On this day in 2004, the upset and knockout of the year took place in the same fight in Saitama in Japan.
UFC commentator Joe Rogan has had a chair in the front row to see all legends and pioneers help form mixed martial arts in what it is today.
An iconic hunter who helped define the sport is one of the favorite names of the MMA historian to look back with Rogan who sings the praise of Mirko Cro Cop when thinking about his fight with Brendan Schaub.
The dangerous striker produced a number of incredible highlights during his career, but he was also on the other side of some devastating defeats.
Together with his loss against Gabriel Gonzaga, where CRO Cop was completed by his own characteristic movement, one of the most memorable setbacks of the Croatians came in the opening round of Pride's heavyweight Grand Prix from 2004.
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Kevin Randleman hit Mirko Cro Cop in two minutes before the upset of the year on this day in 2004
By 2004, Mirko CRO Cop was already an icon in the combat sport world thanks to characteristic victories against people such as Kazushi Sakuraba and Igor Vovchanchyn.
His only loss came to Antonio Nogueira at the time when the Croatian came in the Grand Prix 2004 from Pride, who also contained the will of Fedor Emelianenko and Mark Coleman.
The first opponent of CRO Cop would be Kevin Randleman who previously held the UFC heavyweight title and defended it before he lost it to Randy Couture on UFC 28.
He signed Pride in 2002, where a three-fighter wintreak was ended by back-to-back losses for Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson and Sakuraba.
As a result, the American was a huge underdog who came into his fight with CRO Cop, who was one of the favorites to come at the top, but Randleman clearly did not read the script prior to Pride Elimination 2004.
The wrestling specialist immediately closed the distance to grab his opponent, but when they broke out of the grab fair, he exploded a huge left hand to drop the dreaded striker.
From here, CRO Cop was in major problems and it was only a matter of time before a series of pounding right hands of the top position bounced his head of the Canvas with 'The Monster' the world shocking in just under two minutes.
Kevin Randleman was admitted to the UFC Hall of Fame a few years after he died
Mirko Cro Cop would avenge his loss later that year with Kevin Randleman who fights eight more times after 2004.
After participating for the last time in 2011 and had ended his career with a record of 17-16, 'The Monster' died five years later when he was only 44 years old.
Randleman was later included in the pioneer wing of the UFC Hall of Fame in 2020 with an emotional speech by his former teammate and fellow member Mark Coleman.
Mirko Cro Cop has to join the Hall of Fame together with many of his great opponents, but it is difficult to imagine that the Croatian icon has not mentioned its name in the coming years.
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