The Brazilian Beat
Minotauro already in Japan, Wanderlei departuring, Sperry going to be father, Storm Samurai results and more!

The Brazilian Beat:
      With the Pride Heavyweight Grand Prix finals an UFC 49 coming up later in August, what else could a fighting fan ask for? Needless to say, as anywhere in the globe right now, most of the Brazilian MMA fan attention has been focused on those two great shows coming up, as expectations are high with Brazilian fighters such as Wanderlei Silva, Rodrigo Minotauro and Vitor Belfort involved in the most crucial match-ups of those events. But as I usually say in this space, this is not all by any means and there's always much more going on this country's mixed martial arts scene. Two interesting shows took place recently in Brazil, with Carlson Gracie presenting his new venture Real Fight, and the already traditional Storm Samurai promotion brining what many thought was their best show ever. Besides that rumors and news continue to appear all the time regarding fighter's next moves, training sessions and even the now so usuall team's changing. While the big time shows are still a bit distant, allow FCF to bring you the news straight from Brazil as we lay down the beat once again! Enjoy!
  • UFC light heavyweight champion Vitor Belfort is ready for the big time task of rematching Randy "the Natural" Couture at the next UFC. Training in California for a good while already, "The Phenom" told FCF he is feeling great and training has been tough, as he is already anxious for fight time. Meanwhile, nothing was found yet about his missing sister, Priscila Belfort, here in Brazil. It has been a while since any news were heard on TV and FCF still hopes for the best.

  • The finals of the Pride Heavyweight Grand Prix are coming up, and Rodrigo Minotauro Nogueira left Brazil this past Wednesday, going to Japan along with the rest of the Brazilian Top Team crew to take care of the final details of his preparation on the land of the rising sun, making sure everything will be perfect in the night of fights. According to Mario Sperry training went great and Nogueira is ready for both Kharitonov and whomever makes it to the final. Murilo Bustamante, who turned 38 years old recently, is also happy to be coming back to Pride facing Kazuhiro Nakamura, and is still wanting a rematch against Dan Henderson in a future Pride edition.

  • Another fighting icon who's returning to the rings in this Pride show is the one and only Wanderlei Silva. "The Axe Murderer" will be departing for Japan this Monday, and is feeling more than ready to face Japanese idol Yuki Kondo. Training sessions for the fight at Chute Boxe were truly insane in the past weeks, to make sure Silva gets to the fight in great shape. Word has that Wanderlei and his teammate Murilo Ninja Rua have been training very hard with one another, with Ninja being also in great shape and eager to fight.

  • Another edition of the already traditional Storm Samurai event, promoted by Chute Boxe master Rafael Cordeiro, took place this last Saturday August 7th in the city of Curitiba, Brazil. Storm started out years ago as a Muay Thai only event, but with time it merged to a diverse Martial Arts showdown as Storm Samurai was created, and since then the show saw also Jiu-Jitsu, Submission Wrestling and most importantly MMA fights in its cards. This last edition focused on Muay Thai and MMA, with some interesting fighters featured at Mixed Martial Arts. Mauricio "Veio" Amado's brother, Andre "Dida" Amado from Chute Boxe was one of the stand outs adding one more win to his record, taking Leandro Sousa for a judges' decision win, as was long time Muay Thai stand out Fabio Tigrao, also from Chute Boxe, who used the same choke that Minotauro has been making famous in Pride to defeate Julio Cesar in the second round. However, the most impressive outing was done by top Chute Boxe fighter Luis Azeredo, who needed mere 30 seconds to score his KO win over Heat FC veteran Eduardo Simoes. Here are the results from the MMA fights:

    • Andre "Dida" Amado defeated Leandro Sousa by judges' decision
    • Marcelo "Pato" Donald defeated Julio Cesar "Jamanta" by TKO in the 1st round
    • Tadeu defeated Michael Costa by footlock at the 1st round
    • Fabio Tigrao defeated Julio Cesar by choke in the 2nd round
    • Luis Azeredo defeated Eduardo Simoes by KO in the 1st round.


