This Month’s MMA Birthdays: Mirko ‘Cro Cop’ Filipovic Turns 43
He was one of MMA’s original boogeymen and a pillar of the Pride Fighting Championships promotion in Japan. Mirko Filipovic will celebrate his 43rd birthday on Sept. 10.
Filipovic debuted in 2001 and soon after rose to prominence in Pride, where his signature left high kick made him a permanent fixture on highlight reels. During his stay in the Japanese organization, “Cro Cop” twice fought for the heavyweight title, won the 2006 Pride open weight grand prix and subdued a long line of contemporaries: Josh Barnett (three times), Wanderlei Silva, Kazushi Sakuraba, Igor Vovchanchyn, Mark Coleman, Kevin Randleman and Hidehiko Yoshida. Filipovic’s famed August 2005 battle with Fedor Emelianenko -- he lost by unanimous decision -- was easily the most anticipated heavyweight fight in mixed martial arts history.
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Those in MMA celebrating a birthday during the month of September:
SEPT. 1
Tim Kennedy, 38Mike Pierce, 37
Nick Catone, 36
D.J. Linderman, 34
Henrique da Silva, 28
Carl Seumanutafa, 28
SEPT. 2
Steve Gable, 41Jeff Curran, 40
Shamil Abdurakhimov, 36
Alessio Sakara, 36
Sean O’Connell, 34
Anthony Durnell, 33
Dragan Tesanovic, 32
Jamil Silveira da Conceicao, 31
Enrique Marin, 31
Cathal Pendred, 30
Alejandro Perez, 28
SEPT. 3
Hidehiko Yoshida, 48Leo Sylvest, 44
Daniel Jolly, 33
Dominick Cruz, 32
Lorenz Larkin, 31
SEPT. 4
Bao Quach, 38Katy Collins, 30
Kevin Lee, 25
Humberto Bandenay, 23
SEPT. 5
Emmanuel Yarborough (1960-2015)James Brasco, 45
Gray Maynard, 38
Jacob Volkmann, 37
Tim Hague, 34
Francis Ngannou, 31
Raquel Pennington, 29
SEPT. 6
Thales Leites, 36Tarec Saffiedine, 31
Jared Gordon, 28
SEPT. 7
Patrick Williams, 36Alan Carlos, 34
Ian Loveland, 34
Pedro Munhoz, 31
Yancy Medeiros, 30
Larissa Pacheco, 23
SEPT. 8
Rubens Xavier, 43Mike Thomas Brown, 42
Chris Tuchscherer, 42
Yasuhiro Urushitani, 41
Chris Dempsey, 30
Maryna Moroz, 26
SEPT. 9
Don Richards, 43Roger Narvaez, 34
Harris Sarmiento, 34
Jose Aldo, 31
Bobby Green, 31
Kyung Ho Kang, 30
SEPT. 10
Masahiko Kimura (1917-1993)Sanae Kikuta, 46
Mirko Filipovic, 43
Joe Doerksen, 40
Naoya Uematsu, 39
SEPT. 11
Chance Farrar, 42Eric Bedard, 33
Cody Gibson, 30
SEPT. 12
Yuki Sasaki, 41James Irvin, 39
Ray Steinbeiss, 38
Stanislav Nedkov, 36
Mario Rinaldi, 35
Johny Hendricks, 34
Junior dos Santos, 33
Paul Kelly, 33
Dustin Neace, 31
SEPT. 13
Yuri Vaulin, 54Marcus Sursa, 35
Ronald LeBreton Jr., 32
SEPT. 14
Antonio Silva, 38Chris Lozano, 35
Alan Omer, 29
Yuki Motoya, 28
SEPT. 15
John Marsh, 47Rick Hawn, 38
Fernando Gonzalez, 34
Jesse Gross, 30
Horacio Gutierrez, 27
SEPT. 16
Roberto Traven, 49Pablo Garza, 34
Brandon Halsey, 31
SEPT. 17
Michael Guymon, 43Denis Kang, 40
Scott Jorgensen, 35
Sean Holden, 33
Hector Urbina, 30
SEPT. 18
Mike Pyle, 42Abel Trujillo, 34
Felice Herrig, 33
Ashkan Mokhtarian, 32
SEPT. 19
Heather Clark, 37Leandro Issa, 34
Matt Wiman, 34
Lewis Gonzalez, 30
SEPT. 20
Ryan Jensen, 40Eric Schafer, 40
Quinn Mulhern, 33
Sarah Kaufman, 32
SEPT. 21
Josh Thomson, 39Bianca Daimoni, 31
Martin Bravo, 24
SEPT. 22
Bob Sapp, 44Forrest Petz, 42
Takanori Gomi, 39
Fredy Serrano, 38
Shamar Bailey, 35
Bruno Menezes, 32
Chuck O'Neil, 32
Mike de la Torre, 31
Elias Silverio, 31
Corey Anderson, 28
SEPT. 23
Shane del Rosario (1983-2013)Jason Lambert, 40
Makoto Maeda, 40
Maro Perak, 35
Joe Riggs, 35
Sotaro Yamada, 34
SEPT. 24
Brad Pickett, 39Sara McMann, 37
Brian Stann, 37
Kris McCray, 36
Roxanne Modafferi, 35
Dan Charles, 32
Chris Horodecki, 30
SEPT. 25
Todd Gouwenberg, 43Olavo Belo, 38
Rashad Evans, 38
Allan Weickert, 36
Phil Davis, 33
Jake O'Brien, 33
Jessica Andrade, 26
SEPT. 26
Shinobu Aoyama, 44David Branch, 36
Roger Gracie, 36
Hugo Viana, 35
John Dodson, 33
Ross Pearson, 33
Santiago Ponzinibbio, 31
Dileno Lopes, 30
Tom Breese, 26
SEPT. 27
Shannon Ritch, 47Sasa Mitrovic, 32
Josh Bacallao, 29
Islam Makhachev, 26
SEPT. 28
Fedor Emelianenko, 41Jeremy Mahon, 38
Eduardo Felipe , 37
Justin Ledet, 29
SEPT. 29
James Te Huna, 36Andre Galvao, 35
Che Mills, 35
Eric Spicely, 31
Niko Price, 28
SEPT. 30
Herb Dean, 47Yves Edwards, 41
Latoya Walker, 38
Damacio Page, 35
Scott Holtzman, 34
Neal Ewing, 32
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