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 Last weekend saw the collision course of Gabriel Gonzaga and Shane Carwin at UFC 96. After dominating the opening seconds with punches that rocked his opponent and a subsequent takedown, Gonzaga was quickly knocked out by a punch thrown by the heavy-handed giant. Such a strange finish begs the question, what is Gabriel Gonzaga missing?
Gabriel made his first big mark on the sport following his jaw-dropping knockout of former Pride superstar, Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipović. Even before the highlight-reel headkick, Gonzaga came out very confident and focused, quickly taking the Croatian down and landing heavy elbows. The shockwaves were felt by all, including UFC commentator Joe Rogan who stated Gonzaga might be the best heavyweight in the world. This claim wasn’t entirely unfounded, since along with being an apparently great striker, Gonzaga also held an extremely impressive grappling resume, with both Mundial and ADCC accomplishments. This guy had it all.
The highlight reel knockout over Cro Cop launched Gabriel into the number one contender seat to fight Randy Couture for the heavyweight championship. This was a nightmare matchup for Couture on paper, fighting a man capable of beating him both on the ground and standing. Early in the fight however, Gabriel had his nose smashed by an inadvertent head-butt during a signature Couture double leg slam against the fence. With the Brazilian choking on his own blood, Randy turned up the heat and finished him with strikes for a 3rd round stoppage. The Gonzaga hype-train was derailed as he failed to overcome adversity.
At UFC 80, Gabriel had a chance to get back to the top with a rematch against highly ranked Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioner Fabricio Werdum. After winning the first round by battering Werdum’s legs with nasty kicks, Gonzaga came into the second round noticeably slower and more predictable with his attack. During an exchange Werdum landed a knee that clearly hit its mark, pinned Gonzaga against the cage, and followed by enough unanswered strikes for the referee to call for an end to the bout. Overall, this was one of Gonzaga’s worst performances to date. Despite dominating early, he fell apart and gave up.
These inconsistent performances can be traced back to one major flaw with Gabriel Gonzaga: his camp. He fights out of the virtually unknown Team Link of Ludlow & Worcester, Massachusetts—a primarily gi-based Jiu Jitsu school. While Gabriel does bring in external coaching for other fighting disciplines, it’s not enough without quality sparring partners. With the only other notable fighter from Team Link being Paulo Filho, who has been doing very poorly recently, it is obvious that for Gabriel to be a champion, he needs to invest in better training.
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