As a 12-year-old tearaway in Fortaleza, Brazil, Wilson Gouveia would drive his mother round the bend with worry. What’s he up to? When’s he coming home? Who’s he been playing with? A widowed parent-of-three, Mrs. Gouveia kept a tight and loving leash on her three children. A natural fighter, Wilson, the eldest, would be the one designated to look after the nest. The tough guy. The protector.
17 years on, Mrs. Gouveia is still keeping check on her fighting son.
“She’s my biggest fan,” explains Gouveia, 10-5 in his mixed martial arts career. “At the beginning she was very worried about me fighting. She used to ask me all the time why I wanted to get punched in the face and get all beat up just to make some money. But now she understands the sport more and is a big fan. She buys the pay-per-views now even when I’m not fighting. The sport’s getting bigger and bigger and she gets very excited watching it now.”
Gouveia’s mother also provides a unique form guide to young Wilson’s progress.
“She watches my fights but only if she knows the result first,” laughs Wilson. “She’ll only ever watch my fights if I’ve won. If I don’t win, she’ll never watch it. The last one she never watched.”
Upon hearing of Wilson’s defeat at UFC 84 to Croatian dangerman Goran Reljic, Mrs. Gouveia switched off the phone, turned off the TV and burned the nearest newspapers. The thought of her son losing was eradicated from her mind and the history books. It never happened.
Yet in the minds and memories of everybody else, it did happen. Gouveia included.
“It’s really hard to fight a guy (Reljic) you have no information about,” Gouveia recollects. “I never watched one of his fights or even knew what kind of style he had. The guy was a southpaw, he had very good high-kicks – and I knew none of that before the fight.
“We’re all professionals and we all need to prepare as well as we are able to before a fight. When I fought Reljic, I wasn’t able to prepare like I would have wanted to. He has good jiu-jitsu, lots of high-kicks and was a very strong fighter. I was doing fine and just got caught. Hey, sh*t happens. We both won some extra money for Fight of the Night so I can’t complain.”
On May 24, Reljic and Gouveia engaged in a stirring light-heavyweight slugfest, packed full of back-and-forth action. Despite enjoying early success, Gouveia was eventually stopped via strikes in the second round. A shattering blow to a man coming off four straight UFC stoppage victories. After telling his mom the bad news, Gouveia set about rectifying the situation. Putting things right again.
Deciding he was better suited to the smaller men waiting at middleweight, Gouveia entertained the idea of dropping 20 lbs and chancing his hand in a new weight class.
“I’m on a diet right now,” Gouveia explains. “When I was at light-heavyweight I used to just stay around 225 lbs and then cut the 25 lbs to make weight. Now I’m looking to stay at around 205 lbs. I’ve been fighting my whole career at 205 even though a lot of people were saying I should be fighting at 185. When I compare myself to big light-heavyweights like Forrest (Griffin) and Chuck (Liddell), I look more like a middleweight. Those guys are huge. I never had to cut properly to make light-heavyweight and always decided to stay there because I love to eat so much. Now I’m doing the diet and am a lot healthier. I’m feeling better than ever.”
Calling time on his light-heavyweight surge, Gouveia has created a new animal at middleweight. The first test of his newfound ferociousness arrives on September 17 when Gouveia undertakes the ultimate examination with professor Jeremy Horn, a veteran of over 100 mixed martial arts contests. For a man in a period of transition like Gouveia, there couldn’t be a more ideal and fitting litmus test.
“Jeremy Horn is a very experienced fighter,” says Gouveia. “He’s fought pretty much everyone. To fight a guy like that I’ve got to be at the top of my game and I’ve got to be ready in all departments.
“For him (Horn), the cage and everything that goes with it will not be a problem. For him, the cage is like his living room. He’s very used to it. He’ll be ready for everything I bring. He has an incredible name. Beating a legend like Horn will make a big splash in the middleweight division.”
There’s happiness to Gouveia’s voice. Despite undertaking a diet for the first time in his life, Wilson avoids the little luxuries and the personal treats in order to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Though coming off a disappointing stoppage defeat, Wilson still feels wanted. Moreover, Gouveia feels a greater sense of perspective and belonging as a middleweight.
