Defending Mirko Cro Cop's Performance Against Anthony Perosh At UFC 110

In the aftermath of UFC 110, a lot of fans and writers have been pretty critical in regards to Mirko's  performance against last minute replacement Anthony Perosh.  While I won't say that the Mirko of 2005 returned at UFC 110, it was a pretty dominating performance stats wise for the Croatian.  Not to mention that Perosh presented someone with a totally different gameplan than Cro Cop's original opponent in Ben Rothwell.  Some argued that Mirko should have dispatched Perosh in the first round, and maybe he should have.  However, it's not really surprising to me that Perosh made it to the end of the second round when you factor in all of the variables that went into the fight.  Check it:

-In ten minutes of fighting Perosh attempted 12 take downs and was unsuccessful on all of them.

-Perosh only landed 11 strikes during the entire fight

-Cro Cop landed 54% of his strikes

It's pretty difficult to let your strikes go when you are constantly defending a take down.  I mean every time that Perosh shot in for a take down with Mirko defending, that probably ate up anywhere from 20-30 seconds with each take down.  Factor in that Perosh shot for 7 take downs in the first round and Cro Cop is defending a takedown for over half the round. 

The most impressive thing about Mirko's performance was probably his ground and pound coupled with his use of elbows.  The elbow Mirko landed is essentially what put Perosh away due to the cut.  That's one of the few times I've ever seen Mirko even attempt to use elbows in a fight.  Also, the ground and pound that Mirko began to inflict at the end of the second round was pretty heavy as Perosh head was snapped back multiple times against the canvas.  Quite simply the guy is tough and should be credited for that. 

So again, I'm not here to crown Mirko as the the comeback fighter of the year or anything.  However, I don't think he deserves to be criticized THAT heavily for his UFC 110 performance either.

HT: Compustrike