Gabriel Gonzaga stole my heart on April 21, 2007. This is not to say that I didn't take pleasure in his previous performances. In his second professional fight against Brenden Lee Hinkle the referee was Wanderlei Silva, that in itself made the fight awesome. Nevertheless, he wasn't exactly heralded when he made his UFC debut on November 19, 2005. This fight against Kevin Jordan was pretty uneventful until GG knocked him out in the third. I didn't lose hope, as I knew that Gabriel is a savvy BJJ practitioner as well as a skilled Muay Thai boxer.
Fast forward to UFC 70: Nations Collide, held in Manchester, England. London was calling and the fighters answered with decisions. Cheick Kongo won via decision, as did Lyoto Machida and Andrei Arlovski. Michael Bisping won over Elvis Sinosic via TKO, but I don't like him, so it doesn't count. No matter! This night was meant to showcase Miko "Cro Cop" Filipovic.
Mirko was coming off his finals victory over Josh Barnett in the PRIDE 2006 Open Weight Grand Prix. UFC was hoping to match Mirko up with Randy Couture for the heavyweight championship and make a lot of money. Hype doesn't begin to describe what the UFC did with Cro Cop. He was billed as "the most lethal striker in the heavyweight division". Hard to think about that now, but it may have been true at the time. Seriously, how bad ass is "right leg, hospital; left leg, cemetery."
Enter Gabriel Gonzaga. Although he has strung together three wins in the UFC, not a lot of people were giving Gonzaga a chance. Mirko certainly didn't seem to take him too seriously. I put money on a Gonzaga win, and Randy also thought he would win. To date this is still one of the best bets I ever made, $50 and a week of dog poop pickup.
I have some idiot friends, I'm sure you do too. They like to call themselves MMA fans. I personally think they use that as an excuse to come to my house, eat my food, and drink my beer. This night was no different. I had a house full of people indulging in hot wings and drinking Wernesgruner. After the abundance of decisions, my "friends" were finding other things to do. Mostly frat house things, like dropping each others watches in my fish tank and daring each other to retrieve it from the fangs of my eel.
Then it happened, the right head kick. Mirko dropped to the canvas unconscious, leg contorted in an awkward, quite unnatural way. I was the only one watching at this point. This did not deter me from screaming. Absolutely screaming, and running around my house celebrating with the idiots. Side note to this: the next morning I found a note on my front door from my neighbors saying that I needed to shut up because I sounded similar to "monkeys flinging poop at each other".
This set Gabriel up for a title shot against Randy, a fight to my chagrin, I knew he would lose. While Gabriel has primitive caveman strength(and looks), the incubus that is Randy Couture always comes up with brilliant game plans. Since the title shot Gonzaga has won a few, and lost a few. Despite that, we have all seen what he is capable of. The slightest chance that he will land one of those monster head kicks again, gets my heart pumping. This is why I will be rooting for Napao, no offense Brendan, you just haven't captivated me.
Patrick, while I'm sure the plan is to get a few wins and come back to the UFC for the Montreal card, I have an alternate offer. Come and walk my dogs for me. I understand there is quite the pay difference, but you don't need trainers or a lengthy camp for dog walking. All that is required are poop bags and liver treats, and I will provide those for you. Move a little south and wear the uniform shown here. While you are here we can practice how you work in the guard. That rear naked choke Belcher put you in? I would be down for some of that. How good are you on your back? I would love to find out.
"Let's get it on."