UFC Fight Night 147: 10 memorable moments from the UFC's previous shows in the UK

#2: Gonzaga gives Cro Cop a taste of his own medicine – UFC 70 – 04/21/2007

Gabriel Gonzaga stunned Manchester to silence with his KO of Mirko Cro Cop

The UFC hadn’t been to the UK for almost 5 years by the time UFC 70 arrived in April 2007, and so the fans in attendance at Manchester’s MEN Arena were absolutely pumped to see some Octagon action. The night’s most popular fighter was hometown hero Michael Bisping, but there was no doubt that most fans were there to see one man – former PRIDE superstar and feared striker Mirko Cro Cop.

Matched with grappler Gabriel Gonzaga in the show’s main event, the fans were all hoping to see one of Cro Cop’s trademark head kick knockouts, of which he’d delivered so many in the PRIDE ring. Literally nobody expected to see the Croatian handed a taste of his own medicine, and yet that’s exactly what the fans in Manchester were treated to.

Gonzaga managed to take Cro Cop down in the first round and worked him over with elbows, before referee Herb Dean called a stand-up. As the two men circled, ‘Napao’ threw a picture-perfect right head kick that almost decapitated the Croatian legend. The kick sounded like a gunshot and left Cro Cop unconscious for what felt like an age, as the arena was practically stunned into silence.

Over a decade on, the knockout remains one of the UFC’s most memorable finishes of all time, and probably one of the most replayed, too. Gonzaga never produced something quite as dramatic again in his whole career, while Cro Cop was never really the same after it. It was the absolute definition of a memorable moment.