Table of Contents
1. Introduction
2. UFC’s Debut in Poland
3. Quick Stats
4. Main Event: Cro Cop’s 8-Year Revenge on Gonzaga
5. Leon Edwards’ 8-Second KO & Other Highlights
6. Full Results
7. Bonuses & Awards
8. Records & Milestones
9. Legacy & Impact
10. FAQ
Introduction
UFC Fight Night 64: Gonzaga vs. Cro Cop 2 took place on Saturday, April 11, 2015 at the Tauron Arena Kraków in Kraków, Poland — broadcast exclusively on UFC Fight Pass (not on Fox Sports 1). It was the first UFC event ever held in Poland. The card drew a passionate Polish crowd to a venue that had never hosted the UFC, and delivered one of the year’s most emotionally charged main events: Mirko ‘Cro Cop’ Filipović reversed the most famous result of his career by stopping Gabriel Gonzaga via TKO in round three.
Eight years and six days earlier, Gonzaga had knocked Cro Cop out with a head kick at UFC 70 in Manchester — a finish so dramatic and improbable, delivered with the Croatian’s own weapon against him, that it became one of the most replayed and referenced moments in MMA history. In Kraków, Cro Cop turned the tables: dominated for two rounds, cut badly by an elbow, he landed standing elbows in round three that rocked Gonzaga and led to a ground-and-pound finish. Fight of the Night went to both men. The card also featured one of 2015’s most startling KOs: Leon Edwards def. Seth Baczynski in 8 seconds — the joint-fastest KO/TKO finish in the UFC in 2015.
The co-main event featured Jimi Manuwa defeating Jan Błachowicz by unanimous decision in front of a fiercely partisan Polish crowd — Błachowicz fighting at home but losing his second consecutive fight before the reversal that eventually led to his UFC light heavyweight championship.
UFC’s Debut in Poland
Poland had been one of European MMA’s most productive development markets through 2013–2015. KSW — Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki, Poland’s own major MMA promotion — had drawn 57,000 fans to the Stadion Narodowy in Warsaw in 2014, one of the largest MMA crowds in history. The Polish fighter base was strong: Błachowicz, Paweł Pawlak, Bartosz Fabiński, and others had demonstrated the depth of Polish martial arts talent. The UFC’s Kraków event was its formal debut in this market, using the Tauron Arena — one of the country’s most modern indoor venues.
The card was designed to serve the Polish market: the co-main featured Błachowicz fighting at home, Pawlak appeared on the undercard, and Fabiński and Aleksandra Albu added regional appeal. The main event was perfectly constructed for the European narrative: a Croatian MMA icon returning against a Brazilian rival, in front of an Eastern European crowd that had followed Cro Cop’s career through PRIDE and the UFC. The Fight Pass exclusive broadcast meant the card was not diluted across free cable — it was a dedicated premium product for committed UFC fans in both Europe and North America.
Quick Stats
📅 Date: Saturday, April 11, 2015
📍 Venue: Tauron Arena Kraków, Kraków, Poland (FIRST UFC event in Poland; one of Europe’s most modern indoor arenas)
📺 Broadcast: UFC Fight Pass EXCLUSIVE (not on Fox Sports 1) — premium subscription-only broadcast
🏆 Main Event: Mirko ‘Cro Cop’ Filipović vs. Gabriel Gonzaga — Heavyweight (Rematch; first meeting was UFC 70 in 2007 — Gonzaga’s famous head kick KO of Cro Cop)
✅ Result: Cro Cop def. Gonzaga via TKO (strikes) — R3, 3:20 (FotN $50k each; 8 years after the most famous head kick KO in UFC history; Cro Cop losing after 2 rounds)
Main Event: Cro Cop’s 8-Year Revenge on Gonzaga
The context of this rematch was impossible to overstate. At UFC 70 in Manchester in April 2007, Mirko ‘Cro Cop’ Filipović — the most feared striker in MMA history at that point, a man whose left head kick had destroyed dozens of opponents in PRIDE — was himself head-kicked by Gonzaga. The KO was not just a result; it was an inversion of expectations so complete that it became an instant symbol of the sport’s unpredictability. Gonzaga landed Cro Cop’s own weapon on him. The footage was replayed millions of times. It partially defined both fighters’ careers from that point.
In Kraków, Gonzaga executed his game plan perfectly for two rounds. He used his takedown game to take Cro Cop down, gained top control, and opened a significant cut over Cro Cop’s left eye with an elbow. After two rounds, Cro Cop had barely generated offense. Most observers had Gonzaga ahead on the scorecards. Round three turned on a moment: Cro Cop landed multiple standing elbows that suddenly rocked Gonzaga. He followed the stunned Brazilian to the mat and finished with ground-and-pound from inside the guard. Referee Mario Yamasaki waved it off at 3:20 of round three.
