UFC heavyweight veteran Gabriel “Napao” Gonzaga has seen his share of highs and lows inside the Octagon. He entered the promotion with a vaunted Jiu-Jitsu pedigree, a 2004 Mundials winner and an Abu Dhabi grappling veteran. That, his size and strength, and a frightening ability to knock opponents out both standing and on the ground, led to some serious hype in Gonzaga’s early goings in the promotion. The pinnacle of his career – and a heavyweight title shot – came as a result of his April 2007 fight with Mirko “Crocop” Filipovic, whom many expected to finish “Napao” with a patented head kick. The tables were turned in stunning fashion when it was Gonzaga who knocked out Filipovic with one of MMA’s all-time greatest head kick finishes, a grisly KO in which the Croatian challenger collapsed unconcious onto his own knee, buckling it and requiring surgery thereafter.

Unfortunately for Gonzaga, he looked rattled and unsure of himself in the championship tilt four months later against Randy “The Natural” Couture at UFC 74, who used superior cagemanship and savvy to smother Gonzaga’s offense, press him against the cage, bloody him and eventually pound him out with strikes on the ground. Since that disappointment, Gonzaga has assumed more of a gatekeeper role in the division, showing flashes of his previous brilliance but also paving the way for ferocious young lions such as Shane Carwin and Junior Dos Santos, who both built their names with impressive KOs of the Brazilian. Gabriel Gonzaga now lives and trains out of Ludlow, Massachusetts. Following a decision loss to Brendan Schaub he was released from the promotion. He would fight once for Reality Fighting defeating Parker Porter to claim the heavyweight title. He would then get his shot back in the UFC against Ednaldo Oliveira who he would submit in the first round. He has been scheduled to face Roy Nelson, Shane Del Rosario and Geronimo Dos Santos but all of those bouts were canceled.