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| MMARR Features | |||||
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| The B-Sides "MMA News from the Country of Brazil" |
| MMA News Written by F. Machado | |
| Sunday, 29 October 2006 | |
 While most of the MMA fans around the globe were anxiously awaiting the debut of Pride in the United States on October 21st, the Brazilian fighting scene was getting hotter and hotter with great events held in September and October. Just in São Paulo alone, the Brazilian audience saw strong events such as Max Fight, Balada Fight, and Predador FC. They rooted with Demian Maia and Fabirico Morango at Super Challenge, on October 7th, watched as BJJ world champion Ronaldo Jacaré submitted the Russian Alexei Prokofiev on September 27th’s Fury FC, and were amazed with the structure built at Pacaembu’s gymnasium, with the fourth edition of the best Muay Thai event of Brazil: Demolition. MMA Ring Report’s crew was there and debuts with this new column which profiles and looks at the MMA and fight scene in Brazil, a sometimes seldom seen but very integral component to the world MMA scene. MMA Ringreport delves deeper in the blossoming Brazilian talent pool with the “B- Sides” news and notes from the Brazilian fight scene. As the cherry on the cake, we also had access to BJJ living legend Hélio Gracie, the father of Royce and Rickson Gracie, and he chatted with us during an official tribute dedicated to him in Rio de Janeiro. Demolition Fight features international fight in SP Kobushi’s manager Mauricio Netto has been working hard to develop the Brazilian Striking scene in the country. Investing his own money and believing in the modality, he created the Kobushi Company, which produces the Muay Thai event Demolition Fight. For the 4th edition, Netto has done something that is unseen in the Brazilian Striking circle. For the most part we see Brazilians traveling the globe for good matches, this time Netto flew to Japan and brought Japanese Muay Thai World Champ Akeomi Nitta back with him for the main fight of Demolition Fight 4, against Brazilian Márfio Canoletti. At the press conference, the Japanese thanked him for the opportunity and confessed jet-leg is such a tough opponent before a fight. However, he had time to recover and in the following day, gave his best in the ring. On September 23 rd, Canoletti and Nitta met in the ring. The Brazilian started attacking Nitta with strong knees and low-kicks, driving the audience crazy. Abusing his foe with low-kicks and jab sequences, Márfio realized his opponent deserved the title of Muay Thai World Champion. "I kicked and punched him as hard as I could and he seemed to absorb all my moves. He is such a tough fighter," complimented Márfio, who was pointed as the winner by unanimous decision. Netto celebrated: "This kind of fight only would be held in Japan. It’s such a gift to São Paulo and Brazil," stated the promoter. Such a great victory resulted in a invitation to Canoletti to return to Japanese Shootboxing, where he fights Hiroyuki Doi (Cesar’s Gym) in an alternate bout on November 3 rd. The other great bout of the night was between 19 year old Anderson Bradock and huge Capoeira fighter Jerônimo Mondragon. Possessing such power, Mondragon stepped inside the ring confident he would destroy the young fighter from São Paulo. However, the story became a "little" different. After defending a punch sequence, Bradock hit Mondragon with a strong low-kick which looked to undermine the Capoeira fighter’s confidence. Then Bradock looked for the best time to attack his strong opponent and with crossed punch, he dropped Mondragon to the canvas. Mondragon showed warrior spirit and stood up, even though he was in no condition to continue, he fought on attacking Bradock with few more punches, which were well dodged by local fighter. It was then just a matter of time before Bradock hit him with a left hook and sealed the Knock-out at 2 minutes and 51 seconds of the first round. In the other title bouts, Brazilian Mirko Cro Cop’ sparring Vitor Miranda defeated Eduardo Maiorino by KO at 1:16 (R2), Cosmo Alexandre ’Hoost’ defeated Ricardo Soneca by unanimous referee’s decision and Bruno Carvalho defeated Edson Jr. by unanimous referee’s decision. COMPLETE RESULTS: Demolition Fight 4 The best fight of the night was between BJJ black belt Bruno Frazatto and Adilson Preguiça. Frazatto rocked the bout imposing a better game on the feet and applying several take downs. Four times during the confrontation, he reached the mount and tried a few submission positions. However, Preguiça kept his mind straight and didn’t give up. Many times he escaped from the mount and stood up, applying strong low kicks on his laying opponent. He drove the audience nuts with stomps and kamikaze punches forcing the opponent’s guard. But due to the superiority during the three rounds, Frazatto was appointed as the champion. The other Jiu-Jitsu black belt to fight was Daniel Otero. Replacing Renovation Fight Team Aritano, who weighed in over the limit by 1.5kg and was out of the show, Kung Fu champion Márcio Silva was invited at the last minute and showed brave heart in the ring. Trying to surprise Otero, Silva applied beautiful spin kicks, but Otero took the fight to the ground and didn’t waste time. After passing Silva’s guard and reaching the mount, Otero applied an arm-lock, which almost got Silva’s arm broken. Showing brave heart, Silva escaped, but allowed Otero to fix the triangle choke, which obliged Silva to give up at 1 minute and 40 seconds of the first round. COMPLETE RESULTS: Real Fight 3 - Thiago Macarrão (Combat Sports) defeated Isaac Araújo (Liga Muay Thai / Sandro Team) by TKO at 1min28s in R2; Vale Tudo: Personality: Hélio Gracie BJJ red belt Hélio Gracie is not too much a fan of being interviewed. At the age of 94, the BJJ living legend has had so much happen in his storied history that it would never fit into a simple column. Last September 21st, the Gracie received an honored tribute at a public house in Rio de Janeiro. Hosting great names of Brazilian Fighting Scene such as Artur Mariano, Eugênio Tadeu, Carlos Santos, Márcio Cromado and many others, Hélio was pleased by his own family. Also in attendance were his sons Rickson and Royler Gracie, who got emotional with the tribute. Hélio received a Pan-American medal due to his importance to Brazilian sport by politician Brizola Netto’s hands and thanked his friends, "I am honored to see this full room fulfilled with friends from all Martial Arts. Thanks for coming", said the old fighter, who brought Jiu-Jitsu to Rio de Janeiro. In a exclusive talk with the “B. Sides”, Hélio explained the famous Gracie Diet and commented about the Gracie’s who have been fighting in the Vale-Tudo rings. "I don’t eat salt, and food with sugar. So I don’t eat deserts. I believe those who mix those two different types of food spoil the organism. I don’t know if the Gracie Diet is the only reason I am feeling well at age 94, but of course it helped me a lot," stated the Gracie, who talked about the loss of his son Royce Gracie to Matt Hughes at UFC 60. "It was a fatality. The "boy" took him down and he didn’t have a chance to show Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. But if he faces Royce again, I believe Royce wins", Hélio believes. |
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