Croatian MMA legend Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipović recently revealed that he received a genuine offer to step into the cage against Francis Ngannou in 2026.
In a conversation, Filipović described the moment a respected industry figure, a senior executive at one of the world’s leading MMA organizations, presented him with a proposition that stopped him mid-thought.
“A serious guy from the MMA business, seriously CEO of one big organization, he’s calling me,” Filipović recalled. “He said, ‘I know you are training, you are in shape all the time. Are you willing to compete with Francis Ngannou?'”
What followed was a moment of Cro Cop being dry and entirely honest.
“I said, ‘What do you mean fig ht? Did you say fig ht? Or did you mean playing cards, chess, swimming, running? You really mean fig ht?’” Filipović recalled. “He said yes. I asked, ‘What kind of fig ht? Boxing?’ And then I told him, ‘If that’s what you mean, no. I’m not figh ting him. Are you crazy?’”
Filipović made it clear where Ngannou ranks on his personal list of potential opponents.
“If I had to pick, if I had to compete now and make a list from the worst to the best that I would fight, of course, Francis is gonna be the last one I would compete,” he said.
Still, walking away from a challenge outright has never quite been Cro Cop’s style. Instead, he gave the executive a number.
“I told him, ‘Give me the right amount,’” Filipović explained to the executive. “I said I would compete against him for $500,000.”
But the figure came with a twist that quickly became the most memorable part of the story. Cro Cop joked that the real price of the match would be far higher, roughly $20 million, with nearly all of it going to his mother once she found out who he had agreed to face.
“Nineteen million, five hundred thousand would go to pay for the expression on my mother’s face when she hears who I’m competing,” he said. “I would take only five hundred thousand. The rest goes to my mother first.”
Ngannou is widely regarded as one of the most physically intimidating competitors in the history of the division. The former UFC heavyweight champion weighs over 265 lbs (120 kg).
Eddie Hall, the former World’s Strongest Man and occasional boxing participant, gave perhaps the most candid outside assessment of what it means to be offered a match with Ngannou, during an appearance on The Helwani Show.
“Francis outclasses me in every single way possible in the combat world,” Hall admitted plainly. He went further, making clear that the financial bar for such an engagement would need to be extraordinarily high: “It’d have to be a big money incentive for me to do that and literally put my life on the line going in the ring with someone like Ngannou.”
Filipović’s situation carried a similar logic. The offer reportedly came roughly three months before a proposed May event. While the competitive side of him still felt the pull of a legitimate challenge, the practical reality was hard to ignore.
“They called me three months before,” he said. “I’d compete if the money was right, but who would actually pay $20 million for that? Who would spend that much money when he might kill me?”
Ultimately, no agreement was reached, and the matchup never materialized.
[Editor’s Note: Quotes have been translated and edited for clarity and readability.]
