Well, as I’m sure you already know, the world of mixed martial arts was brought down almost as fast as the “spinning kick heard around the world” that brought down the fighter that many considered virtually unstoppable and easy, at least until this point. , the most feared forward in the heavyweight division. Of course, I’m talking about the highlight fight of the night during UFC # 70 with Mirko Cro Cop vs. Gabriel Gonzaga.
As we all know, Cro Cop is primarily a standing fighter and should, yes, I still said, be considered the most feared forward in the heavyweight division. Even though he suffered a tremendous knockout, this does not affect his ability to punch and strike with devastating knockout power to both his hands and feet.
Gonzaga, who is a highly trained black belt in Brazilian jujitsu, is primarily known for his grappling skills and was expected to attempt to get Cro Cop to the ground where he would be at a great disadvantage as he is not known for his ground fighting skills. . .
What follows is a detailed professional analysis of the fight from start to finish, concluding with some final thoughts on both fighters. Please note that these are my views from my own perspective of the events that occurred. They are not intended to get rid of any thoughts, words, etc. negative or derogatory. on any of the combatants involved. I have great respect for anyone, and I mean anyone who steps on the mat. So with more teens, let’s get started.
THE FIGHT:
From the opening bell, Gonzaga was clearly the aggressor as he continually turned to Cro Cop’s right to avoid the left leg roundhouse kick. Although it appeared that Cro Cop was patiently stalking Gonzaga, he spent much of his time avoiding Gonzaga’s punches while throwing only a few punches of his own. These were primarily strikes with his right hand while Cro Cop fights primarily from a southpaw stance.
Suddenly, about a minute into the fight, Cro Cop unleashes one of his devastating spinning kicks to the right side of Gonzaga’s rib cage. The kick is good and lands with a lot of power. However, Gonzaga, who I bet was waiting for Cro Cop to throw that kick, absorbed the blow and grabbed Cro Cop’s left leg and proceeded to throw him to the ground.
Once he was brought to the ground, Cro Cop did a good job of holding onto Gonzaga and even choked and blocked many of his punches. However, Gonzaga was able to land several nicely delivered elbows on Cro Cop’s head with his right arm. Although these punches didn’t end the fight, I can’t help but think that they ultimately contributed to Cro Cop’s ultimate demise.
The ground battle dragged on for a couple of minutes until referee Herb Dean stopped them both with 30 seconds remaining in the fight. Now I freely admit that I am not that well versed in the submission aspect of MMA, but I still haven’t figured out why Herb Dean stopped them on the ground and left them standing. It seemed to me that Gonzaga was continually trying to hit Cro Cop with his elbows and fists, while at the same time Cro Cop was doing a good job fending off all but a few of the elbow punches thrown by Gonzaga. Now if anyone else knows why the ground battle was stopped please let me know as I haven’t figured it out yet.
Moments after the referee planted them; Gonzaga shook the entire mixed martial arts world with a beautiful right leg roundhouse kick to Cro Cop’s left temple, resulting in an instant and devastating knockout. Immediately after Cro Cop hit the mat, Gonzaga delivered two more devastating blows to Cro Cop’s head before referee Herb Dean could step in and stop the fight. Gonzaga was declared the winner by knockout with seconds remaining in the first round.
THE KNOCKOUT:
Now there were several contributing factors that were directly responsible for the effectiveness of Gonzaga’s spinning kick. Some of which were provided by Cro Cop himself. I have broken down those factors by fighter and they are as follows:
Cro Cop:
If you watched the knockout closely, and did it several times with my Tivo, you can clearly see that Cro Cop had lowered his left hand and arm slightly downward leaving the left side of his head completely open and vulnerable to attack. After reviewing this fight many times, I guess the reason Cro Cop lowered his left arm was to take the brunt of the round kick to his arm, rather than his rib cage where he thought the kick was going to go. On top of that, he also had his right foot lifted off the ground at the exact moment he was hit with the roundhouse kick. These two factors contributed greatly to the devastating effects of Gonzaga’s spinning kick.
Gonzaga:
He obviously took not just Cro Cop, but everyone else by surprise when he delivered that beautiful roundhouse kick to the head. I don’t think Cro Cop really even considered that Gonzaga could kick that high, let alone with such speed, power, and precision. In the early stages of the fight, Gonzaga threw two more spinning kicks, a low section and a mid section. I think this had an obvious effect on where Cro Cop thought Gonzaga was going to kick.
MY RECOMMENDATIONS:
Here are my thoughts on how each fighter could improve their respective skills regarding this particular fight.
Cro Cop:
1. Keep your hands up! I know this sounds simple and it is. I learned this the hard way myself on more than one occasion.
2. Make better use of your own kicking ability by setting up your kicks before throwing them. You only threw one lone kick the entire fight, and I wasn’t ready before you threw it and Gonzaga was able to catch it.
3. As fast as your kick goes from the ground to the target, it must be just as fast, if not faster, to get back to the ground.
4. Kick your lead leg more and hit his lead leg. When fighting from a left-handed stance with your opponent fighting from a traditional stance, your right leg will always be closer to his left leg. So, use your footwork to get you into a position where you can kick your left leg with your right leg effectively.
5. Don’t allow your opponent a chance to dictate the pace of the fight.
6. Learn and practice how to avoid being knocked over and, if so, how to get back on your feet as soon as possible.
Gonzaga:
His strategy for this particular fight was near perfect. However, here are a couple of things that I noticed.
1. I calculated the effectiveness of the knockout roundhouse at about 75%. The reason for this is that if the knee of the kicking leg had been slightly bent and pointed past Cro Cop’s head, and if his hips and upper body were turned a little more in the direction of the kick, rather than inward. in the opposite direction, the entire weight of the body would have been behind the kick, resulting in a much more devastating blow.
2. If you were executing a “Thai” roundhouse kick, you should have continued to drive your kicking leg across the target. However, if he was executing a traditional Karate or Tae Kwon Do round kick, he should have retracted or pushed back his lower leg, rather than leaving it hanging on Cro Cop’s shoulder. Which, if you noticed, got a bit hanging over the head and shoulder area.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Although this fight resulted in a loss for Cro Cop, I think you will see him come back even more dangerous than before as he has an indomitable spirit and will learn from the mistakes made in this fight. As far as Gonzaga is concerned, this was hands down the most impressive performance I have ever seen. Randy Couture will definitely have his hands full during that fight. However, I still choose “The Natural” to win by submission.
