Heavyweight Gabriel Gonzaga Released From The UFC
Added on Oct 28, 2010 by John Petit in
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UFC Heavyweight Gabriel Gonzaga was released today following his UFC 121 loss to Brendan Schaub. Gonzaga confirmed it via his twitter, and it almost sounds like he wants to retire from Mixed Martial Arts all together. He said “Official now – Out of UFC – Thanks for all your support – back to normal life and BJJ forever.”
Gonzaga came to the UFC at UFC 56, and tore through four straight opponents in the division. The last one was against Mirko Crocop, when he landed a viscous head kick against a guy who was known for knocking guys out with his legs. It will probably go down as the best head kick knock out in UFC history, and earned him KO of the year awards from websites across the globe. Gonzaga then took a fight with UFC Hall Of Famer Randy Couture. However, Couture got the better of him, and controlled him most of the fight. Gonzaga lost the fight in the third round by Technical Knock Out. He then fought Febricio Werdum when he lost again by TKO.
Gonzaga was able to still win fights against fighters like Justin McCully, Josh Hendricks, and Chris Tuchscherer, but seemed to have problems when he stepped up to fight the upper echelon of the division. He was defeated by Heavyweight standouts like Shane Carwin, Junior Dos Santos, and most recently by Brendan Schaub.
The most frustrating part of Gonzaga’s more recent fights has been his desire to try and out punch people. Gonzaga is an ace on the ground, and a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Black Belt. He has five submission wins on his record, and many asked why he didn’t try to take his more recent opponents to the floor to fight with them there.
If Gonzaga wants to continue to take MMA fights I am sure he will have no problem finding them. Many larger promotions heavyweight divisions pale in comparison to the UFC’s, and it would not surprise anyone to see him fight in Japan, or even in Strikeforce in the United States. I hope for the sake of Mixed Martial Arts fans we didn’t see the last of Gonzaga in a ring or a cage.
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October 28, 7:34 pm
I’m surprised Gonzaga stuck around as long as he did and I consider myself a fan–Randy Couture pretty much exposed how to beat him. He was able to beat second tier fighters due to his size and skill but anyone who’d come in and rough him up gave him problems. His KO of Cro Cop is still on my short list of the most shocking MMA upsets ever…