Eight years ago, Gabriel Gonzaga initiated the precipitous decline of Mirko Cro Cop, one of MMA’s greatest heavyweights, by landing the head kick heard ‘round the world and cashing in on an unexpected title shot.
Sitting backstage at UFC 70, Gonzaga didn’t know what to expect. He was headlining his first UFC event against a man wielding a weapon beneath the left side of his torso. “Right leg hospital, left leg cemetery” was Cro Cop’s frightening way of describing his head kicks.
For years, Cro Cop had built a legacy off decapitating domes with a left high kick so powerful it haunted fighters’ dreams. Gonzaga was relatively unknown at the time, especially to casual fans, and he didn’t speak a lick of English.
Thousands gathered in the then-named Manchester Evening News Arena in Manchester, United Kingdom, to watch Gonzaga fail. It’s the cold truth for most young fighters attempting to topple a legend.
Some fans didn’t even know Gonzaga’s name when he entered the Octagon eight years ago. But after that night, no one would ever forget it.
“Everything was new, and I didn’t talk English that well,” Gonzaga said in an interview with Bleacher Report. “I was trying to understand stuff, but I was really confident that I had trained well for my fight. I wasn’t expecting to do that. I just did it.”
By “it,” Gonzaga is referring to the jaw-dropping head kick he landed on Cro Cop, leaving the former Pride Grand Prix champ cold on his backside, folded like a contortionist. The world would never look at Cro Cop the same again. He was instantly downgraded from UFC contender to an aged legend well past his prime.
Gonzaga, on the other hand, gained a cult following all the way to his UFC title loss to Randy Couture.
But the tables are turned this time around. Gonzaga is now a longtime UFC veteran, a fluent English speaker and the favorite heading into his rematch with Cro Cop on Saturday in Krakow, Poland.
Cro Cop, who has spent the last four years grinding away in other promotions, has looked forward to an opportunity to face Gonzaga again and rewrite history.
“It was one of the fights I will never forget, and I just want a rematch with him,” Cro Cop told Ariel Helwani on The MMA Hour. “I can’t say I will beat him, but I will die trying.”
Cro Cop’s determination has Gonzaga equally fired up about the rematch. While Napao insists he has nothing to prove Saturday, he doesn’t plan on leaving Krakow a loser.
“That’s really important to know that someone wants to knock me out so bad. So I need to be aware that it’s a dangerous place and be ready to fight well,” said Gonzaga. “I’m here, I have been here in the UFC. I don’t have nothing to prove to nobody and just need to do my job and do it as best as I can because he wants to try to knock me out, and I don’t want to be knocked out.”
A chance to redefine history isn’t all that’s at stake. Both men could also be on the UFC chopping block.
Gonzaga is coming off back-to-back losses to Stipe Miocic and Matt Mitrione. Meanwhile, Cro Cop still carries the weight from his previous UFC run, which he ended with three straight losses.
All quotes were obtained firsthand, unless otherwise noted. Jordy McElroy is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA writer for FanRag Sports and co-founder of The MMA Bros.
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