Mirko Filipovic penned the latest chapter in his remarkable career, and it was a doozy.
“Cro Cop” blew away Amir Aliakbari and Kaido Hoovelson in less than three minutes combined to win the 2016 Rizin Fighting Federation open weight grand prix at Rizin 4 on Saturday at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. Filipovic stopped the monstrous 6-foot-6, 400-pound Hoovelson (3-1) with a knee strike to the body 49 seconds into the first round of their semifinal and then cut down Aliakbari (5-1) with punches 2:03 into Round 1 of the tournament final.
Still going strong at age 42, Filipovic (35-11-2) has rattled off seven consecutive victories, all of them finishes, since his November 2013 submission loss to Alexey Oleynik.