The Brazilian Beat
Minotauro and Ninja ready for the PRIDE GP, Jungle Fight back in business, Chute Boxe youngsters go to battle in Curitiba and HEAT FC 3 postponed.

The Brazilian Beat:
      All eyes are set for the PRIDE Heavyweight Grand Prix first round this weekend, with two Brazilian fighters competing in Rodrigo Minotauro Nogueira and Murilo Ninja Rua, representing the two most successful MMA teams in this country in the most important tournament of 2004. However, despite all the focus on the upcoming PRIDE show, a lot of other things are also taking place here with small shows giving their share of action to the fans, and even sad news regarding show's being postponed. This has been becoming a trend, as unfortunately sponsors are rare for our sport in most parts of the globe and it's getting tougher and tougher to promote big time shows, as HEAT FC follows the same path of MECA and Shooto Brazil, that also had shows planned for the month of April and had no choice but postponing. With all that and much more, let's quit the talk and go straight to the news as big time action is coming up this weekend in Japan, and Full Contact Fighter starts the beat with truly Brazilian vibe!
  • PRIDE Middleweight Champion Wanderlei Silva has been training hard with Japanese star Yuki Kondo on his mindset. After a busy promotional tour in numerous Brazilian TV shows, Silva is now focused on what he does best again and looking forward for his likely bout at the next PRIDE BUSHIDO show. His training partner, Murilo Ninja Rua, told FCF that "the Axe Murderer" is stronger than ever and training with him has been a tough experience, as his ground game is also getting better and better.

  • Speaking of Murilo Rua, the young fighter out of the Chute Boxe team departed from Brazil to Japan this past Monday to compete in the PRIDE Heavyweight Grand Prix. This is the first time Ninja is fighting as a heavyweight, but he didn't seem to mind it a lot as he is used to train and fight against stronger opponents. Training as intense and despite all the comments of a likely second round bout against Rodrigo Minotauro Nogueira, in case both him and Minotauro wins their first round bouts, Murilo Ninja is still focused on Sergei Kharitonov as this is what matters the most now. Reports have that Murilo is confident in Japan and feeling good for the fight.

  • On the other hand the other Brazilian competitor at the PRIDE Heavyweight GP, Rodrigo Minotauro Nogueira, departed for Japan earlier as BTT secured a special preparation in Japan trough a new Japanese sponsorship, granting Minotauro and his trainers extra time in the land of the rising sun where he could finish his training for the fight in the best possible condition. Nogueira is reported to be in his best condition ever, as he is somewhat free of injuries, which is rare for Minotauro, and spent a lot of time training and focusing for this fight. This will also be the first time Mino will step in a MMA ring after all his training sessions with the Brazilian Olympic Boxing team, where he sharpened up his Boxing skills and added even more to his game.

  • The new MMA show to take place on the city of Vitoria, in the state of Espirito Santo in Brazil, called Vitoria Extreme Fight, schedule for May 29th, suffered a change in its main event. Planning to have a somewhat of a grudge match between two local Jiu-Jitsu standouts, in MECA veteran Rafael Capoeira and Alliance top fighter Eduardo Jamelao, the promoters suffered a let down as Capoeira seriously injured his knee and won't be able to fight in a long time. Replacing him will be HEAT FC veteran Marcelo Uirapuru Azevedo. The show will also feature two tournaments, one up to 88 kg and another up to 100kg. Among the most important names on the show are UFC veteran Flavio Moura competing on the up to 88kg tourney and K-1 Brazil runner up Eduardo Maiorino competing in the up to 100kg tournament.

  • Rumors are flying high that Jungle Fight two will take place on May 15th, in the city of Manaus up in the north of Brazil, near where the first Jungle Fight show took place. Although Wallid Ismail has been a bit absent from the Brazilian scene lately, contacts have been made and a lot of interesting names have been cogitated to appear in the show. Another fact is that Sportv's pay-per-view channel, Premiere Combat, has been holding a spot on its channels for the live broadcast of Jungle Fight 2 for a long time already, so it's likely that plenty of news about this show will start to appear in the very near future.

  • Another Brazilian MMA show that is planning its next edition is MECA Vale Tudo. After being forced to postpone the show, promoters are now working with the date of June 5th in mind and the event is likely to return for the city of Teresopolis, in the state of Rio De Janeiro, for the second time ever. Teresopolis held MECA 9 with great success, and the same partnership with a local promoter will be repated for MECA 11. Being a local idol, Delson Pe de Chumbo has been cogitated to do the main event against Jorge Macaco Patino, in what could be Macaco's first outing as a Chute Boxe member.

  • This last Saturday, April 17th, Storm Samurai Curitiba took place bringing more fighting action to the Brazilian fans, as reported previously at FCF. Like the event's edition in Sao Paulo just two days earlier, the show went well with a taste of action for everybody. In the MMA matches Chute Boxe young fighter Mauricio "Veio" Amado once won the second MMA fight of his career with little problems, controlling his opponent during most of the fight and maybe just lacking a bit of experience to finish the fight. Another Chute Boxe stand out, Fabio Tigrao, made a good MMA debut knocking out his opponent showing great potential. All in all, in the show suited the promoters and the crowd as the MMA matches had six knockouts in the best Chute Boxe style, with Chute Boxe fighter Michael Costa also emerging victorious once again. Here are the results from the MMA matches:

    Mauricio Amado defeated Joao Paulo by judges' decisionFabio Tigrao defeated Ademar by KO in the 2nd roundMichael Costa defeated Jefferson by judges' decisionClaudinei defeated Cristian Tide by KO in the 2nd roundWagner Tiburcio defeated Ismael Mota by KO in the 3rd roundFabio Silva defeated Emerson Graxaim by KO in the 2nd roundGiliard Parana defeated Jeferson Cascao by KO in the 1st roundRogelson "BA" defeated Jonathan Carvalho by KO in the 1st round

  • 2003 Abu Dhabi Brazilian trials champion Rany Yahira shined in a new MMA event in Brazil this past April 17th, in the city of Goiania, in the central part of Brazil, at the 2nd TNT Vale Tudo. Rany won three fights in one night to win a up to 70 kg tournament submitting all of his opponents, including a MECA veteran in Fabio Shon in the first round. Rany was also taking part on the HEAT FC 3 fighting card and seems to be on the right track for a future MMA career abroad. The event also had a heavyweight 4 men tournament, where Dimitri Wanderlei ended up as the champion.

  • Although this subject hasn't been brought up a lot lately, it's been months since Priscila Vieira Belfort disappeared and no valid information regarding her whereabouts has yet been heard. FCF continues to support the family and pleads for anyone that has any valid information regarding her to contact the Brazilian police.

  • The third edition of HEAT FC has been officially postponed with no future date set for the show yet. With the severe economic problems Brazil has been facing and the absence of some key sponsors at the last minute, the promoters had no other choice but to postpone the show as circumstances got tougher than ever. The show is now cogitated to take place around June, with a date yet to be defined. This goes to show the reality of promoting MMA in most parts of the globe, mostly Brazil, as other shows such as MECA, Shooto Brazil and Brazil Super Fight were all postponed or cancelled in their latest editions.