The arena’s reaction to the finish was extraordinary. Cro Cop’s career had spanned PRIDE, K-1, and the UFC across nearly two decades of elite combat sport. The Kraków crowd, experiencing their first UFC event, witnessed the kind of dramatic third-round reversal that veteran fans rarely see. Both men received Fight of the Night. The UFC’s year-in-review noted it was ‘nearly eight years to the very day’ since Gonzaga had first landed the head kick.
Leon Edwards’ 8-Second KO & Other Highlights
Leon Edwards’ KO of Seth Baczynski at 0:08 of round one was the joint-fastest KO/TKO in the UFC in 2015, tied with Makwan Amirkhani’s KO at UFC on Fox in September. Edwards walked to the cage at the Tauron Arena as a relatively unheralded British welterweight with two UFC wins from 2014. He landed a right hand that connected precisely in the opening seconds, Baczynski went down immediately, and the referee waved it off before most fans had settled into their seats. The 8-second finish earned Edwards Performance of the Night.
In March 2022, Edwards knocked out Kamaru Usman in round five of their UFC 278 rematch to win the UFC welterweight title — becoming the first British fighter to hold a UFC world championship since Michael Bisping in 2016. His Kraków 8-second KO was the second step of a twelve-win UFC run from 2014 to 2022 that produced one of the most patient and dramatic championship stories in the sport’s history. Maryna Moroz’s debut armbar of Joanne Calderwood in 1:30 of round one was another debut-level performance on the Poland card; Moroz went on to be a reliable UFC strawweight.
Full Results
Main Card (UFC Fight Pass)
Mirko ‘Cro Cop’ Filipović def. Gabriel Gonzaga — TKO (strikes) — R3, 3:20 — Heavyweight (FotN $50k each; 8-year revenge; Cro Cop losing after 2 rounds before stunning R3 finish)
Jimi Manuwa def. Jan Błachowicz — Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28) — Light Heavyweight (Błachowicz fought at home in front of Polish crowd; future UFC LHW champion)
Paweł Pawlak def. Sheldon Westcott — Unanimous Decision (29-28x3) — Welterweight (Polish fighter wins at home)
Maryna Moroz def. Joanne Calderwood — Submission (armbar) — R1, 1:30 — Women’s Strawweight (PoN $50k; Moroz’s UFC debut)
Leon Edwards def. Seth Baczynski — KO (punches) — R1, 0:08 — Welterweight (PoN $50k; JOINT FASTEST KO/TKO IN UFC IN 2015; future UFC WW champion)
Preliminary Card (UFC Fight Pass)
Bartosz Fabiński def. Garreth McLellan — Unanimous Decision (30-27x3) — Middleweight
Sérgio Moraes def. Mickaël Lebout — Unanimous Decision (29-28x3) — Welterweight (Lebout was late replacement)
Yaotzin Meza def. Damian Stasiak — Unanimous Decision — Women’s Strawweight
Anthony Hamilton def. Daniel Omiełańczuk — Unanimous Decision — Heavyweight
Aleksandra Albu def. Izabela Badurek — Submission (guillotine) — R2, 3:34 — Women’s Strawweight (Albu from Moldova; Badurek Polish)
Stevie Ray def. Marcin Bandel — TKO (punches) — R2, 1:35 — Lightweight (Stevie Ray’s early UFC career; Scottish fighter)
Taylor Lapilus def. Rocky Lee — Unanimous Decision (30-27x3) — Bantamweight
Bonuses & Awards
🥇 Fight of the Night: Mirko Cro Cop + Gabriel Gonzaga — $50,000 each (dramatic 3-round reversal; 8-year revenge narrative)
🥇 Performance of the Night: Maryna Moroz + Leon Edwards — $50,000 each
Records & Milestones
• First UFC event ever held in Poland — Kraków’s debut as a UFC market.
• Leon Edwards def. Seth Baczynski in 0:08 — joint-fastest KO/TKO in the UFC in 2015.
• Cro Cop vs. Gonzaga 2 was nearly eight years to the day after their UFC 70 meeting in Manchester — one of the most narratively perfect rematches in the sport’s history.
• Jan Błachowicz fought at home in Poland in his country’s first UFC event — losing to Manuwa but building toward a UFC LHW championship in 2020.
