It was hard to draw too many conclusions from Gabriel Gonzaga's loss against Randy Couture. Who could have said how that fight would have turned out without that, very flukey, broken nose. Unfortunately for the former number one contender, his most recent loss was much more telling and Gonzaga would be right to be extremely down on himself after losing to a heavyweight on the fringes of the top ten. The more skilled fighter didn't win but did the better fighter?



First the good news. Gabe confirmed that he has a lot of power in all aspects of the striking game and that his wrestling is good enough to be an advantage against most heavyweights. Now the bad news. Werdum exposed weaknesses in several major areas including defense, conditioning, and fight management. There is also mounting evidence to suggest that Gonzaga may have heart issues. Let's look at each one individually.



Fight Management



It's nice to see a heavyweight as dangerous standing and on the ground as Gonzaga. Ever since his dull as dirt debut against Kevin Jordan, Gonzaga has fought an extremely aggressive style, as evidenced by the fact that none of his subsequent fights have gone the distance. That style is also the major reason why he is now on a two-fight losing streak.



In the early going Gabe demonstrated clear advantages with his leg kicks and wrestling. He spent the first three and a half minutes of the fight kicking the hell out of Werdum's legs while his opponent was totally stymied and taking major damage. Fabricio did not successfully check a single kick and was knocked down twice.



Rather than patiently destroy Werdum by taking what was given to him, Gonzaga opted to try to finish with a high kick. Werdum seized the opportunity and took Gonzaga down. In that final 90 seconds, he was able to gain position and hurt Gonzaga and that turned the fight. Werdum has excellent BJJ but is not noted for his striking from the top. Despite that he was able to land some good elbows. Gonzaga opted to employ the dubious strategy of going for a very low percentage submission, a kneebar, against a master grappler. Gonzaga was lucky the round ended before he was punished for giving up a better defensive position to make this attempt.



If you look at the way BJ Penn fought an aggressive, but careful, style to beat Joe Stevenson, the flaw in Gabriel's approach really becomes apparent. Its likely BJ could have finished Joe faster, but that would have involved taking unnecessary risks.



Conditioning



When Gonzaga visibly tired against Couture most of us put it down to not being able to breathe through his broken nose. That was definitely part of the problem but after this fight we have to question his training regime. Gabriel came in at an all time high in weight and was sucking wind at the conclusion of a moderately paced first round.



The first two leg kicks he threw in the second round looked like the products of an exhausted fighter and when Werdum put up heavy resistance to Gabe's subsequent takedown attempt there was no mistaking the fact that, six minutes into the fight the momentum was swinging because Gonzaga was too tired to exploit his advantages.



Defense



Werdum's limitations as a striker were exposed by the very skilled Andre Arlovski. In that fight Fabricio's most significant strike was actually a slap. It's hard to say how much of the beating resulted from Gonzaga's poor conditioning and how much resulted from his lackluster defense but the two naturally go together. It is a rare fighter who is never in trouble or tired and that?s when defense is key. It may be a telling fact that we have seen only seen Gabe in trouble in three fights and that he was finished in all three.



This is also the third time Gabe has been stopped by strikes from a fighter not know for his finishing. Heavyweights all hit hard so the ability to take a punch is very important in this division. Should we draw a conclusion from the fact that the only heavyweight Werdum has ever knocked out is Gonzaga? Maybe we should since he's done it twice.



Heart



Its always a tricky thing to question a fighter's heart. Any man that steps into the cage deserves credit for his courage. In the same way every fighter who is in the UFC, are better than 99.8% of the world's population but among these courageous men, some are better able to fight through opposition than others. There are some fighters that will keep coming until the very instant they are rendered unconscious, and even beyond.



Heart was defined for me in the Goes/Coleman fight. Allan was knocked completely out by some vicious knees. As soon as he regained consciousness his natural instinct, to keep coming, took over and he tried for a post-fight takedown before he realized he had been knocked out. Likewise in the Gilbert Yvel fight, Don Frye kept coming through some inhuman knees, as well as a series of eye-gouges. Almost every fighter will keep going if given time to think about it but heart is only an advantage for those who don't have to think about it.



In the Couture fight there were several moments when Gonzaga looked like he was deciding whether to tap and in this fight there were also a few seconds where it looked like Gabe was doubting himself, a perfectly reasonable thing to do when you are gassing and taking hard knees to the head.



The Long Term Outlook



Gabe's technical problems are relatively minor but the sum total of all these issues may point to attitude issues. He has fantastic skills but conditioning, fight management, and determination are all largely mental problems. After seeing this fight I don't think I would bet on Gabe against Noguiera, Sylvia, or even Couture and prior to this I would have called all those fights no worse than a pick'em for Gabe.

Article By: Primetyme199