1) Peterson Mello vs. Marcelo Santos: I know nothing about either guy.
FIGHT: Mello Submission Rnd 1. We get a clinch almost immediately and Mello pushes around Santos. After a lot of hugging, he throws Santos to the ground with, uhhh, some sort of brute force leg trip looking thing. After moving to mount, he hits him for awhile, Santos flips over and over and over and eventually this ends with a head and arm choke. (0)
2) Alessio Sakara vs. Rafael Tatu: One of these guys is notable. The other - not so much.
FIGHT: Sakara TKO Rnd 2. Not the most exciting fight.
Tatu: Tatu, for a guy who's career record officially stands at 0-4, puts up a helluva fight. He actually gets on top for the majority of the first round, he lands some decent shots in exchanges, and he defends the takedown at the start of the first and lands soccer kicks as a counter. He's not just a speed bump, he's competitive. But Sakara is physically stronger and better conditioned, and that's a big thing.
Sakara: Sakara is known to most MMA fans as being a striker. In reality, Sakara's fighting style is often most effective as a ground and pound artist. He's not a terrific wrestler or anything, just strong. But strong counts. With his striking background, Sakara generally doesn't get guys thinking double or single and he more easily gets the fight to the mat where he can pound out his opposition. In essence, he is the poor man's Vitor Belfort. In this fight, his technique is often not enough to get the takedown (though he spends significant time on top in rounds 1 and 2), but he does get the fight down and busts open Tatu in the second round with short shots. The cut is bad enough to force a stoppage. Sakara points at a tattoo of Jesus after the fight. (2)
3) Roan Carniero vs. Adriano Verdelli: Carniero is a reasonably good fighter who will be in the Golden Glory tournament this weekend.
FIGHT: Carniero Submission Rnd 1. Anaconda choke! Before Noguiera! Easy fight for Carniero who gets a takedown early and then, as Verdelli scrambles and tries to reverse the position, locks in the anaconda choke. (2)
4) Ivan Jorge vs. Rafael "Capioera" Freitas: People of varying quality.
FIGHT: Jorge Split Decision. Ridiculously terrible fight that went the full 20 minute distance. Jorge has a takedown and a lot of stuffed takedown attempts along with lots of pushing of Freitas in the clinch to the corner. In return, Freitas throws bad strikes and the occasional headkick that he gets taken down over or at least completely loses position as a result of. Very little happens over the course of those sad, sad 20 minutes. If you want to say anything about them, neither can punch or kick, though Freitas is perhaps incrementally better, and Jorge's grappling is a small sliver better than Freitas'. Neither looks like a world beater. (1)
5) Daniel Acacio vs. Delson Heleno: Heleno looked decent in the IFL, Acacio went to PRIDE.
FIGHT: Acacio TKO Rnd 2. Now looking at it, this would be a good rematch. (3)
Acacio: Outgrappled comprehensively in the first, he has a better gas tank than the muscled up Heleno and outlasts him in the second round. He actually lands shots as Heleno comes forward for the clinch and prevents him from doing anything really offensive aside from a couple sweeps or takedowns in the second. This was not a great Acacio performance.
Heleno: When the second round ends, Heleno is slow to get out of Acacio's guard and is shaking his head and seemingly verbally quitting between rounds. Up till then, Heleno was the better takedown artist, spent far more time on top, and had generally avoided monster shots landing on the feet. When Acacio tried to get to a scramble position, Heleno would end up on top again even if Acacio was briefly successful.
6) Marcelo "Grilo" Alfaya vs. Luiz Claudio Das Dores: Don't know either.
FIGHT: Grilo TKO Rnd 2. Nothing is worse watching bad MMA than watching a bad fight between fighters that don't matter. Alfaya has losses to the likes of Luis Cane and Alexey Oleinik amd Dos Dores hasn't really even gotten to that level of competition. Alfaya shoots off of wide overhand rights over and over again and gets the takedown anyhow, then holds down Dos Dores virtually the entire fight. After the second ref standup of the second round, they clinch and Alfaya drops a tired Das Dores with punches and the fight is stopped. Glacial action. Terrible to watch. (0)
7) Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Branden Lee Hinkle: A meaningful sort of fight! Gonzaga is headed back into MMA and Lee Hinkle is still bouncing around out there and has a oddly smashable sister. Gonzaga is a lot smaller in this fight. In fact, he's smaller than Hinkle, who later went down to 205 in his UFC career.
FIGHT: Gonzaga Submission Rnd 1. This one got the crowd going. Wild dirty boxing to kick it off with both men throwing and landing hard shots, but Gonzaga's took much more effect. Hinkle has his nose bloodied and retaliates by shooting and actually getting the back of Gonzaga briefly. Being from Hammer House, he's not entirely sure what to then do, and Gonzaga flips over, gets the guard, and hooks up a triangle to force the tap out. Kinda one sided but at least it was interesting. (3)
8) Assuerio Silva vs. Fabiano Scherner: At the time, this was the heavyweight contest on the card to watch. Now look.
FIGHT: No contest. Typical boring, horrible Assuerio Silva fight involving lots of pushing early on. Scherner goes to butt scoot and takes a couple kicks to the legs. Man, this is looking dreadful. then Scherner is allowed to stand and goes for a shot. Silva and him tumble through the ropes and Scherner basically gets DDTed on the timekeepers table and has to be boarded out and given oxygen. Silva slides back into the ring almost immediately after and raises his arms. Thankfully, no rematch was ever held. Still gets a (3) because hey, it ends in wild, must see fashion.
9) Mauricio "Shogun" Rua vs. Evangelista "Cyborg" Santos: This is such a weird fight. Cyborg, I thought, was also Chute Boxe. Your ref for this contest is PEDRO RIZZO.
FIGHT: Shogun TKO Rnd 1. Some things don't change with time. Cyborg still doesn't have good cardio. Shogun's chin is still shaky. You see those things here in this bout early in Shogun's career - he comes in wild and gets tagged by Cyborg, who lands a counter and we're wild swinging. Shogun goes for takedowns, and he does get them. Cyborg on the bottom then quickly runs out of steam and they're going loose and fast for submissions on both sides. Rua tries for a heel hook, a knee bar, a triangle, a straight armbar out of mount, a head and arm choke - he can't lock in any of these in spite of having the position. Part of it is Cyborg's strength. Just think about how a guy now campaigning at welterweight was powering out of Rua's joint locks and how Jon Jones might do Saturday night at UFC 128. The fight ends with Shogun taking mount and landing punches until there's a stoppage late in the first round. (4)
FIGHT OF THE NIGHT: Shogun/Cyborg
KO OF THE NIGHT: Acacio/Heleno
SUBMISSION OF THE NIGHT: Carniero/Verdelli
OVERALL FOR THE EVENT: 5 out of 10. There's some OK stuff, some relevant stuff, some not so relevant stuff, some terribly boring stuff. I almost dread watching Brazilian MMA shows because the talent is often so bent on sitting in half guard and the refs so willing to let it be like that, I start daydreaming about random things.
D&R Rating: 40% (18/45)
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