cop has had trouble stopping takedowns its been against guys with good hands, and good at takedowns from the clinch. Thats Randy in spades.
"if Fedor decisioned Mirko, Couture can too"
The UFC's rules favor strikers so much today that this is a VERY hard fight for Couture to win. In PRIDE they give you a lot longer to work on the ground, and Fedor was able to do enough to keep himself in top position more times than not.
In the UFC with quick standups.....Randy will be forced to stand with Mirko a lot more than he will want to.
If Randy can get Cro Cop down he is going to have to be VERY active...but I don't think he has the sub skills to tap Cro Cop, or the power to finish with G&P.
I think Randy will actually do pretty well, but the fight will be stood up a lot, and he will eventually get KO'ed.
Remember one thing about randy, is that once he's in trouble he doesn't come back from it. Look at all the fights he lost....Once it got tuff he didn't hang on, not to mention he's awful from his back and cro cop can put him there. Not taking anything away from randy I just don't see him winning. Tim Sylvia is not a top hw so lets not blow this win out of proportion. Even in randys fight with rizzo he wasn't hurt he was gassed.......good luck to both when eva it happens...
"tim jabs to decisions and is big and slow. mirko is not fast but sudden. hes a knock out artist who completely destroyed everyone hes faced with little exception"
Tim has finished 19-23 wins. Mirko 18-22.
Tim "completely" destroys as many of his opponents as Mirko.
"Jeff Monson had an almost impossible time taking Tim Sylvia down. Jeff Monson is a WORLD CLASS grappler in every sense of the word. Absolutely World Class."
Being a World class grappler and World class Wrestler are 2 different things.Randy took Tim down cause he is a World class wrestler.Monson is NOT a submission wizard imo.
I think Monson does so well in Grappling tourneys is that he is usually the dominate Wrestler.He can hold position but at the same time has enough Sub defense to stay out win on points.
Shooting in on Mirko doesn't seem to work. Randy will use the cage and trip Mirko. That is his strength. Upper body control. Mirko won't be able to bounce off the cage like they were ropes.
Mirko will have a difficult time with Gonzaga but if he gets past Napao the fight with Randy will be a great style matchup.
Randy has a style and expertise in a cage that will give Mirko fits. Against someone looking to take you down Mirko's leg kicks might be a liabilty. Both men are immensely strong but I think its Mirko's speed and explosiveness that will win the fight for him.