Legacy & Impact
The Kraków card is remembered primarily for its main event. Cro Cop’s Gonzaga rematch produced the sport’s most satisfying narrative reversal of 2015: a fighter who had suffered the most replayed single loss in MMA’s formative period winning a dramatic third-round comeback finish against the same opponent. The fact that it came in front of Poland’s first UFC crowd — an audience experiencing the promotion’s live product for the first time — amplified the emotional impact.
Leon Edwards’ 8-second KO is now understood as the first major indicator of the finishing power that carried him through a decade of UFC welterweight competition. His road from Kraków to the UFC WW title belt at UFC 278 in August 2022 — a title-winning head kick KO of Kamaru Usman in round five — was one of the most patient championship journeys in the sport’s history. Jan Błachowicz’s loss to Manuwa in front of his home country in Kraków was a low point in a career that rebounded with consecutive finishes from 2016 onwards and produced a UFC light heavyweight championship in January 2020.
FAQ
What made the original Cro Cop vs. Gonzaga fight so famous?
At UFC 70 in Manchester in April 2007, Mirko Cro Cop was at his most feared — a PRIDE heavyweight champion who had knocked out dozens of elite opponents with his left high kick. He was considered among the top two or three heavyweights in the world. Gabriel Gonzaga, a Brazilian submission specialist, was a significant underdog. In round one, Gonzaga landed a right head kick on Cro Cop — a strike from the same inventory that Cro Cop himself deployed most famously — that produced an immediate KO. The inversion of expectations was total: the world’s most feared kicker, knocked out by his own weapon by an underdog. The footage circulated for years as a symbol of MMA’s fundamental unpredictability.
How did Cro Cop nearly lose the rematch before winning in R3?
Gonzaga used his wrestling and top control effectively in rounds one and two — the same qualities that had made him a UFC heavyweight title challenger in 2007. He repeatedly took Cro Cop down, accumulated ground time, and landed an elbow that opened a significant cut over Cro Cop’s left eye. Most scorecards had Gonzaga comfortably ahead after two rounds. The turnaround in round three came from Cro Cop’s elite striking experience: he found range, landed standing elbows that suddenly shifted the momentum, followed Gonzaga to the mat, and finished from inside the guard. The comeback was not lucky — it reflected Cro Cop’s extraordinary technical striking even at 40 years old in an unfavourable position.
How significant was Poland as a UFC market in 2015?
Poland had become one of Europe’s most significant MMA markets by 2015. KSW had drawn 57,000 fans to a Warsaw stadium — among the largest MMA crowds globally. Polish fighters like Błachowicz were building UFC careers. The domestic MMA fan base had followed international MMA keenly. The UFC’s Kraków debut was a natural market entry that the KSW success had already validated. Poland subsequently hosted additional UFC Fight Night events and became a recurring European destination. Błachowicz’s eventual UFC LHW title win in 2020 dramatically increased Polish MMA’s international profile.
Who was Leon Edwards before his Kraków 8-second KO?
Edwards was a 23-year-old British-Jamaican welterweight from Birmingham with two UFC wins to his name before Kraków. He had made his UFC debut in December 2014 with a unanimous decision win. He was unranked and received minimal pre-fight attention on the Poland card. His 8-second KO of Baczynski — a short right hand followed by the immediate referee intervention — gave him Fight Pass visibility and Performance of the Night. He subsequently went on a twelve-fight unbeaten run that ended only with a no-contest against Belal Muhammad in 2021. He won the UFC WW title at UFC 278 by head-kicking Usman in the fifth round. Kraków’s 8 seconds was the beginning.
What was Jan Błachowicz’s status at the time of the Manuwa fight?
Błachowicz was in a difficult early-career phase in April 2015. He had made his UFC debut with an impressive body kick TKO of Ilir Latifi at FN53 in Stockholm in October 2014. His second UFC fight was the Kraków co-main against Manuwa — a significantly tougher opponent who controlled with clinch work and knees to win by unanimous decision. The loss put Błachowicz at 1-2 in the UFC and 17-9 overall. He went on to win five of six fights through 2018–2019, then stopped Corey Anderson, Dominick Reyes, and Glover Teixeira to become UFC light heavyweight champion. His full arc from Kraków to the title makes the co-main of Poland’s first UFC event historically significant.
What was the Maryna Moroz debut armbar significant for?
Moroz’s debut armbar of Joanne Calderwood at 1:30 of round one was one of the most impressive debut submission performances in UFC women’s strawweight history. Calderwood was an established UFC fighter with significant experience; Moroz ended the fight in 90 seconds with a clean armbar and earned Performance of the Night in her first professional UFC appearance. Moroz went on to be a reliable UFC strawweight through 2021, though she did not reach title contendership. The Kraków debut armbar remained the peak finish performance of her UFC career.