Ngannou vs Prime Cro Cop in a ring

[moreorless87]

At the end of the day of coruse were still talking a hell of a lot of unknowns with Ngannou so making any hard and fast prediction doesn't really have much credibility to it.

 

[jono83]

He only punched with his left hand. Very one dimensional fighter. Aren’t all of his boxing matches amateur? 56 isn’t that many mist pro boxers have hundreds of amateur fights before turning pro and wrestlers have wrestled thousands of matches before even getting into mma. Their bodies are broken down by the time they reach the ufc.

Only punched with his left hand? You obviously missed who huge part of his career that involved a lot of jab and lead hooks. Yeah boxers in much lighter weight classes. You don't hit when you only wrestle so I'm unsure of your point there. Not the same as being kicked and punched by guys who were usually bigger than him, K-1 heavies. He was injured a lot in that part of his career. Imagine going through an open weight Grand Prix in those days? That and he probably over trained a lot. When he came to mma he mostly a left straight thrower since striking level is far lower and people weren't as used to seeing that kind of speed and timing.

 

[infamousXX87XX]

Cro Cop

 

[TheIrishPsycho]

Randleman was able to KO prime crocop so i bet Francis would too.

Kevin was a freak of nature though, insane speed and power - he was abnormally quick on his feet too. Much much much faster than Ngannou.

Cro Cop would have an easier time keeping Ngannou at a distance.

Would he win? Well I believe so, but Ngannou is still young in the sport and even at 31 his best years are ahead of him.

 

[hugemmafan22]

50+ professional fights for a HW in MMA and kickboxing is certainly a lot and he was well able to punch with both hands, both jabbing with his lead and throwing combos when needed(Aleks for example, a ton of fights in K-1).

Really though it comes down to whether you can work a style effectively doesn't it? Crocop had the timing, the power and the defence/movement to work the one shot counter game effectively, someone like Reem doesn't have the same ability without his K-1 gloves to hide behind, put him under pressure and the results are not pretty.

Cro Cop always folded and gave up under pressure. Plus kickboxing matches last what 9 minutes? That’s not very grueling at all. Plus kickboxing has a tiny talent pool and only and handful of solid fighters.

 

[hugemmafan22]

Only punched with his left hand? You obviously missed who huge part of his career that involved a lot of jab and lead hooks. Yeah boxers in much lighter weight classes. You don't hit when you only wrestle so I'm unsure of your point there. Not the same as being kicked and punched by guys who were usually bigger than him, K-1 heavies. He was injured a lot in that part of his career. Imagine going through an open weight Grand Prix in those days? That and he probably over trained a lot. When he came to mma he mostly a left straight thrower since striking level is far lower and people weren't as used to seeing that kind of speed and timing.

How is striking lower in mma than kickboxing? Overeem and Hunt are both K-1 world champions and they consistently get outstruck and knocked out cold in mma. Schilt went from journeyman mma fighter to GOAT heavyweight kickboxer. Kickboxing is a joke.

 

[moreorless87]

Cro Cop always folded and gave up under pressure. Plus kickboxing matches last what 9 minutes? That’s not very grueling at all. Plus kickboxing has a tiny talent pool and only and handful of solid fighters.

Well that just isn't true is it? Wanderlei, Aleks, Herring, Igor, etc all tried to pressure Crocop standing and all of them were brutally destroyed, Mirko was actually one of the best counter fighters in MMA history the only guys who pressured him successfully during his prime years were Fedor and Hunt, one via excellent defence and the other via excellent chin(and Mirko himself looked in poor shape IMHO).

 

[dr.Mitch]

Show me proof Mirko weighed 200lbs in pride or 210. Because you can’t. Even when he fought dos caras in 2002 he was 227 lbs. so sorry but you are full of shit.

Ok As a Cro Cop nuthugger and fellow countryman - smallest Mirko has been in his pro career K-1 and pride is 97 kg at the begining of his career (213 lbs). He fought in pride HW divison mostly around 225.

OWGP final night he was 218 lbs, Wand was 223.

 

[Akabignasty]

CC

 

[Hrvman]

If I remember correctly, fellow Croatians can correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Cro Cop was in our
parliament at that time.
And I also think, at that time, his current (or recent at least) conditioning coach was his sparring partner.

Take it as you will.

Even worse, prior to this fight he has spent months filming that horrible movie, Ultimate Force.

But we can't take it away from Randleman, that punch was a missile, right at the moment Mirko was loading his own. It was a tip from Chuck Liddel.

And we got to see the amazing Randleplex on Fedor next.

