The UFC will be heading to Poland on April 11 and the event will be headlined by a heavyweight bout as Mirko Cro Cop returns to the promotion and meets Gabriel Gonzaga in a rematch of their 2007 bout.
The event was announced on Friday in a press conference in Sweden and in addition to the main event, the promotion also announced the co-main event will be a light heavyweight bout as Jan Blachowicz meets Jimi Manuwa.
“Poland has been on our radar for a long time now,” said Senior Vice President and General Manager for UFC EDMA David Allen. “This is a country that celebrates combat sports so we knew that holding an event here would excite the whole country. This event could rival last year’s Dublin event. We expect it to sell-out, without a doubt.”
Cro Cop (30-11-2, 1NC) has won three of four fights since exiting the UFC in 2011 and has won back to back fights, with both coming against Satoshi Ishii. Both of those victories came by TKO and the most recent one came last month as he won in the second round. Gonzaga (16-9) defeated Cro Cop in 2007 by knockout and he has lost back to back fights. Since coming back to the UFC, he has gone 4-3 and will enter this fight following back to back defeats.
Blachowicz (18-3) made his UFC debut in October and defeated Ilir Latifi by TKO in the first round. It was his fifth career victory by TKO/KO and he is currently on a six fight winning streak. Manuwa (14-1) signed with the UFC in 2012 and scored three straight TKO victories. He suffered his first defeat last year when he lost to Alexander Gustafsson and this will be his first fight since that defeat.
UFC Fight Night 64: Cro Cop vs. Gonzaga II will come from the Krakow Arena and ticket information is expected to be announced shortly by the UFC.