Prime CC was a whole different animal

[JustBleed69]

Had an opportunity to rewatch his fight with Texas Crazy Horse after a decade. I have forgotten how fast and agile he was. Never seen a HW move like that. Partly because CC is not a real HW, he weighed in 220 on a fight night, he is lighter than all of the LHWs of today, he weighs in as Costa on a fight night. He was extremely light on his feet, avoided all of the attacks by either footwork or he pushed the much heavier opponent away, staffed all of the takedowns and imposed his will. He took only one leg kick in the whole process while landing all of his attacks. He looks faster than prime Machida but armed with SHW power in his punches and kicks. I don't know how Fedor managed to beat this version of CC.

Enjoy!

Completely embarrassing performance by Herring; stands completely out of striking distance and just dives in for the worst double legs I've ever seen, not even close to the range where anything offensive was possible.
Yikes.

 

[arcadeperfect]

Yea, very old CC managed to avenge his losses against Gonzaga and Roy. He probably would have beaten JDS and Mir in the rematch if he didn't get the stroke that forced him to retire. But that version of CC was old, fat, bulked up, slow af, no movement, no attacks, he doesn't even resemble his prime self.

The funny thing is that even in his old age, Cro Cop was able to beat Big Baby Miller twice in kickboxing. For those that are unaware, Big Baby Miller was in line for a HW title shot against AJ and was at one point a top 10 HW boxer. Even though it was kickboxing rules, old Cro Cop beat him with primarily boxing.

 

[ryun253]

Was sad when he fought Schaub

Was upset when he fought Gonzaga

His elbow game was shocking in the second fight with Gonzaga though

 

[DoctorsStoppage]

Completely embarrassing performance by Herring; stands completely out of striking distance and just dives in for the worst double legs I've ever seen, not even close to the range where anything offensive was possible.
Yikes.

you wanna stand toe to toe with one of the best kickboxers in mma at the time? Literally nobody wanted to do that, he picked them apart, low kick, middle kick, jab, cross, repeat 2-3 times, you are done, can't move your legs, you hurt, then comes the high kick that will finish you off.

 

[GOATtalks]

Completely embarrassing performance by Herring; stands completely out of striking distance and just dives in for the worst double legs I've ever seen, not even close to the range where anything offensive was possible.
Yikes.

It’s what I’m noticing whenever rewatching these old Pride fights. One side usually seems impressive, but it’s mostly because the opponent is horse shit level TBH.

 

[DoctorsStoppage]

It’s what I’m noticing whenever rewatching these old Pride side. One side usually seems impressive, but it’s mostly because the opponent is horse shit level TBH.

the best HWs that ever fought:
Fedor, Nog, CC, Barnett, Alex, Kharitonov, Werdum, Hunt, Coleman, Igor, Randleman, Herring, Fujita, Kerr..

 

[NicholasJBasile]

Had an opportunity to rewatch his fight with Texas Crazy Horse after a decade. I have forgotten how fast and agile he was. Never seen a HW move like that. Partly because CC is not a real HW, he weighed in 220 on a fight night, he is lighter than all of the LHWs of today, he weighs in as Costa on a fight night. He was extremely light on his feet, avoided all of the attacks by either footwork or he pushed the much heavier opponent away, staffed all of the takedowns and imposed his will. He took only one leg kick in the whole process while landing all of his attacks. He looks faster than prime Machida but armed with SHW power in his punches and kicks. I don't know how Fedor managed to beat this version of CC.

Enjoy!

Stylistically, I feel that his prime version would actually stack up very well today even. He had a piston-like cross and was lethal with good takedown defense.

 

[DoctorsStoppage]

Stylistically, I feel that his prime version would actually stack up very well today even. He had a piston-like cross and was lethal with good takedown defense.

He steamrolls 95% of any era HWs. See how he moves, he has MW speed. We'v never seen a HW move like that in a cage/ring ever since.