Mirko avenged his loss by NYE tho, I really loved that phenix like storyline of CC's 2004 run, he fought 8 times that year and it was a really fun year to follow.

 

[dr.Mitch]

Kevin was a freak of nature though, insane speed and power - he was abnormally quick on his feet too. Much much much faster than Ngannou.

Cro Cop would have an easier time keeping Ngannou at a distance.

Would he win? Well I believe so, but Ngannou is still young in the sport and even at 31 his best years are ahead of him.

If Cro Cop won that fight he would fight Fedor in the next round. But Kevin won and then he fought fedor:

Any other man would have died right there and then. Kevin was a beast that year. He surprised Cro Cop who overlooked him and already was fighting Fedor in his mind.

 

[hugemmafan22]

Well that just isn't true is it? Wanderlei, Aleks, Herring, Igor, etc all tried to pressure Crocop standing and all of them were brutally destroyed, Mirko was actually one of the best counter fighters in MMA history the only guys who pressured him successfully during his prime years were Fedor and Hunt, one via excellent defence and the other via excellent chin(and Mirko himself looked in poor shape IMHO).

The only guy you mentioned who would actually be considered a great win was Wand and he was a blown up middleweight. “Prime” Cro Cop got pressured and folded against Gonzaga and Kongo. Not too mention many other fights but people would say he was passed his “prime”.

 

[hugemmafan22]

If Cro Cop won that fight he would fight Fedor in the next round. But Kevin won and then he fought fedor:

Any other man would have died right there and then. Kevin was a beast that year. He surprised Cro Cop who overlooked him and already was fighting Fedor in his mind.

Why would any other man have died? That was all luck that he landed the way that he did and wasn’t knocked out or seriously injured.

 

[moreorless87]

The only guy you mentioned who would actually be considered a great win was Wand and he was a blown up middleweight. “Prime” Cro Cop got pressured and folded against Gonzaga and Kongo. Not too mention many other fights but people would say he was passed his “prime”.

Sorry but you don't have a clue what your talking about and are looking to flip the discussion to cover it, the guys I listed were all dangerous strikers who pressured Mirko and all of them got countered and finished. The reality is that "Crocop couldn't take pressure" is mostly a fanboy myth, he was a front runner with a quite limited offencive gameplan but countering pressure was his greatest strength.

Gonzaga really didn't pressure Mirko that much at all, he got an early takedown catching a midkick very nicely and exploited his lack of prep for elbows on the ground before timing one strike, not much pressure besides that.

Mirko's style did definitely put him on the jagged edge, putting himself potentially in harms way looking for fight ending counters rather than picking away from range with weaker shots. I think you saw that with Randleman and Gonzaga, dangerous flakey opponents who had an inspired performances.

 

[dr.Mitch]

Why would any other man have died? That was all luck that he landed the way that he did and wasn’t knocked out or seriously injured.

There are other angles of the throw. It was not luck, fedor knows how to fall, he sticks his left arm out to break the fall and curls so he hits mid back, not neck or head. I think not many woulf be composed like thet when in the air

 

[lukeuidswords]

How is striking lower in mma than kickboxing? Overeem and Hunt are both K-1 world champions and they consistently get outstruck and knocked out cold in mma. Schilt went from journeyman mma fighter to GOAT heavyweight kickboxer. Kickboxing is a joke.

Cro Cop repped Croatia at an AIBA tournament, which is a higher level of boxing than either Stipe or Ngannou have ever competed in.

 

[WhiteMousse]

Let me simplify this for everyone.

Ngannou is the greatest of all time. Until he loses. Once. Then he will always have been overrated, but ONLY then. Up until that point he will have always been the GOAT.

I realize those two sentiments are inherently contradictory, but this is Sherdog.

 

[Anderson Silva]

Young Crocop is too fast and a precision striking south paw so I'm going to go with him.

LOL YOU MAD

 

[Bill Laimbeer]

If you look at all the current heavyweights in boxing, through out history...the best of all time, were always around the 215-220 range..always...ali, foreman, frazier, tyson...tyson at his best was 215-218lbs...

George never was that small nor was Ali. Lennox shits on all them and he is 240 as are almost all he champs in the past 40 years. Evander and Tyson being the exception.

 

[Bill Laimbeer]

Every time there is a "prime xxx vs current today fighter" thread you know that is made so nostalgic fan can reunite in a circlejerk and articulate how amazing that fighter was in his prime.

In the real world the current fighter wins everytime, and this is not a fair matchup, K-1 and Pride Crocop was 6 feet 200-220 pounds, a smaller light-heavy.

This is what I was thinking. Also looking back Cro Cop was overrated. He folded under pressure and lost to most big names he fought off the pride testing.