Travis Browne Record: 18-7-1

Rise up the heavyweight ladder

Browne strung together signature wins that pushed him into title contention. He flattened Stefan Struve with punches in the first round at UFC 130 in 2011, outpointed Rob Broughton at UFC 135, and submitted Chad Griggs with a first-round arm-triangle choke at UFC 145. His most celebrated stretch came in 2013, when he produced a trio of first-round finishes that announced him as a genuine threat: an elbow stoppage of Gabriel Gonzaga, a front-kick-and-punches knockout of former Strikeforce champion Alistair Overeem, and an elbow finish of Josh Barnett at UFC 168 that put him squarely in the title mix.

Contender years and the back half

The momentum stalled against the division's very best. Browne dropped a decision to Fabrício Werdum at UFC on FOX 11 in 2014, then rebounded with a first-round ground-and-pound finish of Brendan Schaub at UFC 181. A 2015 knockout loss to Andrei Arlovski began a difficult late-career run; a third-round ground-and-pound win over Matt Mitrione in early 2016 proved his last UFC victory. He then lost to Cain Velasquez, a Werdum rematch, Derrick Lewis, and finally Aleksei Oleinik via neck crank at UFC 213 in 2017, closing out his time in the cage.

Fighting style

Browne was one of the heavyweight division's most explosive strikers, a finisher who closed 14 of his 18 wins by knockout or technical knockout for a finish rate near 89 percent. His length, athleticism and willingness to throw kicks – including the front kicks that ended Overeem – made him dangerous in space, while his ground-and-pound and an underrated submission game added finishing layers, as the arm-triangle of Griggs showed. The flip side was durability: four of his seven losses came by knockout, and the back half of his career exposed how a chin can wear under sustained pressure at heavyweight. At his best, though, he was an all-action threat capable of ending any fight in a single exchange.

Career highlights

• 2013 finishing tear — stopped Gabriel Gonzaga, Alistair Overeem and Josh Barnett all in the first round, the run that established him as a heavyweight title contender.
• Front-kick knockout of Overeem — one of the era's most memorable heavyweight finishes, dropping a former Strikeforce and K-1 champion at UFC Fight Night 26.
• Elite-level resume — shared the cage with champions and contenders including Werdum, Velasquez, Arlovski and Barnett across an 18-7-1 career with an 89 percent finish rate.