 

[JustBleed69]

you wanna stand toe to toe with one of the best kickboxers in mma at the time? Literally nobody wanted to do that, he picked them apart, low kick, middle kick, jab, cross, repeat 2-3 times, you are done, can't move your legs, you hurt, then comes the high kick that will finish you off.

Cro Cop has gotten his ass beaten many times, so clearly there is a better way to go about fighting him than what Heath did.

 

[Prutfis]

Prime CC had those highlight kicks, but his left straight was damn purdy as well

 

[DoctorsStoppage]

Cro Cop has gotten his ass beaten many times, so clearly there is a better way to go about fighting him than what Heath did.

only after 2006. Before that only Fedor dominated him.

 

[HI SCOTT NEWMAN]

He was awesome, he was very fast for HW and had lightning quick reflexes

 

[HI SCOTT NEWMAN]

Fedor vs Cro Cop was the best HW fight ever in MMA. I loved the Cro Cop vs Fedor fight, that was such an awesome fight, the skill level and speed of them both was amazing in that fight, you don't see HW's in UFC with that kind of speed, Cro Cop vs Fedor was like a very high level LW title fight.

When you compare their speed too the 2021 UFC HW's, its like a different world, they were more like very high level LWs

 

[TeenageMutantLesnarTurtle]

One of the most athletic HWs ever. Today he'd probably be at 205, just imagine him in the current LHW division.

 

[mirko>anyone]

Love seeing the appreciation for Mirko. Having said that, I wish he would have at least considered joining a world class camp; especially after the Kongo fight where he got bullied (and nutshotted) against the cage. This theme continued with Nelson, Mir, Schaub, and even Gonzaga.

By the time 2014ish rolled around he was obviously no longer prime, but he shored up some of those holes and was actually putting it on guys in that position.

For anyone who hasn’t seen his fights in the late 90s and early 00s in kickboxing, I implore you to do so. I felt like his physical skills had began declining around 2004/2005 compared to 2000-2002, but just my opinion. He enjoyed the most success in 06 because he had simply honed a good base for MMA by then.

ah well. Dude is a bonafide legend in combat

 

[moreorless87]

Completely embarrassing performance by Herring; stands completely out of striking distance and just dives in for the worst double legs I've ever seen, not even close to the range where anything offensive was possible.
Yikes.

Back in the days when most HW's could actually move rather than slowly advance towards each other until someone falls over.

 

[mirko>anyone]

It’s what I’m noticing whenever rewatching these old Pride fights. One side usually seems impressive, but it’s mostly because the opponent is horse shit level TBH.

Look I get that “OlD fIgHtErS wErEnT gOoD” is your thing on sherdog, but you come across ignorant as fuck most the time.





these weren’t PRIDE’s best HW but they’d absolutely give The elite HW today a great fight.

 

[mirko>anyone]

Back in the days when most HW's could actually move rather than slowly advance towards each other until someone falls over.

Past prime Herring had no problem keeping up with Kongo and even beating him. Kongo still is easily a top 20 Hw in the world.

 

[Qays Stetkevich]

Had an opportunity to rewatch his fight with Texas Crazy Horse after a decade. I have forgotten how fast and agile he was. Never seen a HW move like that. Partly because CC is not a real HW, he weighed in 220 on a fight night, he is lighter than all of the LHWs of today, he weighs in as Costa on a fight night. He was extremely light on his feet, avoided all of the attacks by either footwork or he pushed the much heavier opponent away, staffed all of the takedowns and imposed his will. He took only one leg kick in the whole process while landing all of his attacks. He looks faster than prime Machida but armed with SHW power in his punches and kicks. I don't know how Fedor managed to beat this version of CC.

Enjoy!

You can tell by their technique and body movement (particularly footwork) that when CC fought Fedor they were both P.R.I.M.E. athletes.

 

[moreorless87]

You can tell by their technique and body movement (particularly footwork) that when CC fought Fedor they were both P.R.I.M.E. athletes.

That fight is IMHO the best display of striking defence in MMA history, two guys with massively dangerous standup theowing to finish yet both manage to avoid being badly hurt.