Gabriel Gonzaga

Gabriel Gonzaga, also nicknamed Napao is the Brazilian pride of the Mixed Martial Arts fightlist.  He was born on 18th May, 1979 in Rio, Brazil.  Weighing 252 lbs and standing 6'1" tall, Gabriel has an 80 % win loss record since 2003.  He is one of the newest entrants to the Mixed Martial arts arena.  In this short timeframe, he has rolled over opponents like Mirko Filipovic, Carmelo Marrero with his only losses coming against Randy Couture and Fabricio Werdum.

He made his UFC debut at UFC 56 in November 2005.  This was when he clashed with Kevin Jordan.  The scoreline read in the favor of Gabriel but analysts were not too impressed with the style in which Gabriel won.  Later studies revealed that Gabriel was worried about his wife's health as she was carrying twins forcing him to fight differently.  Even before he made his debut in UFC, he had a 5-1 record outside of UFC. 

Gabriel's favorite fighting style has always been the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Muay Thai.  With enough expertise in boxing, the fight against top-performer Mirko Cro Cop was a mouth watering clash.  Triangle Chokes, Armbar Submissions and many other techniques were used in this match.  An evenly contested battle saw Gabriel overpowering Mirko.  This fight remains as the highlight in Gabriel's short career.  Even Mirko admitted that on this day, Gabriel was the better fighter and he had absolutely no answer to Mirko's attacking moves.

Within 4 years of fighting, Gabriel has built a win loss record of 9 wins and 2 losses.  4 of those wins came by means of knockouts and 5 of them by submissions.  His knockout victims were Mark Potvin, Kevin Jordan, Fabiano Scherner, Mirko Filipovic. 

His losses have come against Fabricio Verdum and Randy Couture.  The latest of the battles held for UFC 74 on August 2007 left Gabriel with a broken nose and a broken arm due to a take down in the third round.  The opponent was Randy Couture who has been the only fighter to defeat him in the UFC.

Though, it is early days as yet, but based on their fighting styles and overall technical superiority, Randy Couture is one opponent Gabriel would not want to face.  One of the main reasons for that is Randy knows how to fight Brazilian Jiu Jitsu style that has been the trademark style of all Gabriel fights. 

Gabriel has never faced Fedor Emelianenko in his short fighting career.  If he does this season, that game would be a sellout par expectations, as Fedor would give Gabriel a good run for his money.  I am sure Gabriel would return the favors as well.

Looks like Josh Barnett could give Gabriel a lot of wins under his belt.  Josh does not handle Brazilian Jiu Jitsu fighters well and this could give Gabriel a lot of advantage when he fights Josh.

Gabriel Gonzaga has promised a lot early in his career.  It remains to be seen if he lives up to this promise and beats the hell out of all his opponents.