UFC: Mirko Cro Cop beat Gabriel Gonzaga on PICK TV

Mirko Cro Cop knocked out and bloodied Gabriel Gonzaga with elbows to win his illustrious return to the UFC on PICK TV on Saturday night.

The Croatian heavyweight, an all-time legend of the sport, struggled through the opening two rounds of the main-event fight until earning a brutal finish in the third.

The victory in Krakow, Poland avenged the 40-year-old’s iconic head-kick defeat to Gonzaga back in 2007.

The Brazilian looked set to repeat that victory after getting the best of the opening 10 minutes, avoiding Cro Cop’s trademark kick and forcing him onto the ground. Gonzaga’s elbows produced a cut and things looked ominous heading into the middle period of the five-round scrap.

But the toughest man to ever enter a ring to the tune of Duran Duran's Wild Boys earned the 31st win of his 46-fight career by landing an elbow to the head as they stood in the clinch.

Cro Cop threw more elbows to the grounded Gonzaga, forcing a significant laceration before the referee stepped in at three minutes and 30 seconds to delight a crowd hoping for the legend’s successful return.

Also packing a punch in Poland...

London's Jimi Manuwa was successful but there were mixed results for the travelling British contingent.

Knockout artist Manuwa was forced to hear the judges' verdicts for the first time in his career but won a unanimous decision over Poland's Jan Blachowicz.

Scotland’s Joanne Calderwood’s hopes of competing for a world title vanished after she was surprisingly submitted within a round by Maryna Moroz, who went on to agitate the home crowd with a face-to-face barney with Poland’s women’s strawweight champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk.

Fellow Scot Stevie ‘Braveheart’ Ray silenced the fans with a one-round thrashing of Marcin Bandel, while Birmingham’s Leon Edwards won via knockout in just eight seconds against Seth Baczynski.

UFC returns to PICK TV on June 20 when Alexander Gustafsson fights Glover Teixeira in Berlin, Germany.