藤田和之
On the other hand, his defense featured a signature left sidestep used to avoid his adversary's lunges and a solid ability to sprawl, having stopped takedowns from Olympian caliber wrestlers such as Mark Coleman, Olympic judoka champions like Hidehiko Yoshida, wrestling champions like Kazuyuki Fujita or veteran wrestlers like Heath Herring and judoka and sambist Aleksander Emelianenko. Though always focused on striking, Cro Cop developed ground fighting skills over time, being adept in fighting from his back and recovering the standing position.