Nearly eight years after being on the wrong end of one of the most infamous knockouts in UFC history, Mirko Filipovic evened the score with Gabriel Gonzaga.
Filipovic (31-11-2) defeated Gonzaga via TKO at 3:30 of the third round in a heavyweight fight on Saturday. The bout headlined a UFC Fight Night event inside Krakow Arena in Krakow, Poland.
The 40-year-old Croatian was incredibly inactive for the first two rounds, before landing a fight-changing elbow to Gonzaga's temple in the third round. Dazed, Gonzaga attempted to take "Cro Cop" down, but left himself open to a left uppercut through the middle. He fell backward onto the canvas, where Filipovic entered his guard and continued landing elbows until the finish.
Filipovic, who recorded his 23rd career knockout in MMA, addressed the slow start in his postfight comments.
"It was [scheduled for] five rounds," Filipovic said. "We made a plan that two rounds doesn't mean 'win or lose.' Stay calm and we believed, really, that the third or fourth round would be the last."
The win somewhat avenges the knockout loss Filipovic suffered to Gonzaga (16-10) at UFC 70 in April 2007. A veteran K-1 kickboxer with a lethal left kick to the head, Filipovic was being groomed at the time for a heavyweight title shot against defending champion Randy Couture. Gonzaga played spoiler, however, dropping Filipovic with a right head kick late in the first round.
Through two rounds, Gonzaga appeared to be on his way to a second win over Filipovic. He landed a couple of right hands on the feet early, before taking Filipovic down and moving into mount with 90 seconds left in the opening frame. In the following round, he took the fight to the floor again and opened a deep cut near the side of Filipovic's left eye with an elbow.
According to Fightmetric, Filipovic landed a mere 10 total strikes in the first two rounds combined. He attempted only 20. Gonzaga, by comparison, landed 47-of-69.
None of that mattered midway through the third, however, when Filipovic landed the standing elbow as his back was on the fence. It looked for a moment like the Brazilian would be able to recover, as he closed his guard on Filipovic and stalled for recovery time, but Filipovic eventually postured up and landed a series of unanswered blows to bring in referee Leon Roberts.
"During preparations, we trained how to throw elbows and how to defend elbows -- it worked," said Filipovic, with a grin.
When asked if he would be seen in the Octagon again, Filipovic responded, "of course." He strongly hinted at a retirement from mixed martial arts after a knockout loss to Roy Nelson in October 2011, but returned one year later in a pro fight in Tokyo. He has also competed in eight pro kickboxing matches since that time, compiling a 7-1 record.
Manuwa overwhelms Blachowicz
Fighting for the first time in 13 months, British slugger Jimi Manuwa earned a unanimous decision against Jan Blachowicz -- in the Polish fighter's home country, no less.
Manuwa (15-1), who missed most of last year due to injury, never hurt Blachowicz but he kept up a high level of pressure in the 205-pound contest. All three judges rewarded Manuwa for his forward movement in what was a relatively slow fight. Official scores read 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28 for Manuwa.
"I'm not too happy about [the performance] -- I didn't catch him with too many shots; I didn't land as many as I wanted," Manuwa said. "But I got the win and that's the important thing, and I didn't get hurt in there.
"Next, I want anyone in the top 10 -- anyone in that top 10. Now I'm going to spend a bit of time with my children and then it's back to training."
Showing a visible respect for Manuwa's power, Blachowicz (18-4) got on his bike early. He circled away from Manuwa's lead left, while popping him consistently with the jab. The jab was a useful tool for the Polish light heavyweight throughout, but it failed to produce a high level of significant damage.
Manuwa appeared bothered by the jab at times, but was willing to walk through it in order to clinch up with Blachowicz. He never looked for a takedown from the position, opting to throw short hooks to the body and knees to the legs. The result was long stretches of inactivity, but Manuwa managed to score some points with knees and elbows.
In the third round, Blachowicz hit Manuwa with a hard left head kick as they broke off a clinch. Manuwa smiled and took the shot well, coming forward moments later to tie Blachowicz up in the clinch again.
The 35-year-old Manuwa moves to 4-1 in the UFC. His first three wins all came via knockout. He suffered a second-round TKO loss to Alexander Gustafsson last March. Blachowicz drops to 1-1 in the Octagon.
