10 UFC Prodigies Who Didn't Live Up To The Billing
5. Gabriel “Napão” Gonzaga
2003 seems like it was an eternity ago. Cristiano Ronaldo was making his debut for Manchester United, Saddam Hussein was captured and Lance Armstrong had won his fifth Tour De France. On top of all those seismic moments in history, a 24 year old Gabriel 'Napão' Gonzaga was taking his first steps into the world of MMA.
Losing only to the monstrous Fabricio Werdum in his first nine fights, the Heavyweight had set his stall out as a man to keep your eye on and it took only five fights for UFC to take notice.
Four fights into his UFC career, Gonzaga had put away some decent opposition and even took out one of the Heavyweight division's most promising talents in Mirko 'Cro Cop' Filipovic, with one his own signature head kicks.
Gonzaga would soon find himself in title contendership and Randy Couture would be the next mountain he'd have to overcome to prove he could fulfil his potential.
Couture would proceed to give Gonzaga a schooling and finished the Brazilian in the third round.
Gonzaga followed that up with another loss to Werdum and the run after Couture would see him lose nine of his next eighteen fights. Gonzaga managed to salvage something of a career in MMA, but never came close to capturing the gold again.