Gabriel “Napão” Gonzaga

Gabriel Gonzaga, known as Napão, won the ultra-heavyweight division at the 2006 Worlds for Macaco Gold Team, on a podium with Leonardo Leite second and Luiz Theodoro and Lucio Rodrigues in bronze. In April 2007 he knocked out Mirko Cro Cop with a head kick at UFC 70 in Manchester and earned a shot at the heavyweight title.

Born on May 18, 1979, in Rio de Janeiro, he started judo at 14 and jiu-jitsu at 15. Trained by Wander Braga, from Rickson Gracie’s lineage, he took Worlds bronze in 1999 as a brown belt and, at black belt, bronze at super-heavyweight in 2000 and in the open class in 2002. At ADCC 2005 in Long Beach he was runner-up over 99 kg.

In August 2007 he lost the title fight to Randy Couture at UFC 74 by third-round TKO. He stayed in the UFC until 2016, with wins over Ben Rothwell and Konstantin Erokhin, and finished his MMA career at 17-12. He later had one boxing match and one bare-knuckle bout, knocking out Antônio Pezão at BKFC 8 in 2019.

In jiu-jitsu he returned to competition as a master and won the 2019 World Masters at super-heavyweight. He lives in Massachusetts, where he teaches.