Wilson Gouveia

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1 Profile
2 Early Career
3 UFC Career
4 Mixed martial arts record
5 Gallery
6 External links

Profile

Wilson Gouveia (born October 3, 1978) is a Brazilian professional mixed martial artist and Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt.

He stands 6 ft. 1 in. tall and fights in the middleweight division (185 lbs.) for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

Early Career

Wilson Gouveia made his professional mixed martial arts debut on November 17, 2001 against Ray Casias for the HOOKnSHOOT promotion. Gouveia submitted his opponent via armbar at 2:59 of round 1.

Having started his career with a submission victory, Gouveia evened things up in his next fight against Ahron Davis when he KO'd his opponent in just 22 seconds.

In his next bout, Gouveia faced a green Jon Fitch. Fitch was in his fourth fight having amassed a 2-1 record. Gouveia was too big and too skilled for the young Fitch and stopped him via knee at 3:38 into the first.

In March of 2002, Gouveia suffered the first loss of his career to future PRIDE competitor, Hirotaka Yokoi. Gouveia went down midway through the third as Yokoi prevailed via TKO.

Things went from bad to worse four months later as he suffered his second loss to future UFC competitor, Ron Faircloth after his corner stopped the fight after the first round. Gouveia slowed the slippery slide in his career when he bounced back with a victory over Faircloth in his next outing five months later.

Just over a month later, Gouveia suffered defeat again, this time to future TUF 3 contestant, Rory Singer. Gouveia was knocked cold by a Singer knee at the 4:55 mark of the second round.

Gouveia put all the disappointment of the last year behind him after the Singer loss though as he knocked off two dominating victories in his next two performances against Mike Delaney (submission due to strikes) and Kazuhiro Hamanaka (39 second TKO).

UFC Career

With a 6-3 record, Gouveia earned a call up to the UFC to face TUF 2 contestant, Keith Jardine at The Ultimate Fighter 3 Finale. In a hard fought fight, Gouveia punished Jardine with leg kicks and messed up Jardine's face with hard strikes in the early going. Jardine came back in the later rounds and arguably controlled the final two rounds. The fight went to the judges who unanimously decided the fight for Jardine.

Although he lost, Gouveia impressed in his UFC debut and returned to the Octagon just over two months later on the undercard of UFC 62. Gouveia faced and defeated the overwhelmed Wes Combs via rear naked choke in the first round.

At UFC Fight Night 9, Gouveia faced another TUF 2 contestant in Seth Petruzelli. The Brazilian racked up his second UFC win with an impressive guillotine choke victory, 39 seconds into the second round.

Guillotine choke was the way of finish again in his next fight as he tapped out Carmelo Marrero on the undercard of UFC 71.

At UFC 76, Gouveia was meant to face tough journeyman, Jason Lambert but had to pull out of the bout due to a badly broken nose. The fight was instead rescheduled for UFC 80. Lambert appeared to be controlling the fight with superior strength and top control. However, in the second round a sloppy punch from Lambert opened itself for a perfect counter from Gouveia that ended in a highlight reel knockout for the Brazilian.

With a nice four fight win streak in the UFC, Gouveia was matched up against UFC newcomer, Goran Reljic at UFC 84 on the main card. In what recieved "Fight of the Night" honors, the two battled it out standing and on the ground with mixed success. In the second a tiring Gouveia was caught with a punch standing and was finished off on the ground by Reljic. Recently Gouveia has stated that a personal desire to finish Reljic because of an altercation at the weigh ins had clouded his judgement and moved him away from his gameplan leaving him exhausted in the first round.

Although he had been doing well at light heavyweight, Gouveia decided to drop down a weight class to the middleweight division in order to have a size advantage over his opponents. His first fight at the weight came against Ryan Jensen at UFC Fight Night 15. In a tough fight, Gouveia ended up prevailing in the second round via armbar.

A little under three months later, Gouveia was back on the main card, fighting Jason MacDonald on The Ultimate Fighter 8 Finale. Before the bout, Gouveia failed to make weight when he weighed in at 189 lbs. and had to forfeit 20% of his purse to MacDonald. The hard weight cut didn't appear to hinder his performance though as he dropped MacDonald early and made him submit to elbows at just over two minutes in the first round.

Gouveia's next fight will be co-main event duties at UFC 95 when he takes on highly ranked middleweight, Nate Marquardt.