UFC 70 Recap

2007 sucks! It's happened again. Last night at the Manchester Evening News Arena, Mirko Cro Cop was brutally knocked out and dominated by the major underdog Gabriel Gonzaga, the finish coming by way of knockout in round one.

After a blocked kick and a successful takedown attempt, Gonzaga utilized a brutal ground and pound to open up a nasty cut on the head of the Croatian sensation. Herb Dean once again showed his skill in creating controversy with an arguable fight stand up, leading to a welcome chorus of cheers from the audience.

However, it was not Cro Cop's night, as he was caught with a right high kick to the temple, landing somewhat precariously on his ankle. This is shocking to say the least, and now means that we will be faced with the prospect of Randy Couture VS. Gabriel Gonzaga later this year.

I cannot express how worried I am for Randy. Although he's an amazing fighter in his own right, Gonzaga has skills to pay the bills in every department.

He's a multi-time BJJ national champion, and as we saw tonight, his striking skills are lethal. Infact, Gonzaga is more of a threat to the title than Cro Cop could be! All I can say is woah. This was definitely not expected, but the question is, which was the bigger upset recently? Serra over GSP or Crocop over Gonzaga? That one is impossible to call. Either way, Cro Cop's future looks cloudy, but this may give us an opportunity to see him against Sylvia in the upcoming months as a way of the Croat gaining redemption.

Other matches on the card saw Michael Bisping, the pride of the United Kingdom beat down Elvis Sinosic . This wasn't without a few scares along the way, with Michael taking a nasty knee to the head which saw him dropped, followed by a tight kimura attempt and a back mount which was reversed beautifully. The finish came from ground and pound in the second stanza, with the homeland favorite getting the nod, taking his record to an impressive 13-0.

Similarly, Ryoto Machida managed to maintain his unbeaten record with a three round beating of David Heath. Machida's record is actually looking extremely impressive. With wins over Rich Franklin, BJ Penn and Stefan Bonnar, it cannot be long before he is taken seriously in the light heavyweight division and given a title shot. Perhaps I can dream of a Rampage VS. Machida fight?

UFC 70 also saw Andrei Arlovski take on Fabricio Werdum in a tedious 3 round bore. I absolutely hate hearing "styles make fights"; but it was certainly true here. Werdum wanted nothing to do with the standup of Arlovski, and similarly Arlovski didn't want to trade submissions with the BJJ champion. This led to a monotonous standup bore fest, with only a few flurries traded either way. This was as close to a draw as you could get on the judge's scorecards, but Arlovski gained the win due to a better display of standup.

Cheick Kongo defeated PRIDE veteran Assuerio Silva by decision, but this time a little more action saw the judges have to work harder, one of them even giving the fight a 28-28 score. Kongo's striking dominance was displayed, while when the fight went to the ground Silva managed to ineffectively control Kongo for longer periods.

Once again, a show from the UFC that wasn't the most entertaining undercard I've ever seen, but the shocker of a main event certainly makes up for that. If you have an overwhelming desire to see the #2 heavyweight in the world get knocked out, get the DVD. The curse of '07 has struck yet again. Let's just hope that Fedor can hide himself for the rest of the year.

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