16 Brazilians win their way into the TUF Brazil house
“The Ultimate Fighter Brazil” premiered Sunday night with a broadcast streamed on TUF.tv.
Much like the season premiere of the U.S. version of the new “The Ultimate Fighter LIVE” on FX, TUF Brazil featured an opening episode with 16 elimination fights to get into the house. TUF Brazil features a cast of middleweights and featherweights who will be coached by Brazilian MMA legends Vitor Belfort and Wanderlei Silva.
Belfort and Silva welcomed the 32 fighters to HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, site of UFC 142 in January, and explained to them the format – two five-minute rounds, just like the U.S. version, with a third sudden-victory round if necessary. And then all the fighters put on their headphones for translation assistance to Portugese as UFC president Dana White greeted them and pumped them up for their opportunity to get into the TUF Brazil house.
Fight 1: Featherweight
Rony Mariano Bezerra vs. Dileno Lopes (Featherweight)
Round 1: Body kick from Mariano to open, then an inside leg kick. He then goes high with one that is partially blocked. Lopes counters with an inside leg kick of his own 30 seconds in, then misses an overhand left. Mariano throws a nice spinning back kick that gets White’s attention, but it misses. He throws a right that misses. But Lopes counters nicely and drops Mariano with a big left hand. He moves in quickly and lands some good strikes on the ground, but Mariano weathers the storm and pops back up. Back standing, Mariano lands a nice right hand that puts Lopes on his back. He moves in methodically and lands one more giant right on the ground before Mario Yamasaki stops it.
Result: Bezerra def. Lopes, TKO, Round 1
Fight 2: Middleweight
Francisco Drinaldo vs. Charles Michael
Round 1: Drinaldo moves in quickly. Real quickly. He drops Michael with a knee, then some absolutely giant hammer fists on the ground before the ref can get in and shut it down. The coaches and White appear to be very impressed, as they should be with a knockout 14 seconds into the first round.
Result: Drinaldo def. Michael, KO, Round 1
Fight 3: Featherweight
Godofredo de Oliveira vs. Johnny Goncalves
Round 1: Leg kick from Goncvalves, followed by some nice lefts that force Oliveira to look for a takedown. He eventually gets it, but Goncalves sweeps and gets on top. Oliveira, though, throws up a triangle and Goncalves carries him around the cage for a few seconds. But back on the ground, with the triangle more firmly latched, Oliveira is able to get an armbar that will seal the deal, and Goncalves has to tap.
Result: Oliveira def. Goncalves, submission (armbar), Round 1
Fight 4: Middleweight
Cezar Ferreira vs. Gustavo Sampaio
Round 1: Sampaio lands a couple nice shots in close, then has Ferreira on his butt for a moment. But back on the feet, they clinch and Ferreira lands a nice knee. They go to the ground and Ferreira looks for a kimura and has it briefly. He lands some big elbows that cut Sampaio in the back of the head, and the ref warns him for where those shots appear to be landing. He then brings some downward elbows to the body, and the ref stands things up and warns Ferreira for the strikes. We see the pretty decent cut on the back of Sampaio’s head.
Round 2: Good right from Sampaio, then a couple inside leg kicks. Ferreira whiffs on a right. But then they both land some big ones and stay standing. Ferreira shoots for a takedown and eventually gets a nice slam as Sampaio holds on for a guillotine. On the ground, Ferreira looks for a guillotine of his own and sinks it in, forcing the tap.
Result: Ferreira def. Sampaio, submission (guillotine), Round 2
Fight 5: Featherweight
Hugo Viana vs. Alexandre Ramos
Round 1: Ramos throws a couple lefts, then they both kick at the same time. As they clinch, Ramos throws a good knee, but Viana pushes him to the cage. Ramos leaps up for a flying triangle, and on the ground he nearly has an inverted triangle after looking for an armbar. But Viana pops out and winds up in Ramos’ guard landing strikes from up top. Viana holds Ramos in place on the ground with a single-handed choke and looks to land some big shots. Viana just dominating with his ground-and-pound. But three giant right elbows have Ramos out – likely after the first one, as White yells to Yamasaki that Ramos is out, hoping for a merciful stop.
Result: Viana def. Ramos, knockout
Fight 6: Middleweight
Richardson Moreira vs. Daniel Sarafian
Round 1: We move to a highlights package for our next fight. Sarafian drops Moreira, who looks for a heel hook on the ground. He’s working for it, but Sarafian gets out and gets to full mount and looks to do some ground work. But as Moreira starts to get back to his feet, Sarafian lands a knee with Moreira’s hand still on the mat. Sarafian has two points taken away, and Moreira gets some recovery time. With the two lost points for Sarafian, it looks like a probably 9-8 round for Moreira
Round 2: We only are shown a few seconds of the second round, but we see Sarafian getting full mount and working for plenty of elbows. We’re told that Sarafian had a dominant second round, so it may have been a 10-8 for him, giving him an 18-17 decision after the point deduction in the first.
Result: Sarafian def. Moreira, decision
Fight 7: Featherweight
Fabricio de Assis Costa da Silva vs. Rodrigo Damm
Round 1: Another highlights package for this one. Good striking from da Silva in the first round, but Damm gets a nice takedown late.
