5 UFC heavyweights who failed to live up to their hype

#2. Gabriel Gonzaga – former UFC heavyweight contender

Gabriel Gonzaga garnered an insane amount of hype after knocking out Mirko Cro Cop with a head kick

It’d be unfair to label Gabriel Gonzaga a complete flop as he did achieve some tremendous wins in his UFC career. However, it’s probably fair to say that he never quite reached the heights that some fans expected him to.

‘Napao’ debuted in the octagon in late 2005 with a reputation as one of the world’s best grapplers. He quickly reeled off three straight wins, all via stoppage, to throw his name into the hat of heavyweight title contenders.

However, it was his brutal head kick knockout of former PRIDE superstar Mirko Cro Cop that turned him into arguably the hottest big man in the sport.

Suddenly, it was impossible not to see ‘Napao’ as a future UFC heavyweight champion. The hype around him grew and grew following the knockout, to the point that early internet memes were created comparing him to the legendary Street Fighter character Blanka, while some fans talked about him having the potential to beat the great Fedor Emelianenko.

Despite this, when it came to his title shot in the octagon, Gonzaga flattered to deceive. He was unable to break the will of champion Randy Couture and suffered a third-round TKO loss. When he followed that with another TKO loss, this time to fellow grappler Fabricio Werdum, his hype thoroughly evaporated.

Sure, ‘Napao’ continued to compete in the octagon for a further eight years, picking up some solid wins over that time, but for the most part, he was considered little more than a high-end gatekeeper, nothing like the monstrous force he was made out to be after the Cro Cop knockout.

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#1. Todd Duffee – former UFC heavyweight contender

At one point, Todd Duffee was arguably the hottest heavyweight contender in the UFC

It’s arguable that despite only competing in the octagon on seven occasions, no heavyweight in UFC history has failed to live up to his early hype quite as much as Todd Duffee.

When he debuted in the octagon in the summer of 2009, Duffee was already seen as one of the hottest prospects in the world. With a physique that made him look like an action figure, he’d picked up a big win over PRIDE veteran Assuerio Silva on the regional circuit and was rumored to have gotten the better of former UFC champ Frank Mir in their sparring sessions.

So when Duffee’s debut saw him break the record for the heavyweight division’s fastest-ever knockout, turning the lights out on Tim Hague in just seven seconds, it felt like a superstar had been unearthed.

Fans instantly began to fantasize about fights between Duffee and the likes of Brock Lesnar, Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos. Even a strange KO loss to Mike Russow in his second octagon appearance, a fight Duffee was winning handily until Russow landed a Hail Mary shot in the final round, didn’t seem to derail his hype.

However, before a third fight could be scheduled, Duffee found himself released by the promotion for purported attitude problems.

A loss to Alistair Overeem in Japan’s DREAM promotion followed, but when the UFC brought him back into the fold in 2012 and he knocked out Phil De Fries and Anthony Hamilton violently, it was impossible not to get excited again.

Unfortunately, that was as good as it would get for Duffee. He fell to his old sparring partner Mir in a wild fight in the summer of 2015, before a lengthy list of injury problems, including a serious nerve issue in his shoulder, left him on the shelf.

Since then, Duffee has fought just once, going to a no contest with Jeff Hughes in 2019, and there has been no word on a potential octagon return. At the age of 36, it seems likely that his career is probably over and while his injuries were no fault of his own, it’s not unfair to say he completely failed to live up to the hype.