Meet your new UFC Heavyweight Champion, Gabriel Gonzaga!

Something funny happened on the way to the potential record-breaking PPV event featuring UFC Heavyweight Champion Randy “The Natural” Couture defending his belt against the Croatian killing machine, Mirko Cro Cop. Crop Cop got dropped (badly) by virtually unknown Gabriel Gonzaga.

The tide started to turn in the pre-fight commentary. Randy Couture – perhaps the greatest MMA strategist of all time – predicted Gonzaga to win. What’s more, he basically flat-out said that he’d rather fight Cro Cop than Gonzaga. Can you imagine a man so tough that you’d rather get in the ring with knockout specialist Cro Cop? Oh yeah, we just saw him drop Cro Cop cold.

So what does the UFC do now? They’ve lost a PPV dream match between Couture and Cro Cop – and all the money that goes with it. Nobody wants to pay to see their hero lose to some unknown guy (which is the very reason I choose not to watch the Rich Franklin vs. Anderson Silva fight). How can the UFC spin this into a positive?

The answer is simple, turn on the Gonzaga hype machine! He’s a big dude. He’s got a strong highlight reel. He just destroyed one of the best heavyweights on the planet. He seems like a nice guy. He speaks a little English (work on that, Gabe). All he needs is a few well-produced videos and he’ll make a great UFC champion.

Look how easy it easy it is:
“Tune into UFC 74 to see beloved veteran champion Randy ‘The Natural’ Couture face the unstoppable knockout power of Mirko Cro Cop Gabriel Gonzaga.”

See? It just takes a little bit of creative editing. Couture gets to play the role he's comfortable in: the underdog facing insurmountable odds. If Couture loses, UFC has a new monster heavyweight champion. If Couture wins, wow – he did it again. Everybody goes home happy.

But for all this to work, UFC has to roll the dice and build up Gonzaga big-time (I recommend some beach training videos with Rachelle Leah). UFC needs to do something soon, because Gongaza will be the next UFC champion. I mean, Couture can't do the impossible again... can he?