Round 2: Apparently determined to avoid da Silva’s standup game, Damm again wants the fight on the ground. He gets it there, scrambles nicely, takes da Silva’s back, sinks in the rear naked choke, and that’s that.
Result: Damm def. da Silva, submission (rear naked choke), Round 2
Fight 8: Featherweight
Wagner Campos vs. Fernando Guerra
Round 1: Another montage package for this fight. Campos does well in the first in the standup game, but Belfort criticizes both fighters for a boring opening frame.
Round 2: Again, we hear criticism, this time from Silva, for a boring fight. And Belfort concurs. White is shocked that the fight was going to a third round because of a split decision.
Round 3: Campos wins the round, and Guerra complains that Campos won by running away.
Result: Campos def. Guerra, decision
Fight 9: Middleweight
Sergio Moraes vs. Thiago Rela
Round 1: Rela lands some nice jabs, then uses his strength to push Moraes to the fence. But Moraes ties him up and lands a nice slam takedown. Rela looks for a leg lock. They try to land strikes while their legs are tangled up. Moraes falls back and looks for a heel hook and he gets it. Rela is forced to tap.
Result: Moraes def. Rela, submission (heel hook), Round 1
Fight 10: Featherweight
Rafael Bueno vs. Anistavio Medeiros
Round 1: We head to another highlights package and see some good striking from Medeiros, but then Bueno pulling guard.
Round 2: Medeiros looks to be doing good work from the top.
Round 3: Medeiros gets mount and looks for an armbar, but can’t finish it.
Result: Medeiros def. Bueno, decision
Fight 11: Middleweight
Joao Paulo de Souza vs. Thiago Perpetuo
Round 1: Back to more highlights. Good high kick from Souza. But it’s Perpetua doing good work from the top when they hit the floor.
Round 2: More of the same from Perpetuo, dominating the ground game on top.
Result: Perpetuo def. de Souza, decision
Fight 12: Featherweight
Giovanni Souza vs. John Teixeira
Round 1: Big scramble on the feet and they tie up. But Teixera lands a knee too low. On the restart, Souza lands a kick to the groin and says he wasn’t trying to retaliate. Teixera lands a takedown, and passes to mount. But Souza gets a good reversal. But then Teixera locks up and armbar and Souza has to tap.
Result: Teixeira def. Souza, submission (armbar), Round 1
Fight 13: Middleweight
Gilberto Galvao vs. Delson Heleno
Round 1: We move to another highlights package. Good striking from both, but it’s Heleno with a takedown. Heleno appears to be winning the fight on the ground with a couple sub attempts once he gets there.
Round 2: More of the same in the second round, with Heleno having no problem doing work on the ground.
Result: Heleno def. Galvao, unanimous decision
Fight 14: Middleweight
Fabio Bolinho vs. Renee Forte
Round 1: Another highlights montage for this one. Bolinho works plenty of leg kicks, but pays the price up top with some good striking from Forte.
Round 2: Big shots from each guy in the second – flying knees, all kinds of fun stuff. But it’s Forte who gets both rounds. Forte seems to be overwhelmed with the coaches and White standing up to congratulate him and calls that “priceless.”
Result: Forte def. da Costa, decision
Fight 15: Featherweight
Marcos Vinicius Pancini vs. Pedro Nobre
Round 1: Nobre opens with a leg kick, but Pancini lands a great big right. Nobre looks for a heel hook, but Vina avoids it and lands some big strikes on the ground. Nobre manages to get back to his feet, but it doesn’t last long. He eats a knee, and then Pancini lands two big shots and that’s all she wrote.
Result: Pancini def. Nobre, knockout, Round 1
Fight 16: Middleweight
Samuel Trindade vs. Leonardo Mafra
Round 1: Mafra with some strikes early. He lands a nice right hand that puts Trindade on the canvas. He lets him back up. Lots of big winging punches from each guy, and a flying knee from Mafra has him missing and on his back. They scramble, but get back to the feet. Good knee from Mafra late in the round, and it looks like he probably took that frame, though they edited out at least three minutes of footage.
Round 2: Big bombs from each guy. Trindade cant’ land a takedown, and he eats a bunch of punches back on the feet. They both start slinging leather, Griffin-Bonnar style. Mafra looks for a takedown, but can’t get it. Both fighters look tired, and they’re both eating a ton of shots. Trindade gets a takedown as the round closes. The coaches and White applaud the fight, but we’re going to a third round.
Round 3: More big bombs. Basically no technique going on here – just wild punches that are landing. How both guys are standing is worthy of a Leonard Garcia-Korean Zombie comparison. Both fighters are tired. Trindade is told to defend himself along the fence, and he loses his mouthpiece. The ref tells him many times to put it in, and he doesn’t want to, apparently. Finally, he grabs it from his hand and shoves it in his mouth himself. Mafra finishes the fight on top.
Result: Teixeira def. Trindade, unanimous decision
Here are your TUF Brazil house members:
Featherweight cast: Rony Mariano Bezerra, Godofredo de Oliveira, Hugo Viana, Rodrigo Damm, Wagner Campos, Anistavio Medeiros, John Teixeira, Vinicius Pancini
Middleweight cast: Francisco Drinaldo, Cezar Ferreira, Daniel Sarafian, Sergio Moraes, Thiago Perpetuo, Delson Heleno, Renee Forte, Leonardo Mafra