Mirko Cro Cop suffers stroke, announces retirement

The legendary career of Mirko Cro Cop has come to an end.

On Friday afternoon, reports from IndexHR announced a stroke had forced the legendary Croatian heavyweight to hang up his four-ounce gloves for good.

He would later take to Instagram to confirm the reports.

Cro Cop (38-11-2, 1 NC) — real name Mirko Filipovic — ends his career riding a 10-fight win streak. In his most recent bout, fans witnessed him avenge his previous loss to Roy Nelson with a decision win at Bellator 216 last month. Prior to this performance, Cro Cop strung together five straight wins under the Rizin FF banner, winning the 2016 Rizin Open-Weight Grand Prix in the process. This performance came a little more than 10 years after he emerged victorious from the 2006 Pride World Open-Weight Grand Prix.

During this most recent run of success, Cro Cop also finished Gabriel Gonzaga in the main event of UFC Krakow in April 2015, avenging his previous loss from 2007. This marked his first bout inside the Octagon since his original retirement from MMA in 2011. He would, however, return to kickboxing glory by winning the 2012 K-1 World Grand Prix before picking his MMA gloves back up later that year.

Cro Cop closes his career with several Zuffa, LLC (UFC, Pride, WEC, Strikeforce) records under his belt, including most finishes (21), first round finishes (17) and head kick knockouts (4) while earning notable victories over former champions Josh Barnett, Mark Coleman, Wanderlei Silva (2x), Muhammed Lawal, Kevin Randleman as well as Kazushi Sakuraba, Heath Herring and Igor Vovchanchyn.