Mirko Filipovic in his prime was as destructive and frightening a force as the mixed martial arts world has ever seen, and his signature sound bite said it all: “Right leg, hospital. Left leg, cemetery.”
The 2006 Pride Fighting Championships open weight grand prix winner will go down as one of the 10 best heavyweights in MMA history, alongside such contemporaries as Fedor Emelianenko and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. His extensive resume includes victories over Japanese legend Kazushi Sakuraba, Olympic gold medalists Hidehiko Yoshida and Satoshi Ishii (twice), Brazilian juggernaut Wanderlei Silva and three former Ultimate Fighting Championship titleholders: Kevin Randleman, Mark Coleman and Josh Barnett (three times).