Utaka was born in
Enugu, Nigeria. He first moved to Egypt in 1998, joining
Arab Contractors and subsequently
Ismaily. While with Ismaily, Utaka earned cult status with the local fans. They used to chant "Oh Oh Oh Utaka, Oh Oh Oh Utaka" during the matches. He played alongside the likes of
Mohammed Barakat,
Islam El-Shater, and captain
Mohamed Salah Abo Greisha under the guidance of
Mohsen Saleh, later appointed coach of
Egypt. He joined
Al-Sadd of Qatar in 2001 for a fee of $1 million. This was then a record transfer fee in Qatar. where he spent one season. In 2002, he joined French club
RC Lens whom he left in 2005 for
Rennes. Utaka struggled to make an impact at the start of his Rennes stint. However, he took advantage of the absence of fellow striker
Alexander Frei through injury to make his breakthrough. In February 2006, he scored two consecutive
hat-tricks, against
Lens and
Lyon, and as a result received the
L'Équipe's player of the month award.
Portsmouth Utaka joined
Portsmouth on a four-year deal in July 2007, for a fee of around £7 million. He scored his first goal on 11 August 2007 in a game against newly promoted
Derby County. Some sources claim he became the club's record signing. On 17 May 2008, Portsmouth won the
FA Cup with a 1–0 victory over
Cardiff City. Utaka provided the cross for the winning goal which was scored by
Nwankwo Kanu. He went on to have a poor 2008–09 season but on 27 June 2009 he confirmed he would be staying at the club for at least another season. The salary being paid to Utaka became a talking point in light of Portsmouth's financial issues, with news agencies reporting an alleged £80,000 per week salary for Utaka as a reflection of their financial mismanagement. Utaka hit out at these reports, claiming that he earned only a third of that figure. On 23 January 2010, he scored both goals in Portsmouth's 2–1 win over
Sunderland in the FA Cup Fourth Round.
Montpellier On 29 January 2011, Utaka signed for French first division side
Montpellier, agreeing a two-and-a-half year deal for an undisclosed fee. He made his debut for the new club on 26 February coming on as a 70th-minute substitute for
Olivier Giroud in a 0–0 draw with
Sochaux. Utaka scored his first goal of the new Ligue 1 season, and his first for the club, against
Ajaccio on 21 September 2011, and also provided an assist as Montpellier defeated Ajaccio 3–1 in Corsica. On 19 February 2012, Montpellier travelled to the
Parc des Princes to face league leaders PSG; he headed in an 81st-minute goal from a Giroud cross but a late tap in from
Guillaume Hoarau levelled the game at 2–2 and earned the sides a share of the points. Montpellier played host to
Bordeaux six days later and he headed home the only goal of the game in the 80th minute to keep up the pressure on league leaders PSG. On 20 May 2012, in a game marred by stoppages for crowd violence, Utaka scored a brace, his sixth and seventh league goals of the campaign, to secure a 2–1 victory over
Auxerre and win the
Ligue 1 title for Montpellier over
PSG, for the first time in the club's history.
Sivasspor On 1 August 2013, Utaka joined the Turkish club
Sivasspor on a two-year contract.
CS Sedan In July 2017, he signed with
fourth-tier side
CS Sedan. ==International career==