The Legend of Mirko Cro Cop's High Kick: Cro Cop Head Kick's His Way into MMA Against Yuji Nagata

Mirko Cro Cop's bout with Patrick Barry is fast-approaching, and the Cro Cop of old is something that kickboxing and MMA fans yearn for. Last time we talked about Cro Cop, his first head kick KO in K-1 was looked at, where the legend of his head kick being deadly began. That was 1999, fast forward two years, where Cro Cop's luck in K-1 had seemingly ran out and the world of MMA was quickly growing. After dipping his toe into the waters of MMA, he entered into competition on New Year's Eve against one of Antonio Inoki's own on an Inoki Bom-Be-Ye show. 

Yuji Nagata was a big name in Antonio Inoki's pro wrestling league, New Japan Pro Wrestling, and was sent by Inoki to show that pro wrestling was the 'strongest' sport in Japan. Cro Cop's first victory was, funny enough, over Kazuyuki Fujita, who at the time held the IWGP Heavyweight Championship (New Japan's main title). Nagata was foolishly sent in to regain New Japan's honor with little training or preparation. Before you write off Nagata and pro wrestling, listen to the roar of the crowd when Nagata is announced. Pro wrestling, at the time, was still a very hot commodity in Japan. The few second this fight took helped forever shape the fight game in Japan and helped build the legend and MMA career of Mirko Cro Cop.

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