When trying to uppercut a zombie after a punch, the first punch acts as a heavy hit even though it's a normal hit and blows the zombie back resulting in you missing the uppercut.
Hit RT to regularly hit a zombie & then immediately hit Y to trigger a uppercut. You'll notice the zombie acts as if the regular punch is a heavy hit and blows back causing you to miss the uppercut rendering the uppercut or any heavy hit chains almost impossible unless the zombies is backed into a wall. This applies to all melee weapons' heavy hit variations as well.