“This fight with Horn makes much more sense than the one with Reljic,” he adds. “When I fought Reljic I was coming off four wins in a row and nobody knew who Reljic was. Now I’m fighting a guy like Jeremy who is a legend in the sport – even if he is coming off two losses. When I first started out in MMA, Jeremy was already there beating guys like Chuck (Liddell). This fight makes more sense to the fans and for Jeremy and me.”
Boasting four wins and only two defeats in the UFC – one to Reljic and a close one to Keith Jardine – Gouveia is a man renowned for his intensity and gameness inside the Octagon. Nobody has ever had an easy time with the man based in Coconut Creek, Florida. Heavy-handed and a black belt in jiu-jitsu, Gouveia holds a dramatic win over Jason Lambert as well as an early career stoppage over Jon Fitch. A pro for six years, Gouveia boasts a handy amount of recognizable names on his MMA ledger. Nevertheless, at 29, Gouveia feels now is the time to hand in his contender card and apply for a raise.
“Everybody wants to make money,” he admits. “I’m no different. However, the reason I dropped to 185 is because I know I can be really good. I know I can become a champion at this weight. I want to start over again at 185. I’ve never fought at 185 before and I feel like it’s a new start. My goal is to make a lot of money and become the champ.”
To fulfil his ultimate goal, Gouveia may have to steamroll through fellow Brazilian and all-round contender-destroyer Anderson ‘The Spider’ Silva. First things first, though – Gouveia has Horn to contend with. He then has a list.
“At 185 I see myself as a genuine contender,” states Gouveia. “I respect Jeremy a lot and know he’s going to be a tough fight but beyond him I’ve got a list of middleweights I’d love to fight. I’d really love to fight Rich Franklin, Thales Leites and Dan Henderson. A guy like Franklin would be perfect for my next fight after Jeremy.
“At middleweight I feel like I’m going to do some serious damage. All my fights are pretty exciting. Whether I win or lose, I try and put up an exciting fight for the fans.”
Dropping 20-pounds to switch weight divisions wouldn’t have been the toughest journey in Gouveia’s life – that much is a certainty. To even contemplate competing in the UFC would have been a pipedream to a 12-year-old Wilson. Helping his mom raise his brother and sister, Gouveia had plenty to occupy the mind. Without a father figure for a large portion of his life, he had to adapt. He had to grow up quickly. There was no chance to kick a football with his father. No time to learn how to fix cars. No time to discuss girlfriends. He missed all of that.
“It wasn’t easy growing up,” explains Gouveia. “I lost my father when I was 12 and was raised by my mother along with my younger brother and sister. It was kind of tough, but my mom did everything she could and gave us all a good life and good education. I think education is the most important thing and it was great to receive the education we did. I can’t complain about anything.”
Gouveia’s martial arts education was something frowned upon by his mother yet wholly natural to a sprightly kid growing up in Fortaleza.
“I started doing jiu-jitsu when I was 14,” he continues. “Jiu-jitsu in Brazil is a very common sport – everybody does it. All my friends, pretty much everyone I knew did jiu-jitsu as a kid. After that it was like a snowball effect. I met a guy who loved fighting and he was my biggest sponsor - then we decided to move into MMA. I realized I was pretty good at it and the snowball just kept getting bigger and bigger. Now I’m able to feed my family doing this thing. I love it.”
Gouveia lost his father before hitting his teen years. He learned to look after himself for his entire adult life. Poignantly, it’s the very relationship he missed as a youngster that drives him on to greater success in the UFC.
“Just being in the UFC has made me very proud and happy,” he says. “I’m pleased with everything I’ve done. My kid is five-years-old and he looks up to me as his hero. I’m doing everything for him. I look at myself in the mirror now and say ‘you made it – you got into the big league’. I’m like a little pitcher in his backyard playing catch with his daddy who then grows up to pitch for the Yankees.
Mrs. Gouveia can come out from behind the sofa now. The kid turned out just fine.
Want to Leave a Comment?