  • If this past weekend had its share of good MMA action in Brazil, the one before that wasn't an exception as Real Fight, promoted by master Carlson Gracie, took place in the worlwide famous city of Rio de Janeiro bringing some of the sport's newcomers in our country, as well as lots of veterans from Brazilian shows, to compete inside its ring. The biggest appeal of the show, at least in its press releases, was the participation of recent Brazilian Big Brother TV show participant and Meca veteran Marcelo Dourado on its card. Unfortunatelly for Dourado though, his comeback to MMA after achieving his 15 minutes of mainstream fame didn't go as well as planned, and he was controlled by a smart, but not so aggressive, Luiz Pimpolho from Nova Uniao in a judges' decision effort. The biggest stand out in a night full of judges' decision was Italian fighter Alessio Sakara, who scored a quick KO over K-1 veteran Eduardo Maiorino in about 30 seconds, showing his long time of training in Brazil has been paying off. Here are the results from the show:

    • Farinha defeated Buiu by judges' decision
    • Ivan Alves defeated Rodrigo "Bicudinho" by forfeit after the 1st round
    • Daniel Pit defeated Neca by judges' decision
    • Ricardinho defeated Rodrigo Totti by judges' decision
    • Ricardo Petrucci defeated Fabio Flores by judges' decision
    • Nilson Pugatti defeated Eraldo Paes by judges' decision
    • Leopoldo Serao defeated Fabrinni by rear naked choke in the 1st round
    • Antonio Sergio defeated Fabio Silva by judges' decision
    • Peterson Mello defeated Julian Soares by judges' decision
    • Paulo Boiko defeated Jorge Brito by judges' decision
    • Luiz Pimpolho defeated Marcelo Dourado by judges' decision
    • Alessio Sakara defeated Eduardo Maiorino by KO in the 1st round


  • UFC veteran Hermes Franca is leaving the American Top Team to comeback to Brazil and join the Brazilian Top Team. Franca is reported to have had a problem with one of his trainers at ATT, and even though the problem was later solved and Hermes believed he was indeed wrong in the argument, he felt he couldn't stay in the team and the Brazilian Top Team seemed like the perfect place to continue his fighting career. After the BTT heads decided to accept Hermes Franca as a new member of the team, everything was set and the Brazilian fighter will likely come to his birth country at August 18th, when he will finally start training at his new home.

  • Speaking of the Brazilian Top Team, legendary fighter and one of BTT leaders Ze Mario Sperry is going to be a father! Sperry told the good news to FCF recently, as his wife's pregnancy is around six weeks already. With a busy schedule as he has, training, fighting and managing, the "Zen Machine" will have to work his magic once again with his new daddy duty, and FCF wishes the best for the couple and the baby on the way!

  • UFC veteran Pedro Rizzo's next MMA fight is likely to take place in Pride, despite many beliefs that had Pedro going to Pride's rival Japanese organization K-1 MMA. At least this is what UFC legend Marco Ruas said during his recent visit to Brazil on cable channel Premiere Combate. During an interview to the channel, Ruas told the show's host Jorge Guimaraes that negotiations are going on with Pride, and this is likely to be "The Rock" next stop.

  • Meca 11 sensation and UFC veteran Tony De Souza is still in his birthplace country of Peru. "Mendigo", as he got famous in Meca 11, has been taking this time to train his students, as well as being a guest referee in some grappling competitions in the country. Tony is still unsure about when he will come back to Brazil, as he is still awaiting confirmation about his likely fight at the next Pride Bushido even in September.

  • Brazilian Top Team fighter, UFC and Pride veteran Allan Goes will be back in action this next September 26th, in Stockholm, Sweden, facing Pierre Guillet at European Vale Tudo 4. Guillet's orginal opponent was scheduled to be Guy Mezger, however with Mezger getting a fight against Tito Ortiz in the UFC the spot openend and Goes looked like the best choice. This will be a good opportunity for the Brazilian fighter to get back on the winning track after his controversial loss to Gustavo Ximu at Heat FC 2.