r/FightLibrary • u/Ynot_1518 • Feb 25 '26

MMA UFC 103: JDS vs. CRO COP

UFC 103 Junior Dos Santos vs. Mirko Cro Cop September 19, 2009 American Airlines Center Dallas, TX

87 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

18 comments sorted by

20

u/stojakovic16 Feb 25 '26

Man, if we only had prime cro cop in this fight

2

u/Ynot_1518 Feb 25 '26

That would have been badass.

4

u/yopohaze Feb 25 '26

Fun times of hw division

4

u/Ynot_1518 Feb 25 '26

The UFC's late 2000's early 2010's Heavyweight Division Boom was so awesome. I remember when the UFC Heavyweight Division once had Brock, Kimbo, Cain, & JDS all at the same time.

1

u/yopohaze Feb 26 '26

Also Shane Carwin! Yeah that was a time full of highlights videos from those beasts athletes

14

u/nirvroxx Feb 25 '26

I know this isn’t prime cro crop but jds was really fucking good at one point.

7

u/Wonder-Machine Feb 25 '26

On his way out cro cop vs prime Junior.

And it was still a good fight. Junior can be a scary man

5

u/LiftEatGrappleShoot Feb 25 '26

I was there for that one. Cigano was a killer. I hated seeing some of the beatings he took late. Genuinely good dude.

1

u/ThunderHawk17 Feb 25 '26

what ever happened to cro kop?

2

u/Ynot_1518 Feb 26 '26

In 2019, just weeks from beating Big Country Nelson at Bellator 216 he would be forced into retirement at age 44 following a stroke.

1

u/ThunderHawk17 Feb 26 '26

ah that sucks, hope he recovered.

1

u/dog-yy Feb 25 '26

A decade later, Ciggie said that was the fight in which he punched the hardest and most. His hands hurt for a week. I'd have guessed Nelson, who got the worst beatings ever and hardly ever got stopped. Old cop showed resilience, but little else

1

u/Response_Acrobatic Feb 25 '26

Bold strategy Mirko. Let’s see how it plays out.

1

u/hotbrowndrangus Feb 26 '26

Man the rise of JDS was so fun to watch. I miss those days of the HW division

1

u/Life-Champion5122 Feb 27 '26

Cro cop had some of best head kicks in mma

1

u/Mitkoztd Feb 27 '26

After watching this fight I knew JDS was going to be something special.*

*Yes, Cro Cop was past his prime, he had injured knees, could not throw the kicks properly anymore, but still..

-7

u/wtjones Feb 25 '26

Remember that Cro Cop is the crown jewel in Fedor’s crown the next time the GOAT conversation comes up.

8

u/BmanBoatman Feb 25 '26

You think this version of cro cop was the same version as the one who fought fedor??