‘The Ultimate Fighter Brazil’ Episode 3 Results and Recap

Sarafian (Team Vitor) vs. Forte (Team Wanderlei) is season’s first middleweight fight

“The Ultimate Fighter Brazil” was back Sunday night with a broadcast streamed on TUF.tv – the season’s third episode. HeavyMMA has a complete episode recap here, including the second fight of the season.

Episode 3 Recap
We open at the TUF house in Sao Paulo. Pepey talks about his win being big for the self esteem of the team, and Hugo Wolverine agrees. Wanderlei Silva says he has told his fighters it’s not that important to pick the fights – they need to be ready to fight anyone.

We head to the training center, and Vitor Belfort says he will decide today who the next fight will be – in the middleweight division. He tells his coaches he believes Daniel Sarafian is ready to go. And Sarafian concurs and says he wants to make the most of the opportunity.

At the fight announcement, Belfort takes over. But first he congratulates all the fighters, especially last week’s fighters. In confessionals, Belfort says that in any company or family, there are principles and he wants to hold to those principles. Last week, he talked to his fighters about taking the high road with the opposing team in the house. But Silva, in a confessional, says he’s not sure what world Belfort is living in sometimes – and says his speeches are “a bore.” Belfort picks Renee Forte from Team Wanderlei to face Sarafian, and the fight is set. Belfort says he thinks it will be a “fierce fight.” And the staredown is a solid one.

We meet the fighters. Sarafian talks about being a bigger child and getting bullied, and that’s why he turned to fighting. Forte talks about a rough upbringing, as well, including a strained relationship with his father. He says he has considered giving up his fighting dream while watching his friends all go to college.

Back at the house, Team Wanderlei fighter Delson Heleno talks to his teammates about how he can see the coaches want to work with them to improve, but they need to be more receptive to getting that training and focus in. But there seems to be a divided opinion on the team about some of his ideas, including dividing up the living quarters. Team Vitor, on the other hand, is shown having a good old time playing instruments, singing a song about beans – yes, beans – and dancing.

At one last training session, Belfort tells Sarafian he’s more than ready to fight in the UfC right now. “Tomorrow is war,” Sarafian says. We see Silva giving his team members protein bars , not long after seeing some product placement for an energy drink.

At the official weigh-in event for the fight, Forte comes in at 185 pounds. Sarafian is 185 on the button, too, and we’re set for the next day’s fight. Belfort says Sarafian is focused and ready to fight. And both coaches say this will be a fantastic fight.

Gasparzinho says Rodrigo Damm is “the grumpy one in the house.” He says Damm can dish it out, but can’t take it. A little foreshadowing for a future episode, perhaps?
On fight day, Sarafian says he’s ben ready for a long time. Forte says he never gives up and never feels weak. Sarafian admits he’s a bit scared, but that’s normal. On the way to the fight, Team Wanderlei sings a fun song in the van. Team Vitor has a group prayer.

Then we see UFC heavyweight champ Junior dos Santos make an appearance. He visits Team Wanderlei to help motivate everyone. dos Santos, of course, coached on Season 13 of the U.S. version of the show. He then visits Team Vitor. After some final comments from the fighters and coaches, we’re ready for the fight.

Daniel Sarafian (7-2) vs. Renee Forte (7-1)
Round 1: Brittney Palmer introduces the first round, and then referee Mario Yamasaki gets things going. We open with jabs and kicks. Forte pushes the fight to the fence, but Sarafian winds up on top after a scramble that sees both fighters hit the floor. He works out of half guard, looking to do some damage with ground-and-pound. Forte scrambles to his feet after a minute on the ground, and Sarafian nearly lands a nice knee. He keeps the clinch on for a moment, looking for Muay Thai knees. But eventually they break. Sarafian lands a nice jab that backs Forte up, then a nice kick and a knee. Forte again looks to take the fight to the cage. Sarafian looks for the Thai plum, but it’s not there. But he lands a decent trip takedown that he can’t do much with. Back on the feet, the two exchange jabs and kicks, with Sarafian getting the better of them. With 15 seconds left in the round, he lands another nice takedown and finishes the round on top. It’s a pretty clear 10-9 round for Sarafian, at least on the HeavyMMA card.

Round 2: Ahhh, more Brittney. Forte takes the center and fakes a kick. He jabs and backs Sarafian up. Good kick from Sarafian to the outside of Forte’s lead leg, which he attacked in the first round, as well. Then a high kick to the ribs lands, and Sarafian takes Forte down and looks for a choke. Forte gets up, but Sarafian lands a nice knee, then puts Forte on his back yet again. He looks to pass from half guard, and then slickly takes Forte’s back and sinks in a rear naked choke. It’s tight, and Forte taps pretty quickly.

Result: Daniel Sarafian def. Renee Forte, submission (rear naked choke), Round 2

With the Sarafian win, Belfort’s team moves to 2-0 with one win each for the featherweights and middleweights. dos Santos said if it was a UFC card, Sarafian would have won the Submission of the Night bonus. Silva says he’s angry with how Forte fought, and Forte complains about hurting his foot the first kick he threw. Forte seems disappointed for letting his team and coaches down – and said the coaches building him up, pre-fight, didn’t help him. Silva says when he first started, he’d nearly kill himself for a few hundred dollars – and now these fighters are being offered big money, a new truck and a UFC deal – what more can you give them to want them to fight hard?