Friends, family help push TUF 17 Finale's Gabriel Gonzaga onto title path

LAS VEGAS – A healthy dose of peer pressure is partly responsible for Gabriel Gonzaga‘s latest UFC run.

Gonzaga (14-6 MMA, 9-5 UFC) on Saturday meets Travis Browne (13-1-1 MMA, 4-1-1 UFC) at the TUF 17 Finale. And it could wind up being a pivotal fight for him in the heavyweight division.

But if not for a push from his family, friends and students, the onetime UFC heavyweight title challenger likely wouldn’t have the opportunity in front of him.

The TUF 17 Finale takes place at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. Gonzaga vs. Browne is part of the main card on FX following prelims on FUEL TV and Facebook.

After going 7-5 in the UFC, including a heavyweight title loss to Randy Couture at UFC 74, Gonzaga was cut loose after a 1-3 stretch. The black belt vowed retirement, saying he intended to only compete in Brazilian jiu-jitsu tournaments. But then the peer pressure started up and he decided to push past the mental roadblocks that came along with the way his first UFC stint finished up.

“The mental thing, for a fight, it doesn’t matter how prepared you are,” Gonzaga told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “You’re always going to have a chance to lose. That’s the big issue for fighting. But then my friends and family asked me to come back, just to give it another run for a title shot again. I feel healthy and I’m taking another chance.”

Gonzaga took a regional fight about a year after the UFC let him go and won Reality Fighting’s heavyweight title. Then the UFC called him back, needing an injury replacement for UFC 142 in Brazil. He made quick work of Ednaldo Oliveira, submitting him in the first round.

Injuries curtailed him the rest of 2012, but at UFC on FX 7 in January, he stopped Ben Rothwell with a second-round guillotine choke.

If it’s an eventual title shot Gonzaga is hoping for, a win over someone like Browne could do wonders toward getting him into that conversation. Browne was unbeaten until tearing his hamstring against Antonio Silva in October, which helped lead to a TKO win for “Bigfoot.”

“I think every single fighter, when they step inside the octagon, is looking for the title,” Gonzaga said. “I’m no different. I try to do my best to win my fights and have a title shot and win the belt. That’s the main goal for the majority of fighters. He’s a really tough guy – he’s tall, strong and had so many wins in a row and just has the one loss. That’s a big name. If you want to fight for the title, you need to fight the big names. He’s next in line.”

In his first UFC stint, Gonzaga became known as a knockout artist. Four of his seven wins came courtesy of his hands. And a fifth knockout? That’s the one everyone remembers.

Gonzaga stopped Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic with a massive head kick at UFC 70 – the same type of finish “Cro Cop” had become a legend for. The kick will have a permanent spot on MMA highlight reels.

But Gonzaga lately has been stopping fights on the ground. And he cautions that opponents shouldn’t forget that’s his true wheelhouse.

“I always go into my fights trying to finish – it doesn’t matter if it’s a knockout or a submission,” he said. “I come from a Brazilian jiu-jitsu game and I have 18 years of Brazilian jiu-jitsu background and 13 years of black belt. I have a ground game. But to use it, you need to go to the ground first and the fight starts standing. So I try to stay good in the standup game and take good shots and try to knock people out. But sometimes the other guys have a good background in standup, too, and it’s not going to be easy to finish with a knockout.”

When it comes to going on a title run, Gonzaga may be staying realistic. But he’s certainly got a support system behind him to keep pushing him just in case any doubts creep in.

“I think they believe more that I can be the champion than myself,” he said. “When you’re outside, you have a different look. I know I have a good chance to be a champion, but it’s not just my skills and my ability. I have so many things involved. You need to be a little lucky to be healthy and keep fighting on that run.”

For more on The Ultimate Fighter 17 Finale, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.