Felipe Arantes vs. Milton Vieira: Vieira came into this fight with some hype behind him. He is virtually unknown but has been in the cage with Hayato Sakurai, Jake Shields, and Johnny Eduardo. He is most famous for having credit for inventing the anaconda choke. Vieira did impress… for five minutes. The first round was arguably a 10-8 in favor of Vieira but after that, Arantes had a decently easy fight. Once the fight made it to the judges, it ended in a split draw.
Possible matchups for Arantes and Vieira: Although not completely necessary, this fight was entertaining enough that I wouldn’t mind seeing a rematch between the two.
Marcos “Vina” Vinicius vs. Wagner “Galeto” Campos: For the better part of two rounds, Galeto was dominating Vina with ease. He would land the better shots and then take the fight down. He even tried to knock him out Fedor/Arlovski style after Vina went for a flying knee. After the 2nd round, Vina’s corner told him that he needs to blitz Galeto to win this. And blitz him he did. Vina came out and barraged Galeto with beautiful clinch work, eventually knocking him out on his feet for the finish early in the 3rd round. It was a great comeback that scored him an extra $65,000.
Possible matchups for Vina: Vina showed a lot of heart and knockout power in his fight. Finding a matchup for him is a little hard but I think that if they don’t cut Macapa Teixeira then that fight would a be fun scrap between two crazy featherweights.
Thiago “Bodao” Perpetuo vs. Leonarda “Macarrao” Mafra: This fight was really fun. Mafra came out as a very aggressive fighter, winning the first round with better striking and takedowns. The second was much closer but I leaned more towards Bodao based on the fact that Mafra never really did much but Bodao landed some solid shots. Bodao came out like Vina did earlier in the 3rd; he wanted a finish. Bodao instantly caught Mafra and dropped him. Mafra was saved at 41 seconds into the 3rd after a violent attack of hammerfists.
Possible matchups for Bodao: Thiago is a very good striker; technical and powerful. A fight with fellow middleweight winner, Massaranduba would show us who is ready to step out of the shadow of TUF.
Hugo “Wolverine” Viana vs. John “Macapa” Teixeira: This fight was really fun. Both of these guys are fast paced fighters with wild standup and a slick ground game. I scored the first round for Wolverine but the second was very close. I eventually scored it for Macapa but it could have gone either way. The third had Macapa stalking Wolverine for most of the five minutes as Wolverine had visibly slowed down. The 3rd round was clearly Macapa’s and I thought that he had won, but like I said earlier, it could have gone either way. Wolverine ended up winning a razor thin split decision.
Possible matchups for Wolverine: Wolverine was at a clear disadvantage in size in this fight but still won. Wolverine was one of the bets fighters on this season but he is a natural bantamweight. He has a ton of potential and he should instantly fight someone with a name. He should fight the winner of Roland Delorme and Francisco Rivera to let us see where he is in the rankings.
Francisco “Massaranduba” Drinaldo vs. Delson “Pe de Chumbo” Heleno: Drinaldo is a prospect that we all really need to keep our eyes on. Not only is he a huge a thick middleweight, he fights at 155. That’s pretty crazy that he is such a ripped middleweight but is actually a lightweight, which scares me. The guy threw around 185ers but is a typical 155er. Anyway, Massaranduba completely dominated this fight from the opening bell. He eventually finished Pe de Chumbo with hammerfists after Heleno was clearly already gassed out.
Possible matchups for Massaranduba: I am going to assume that he is going to make the cut down to 155 but that might be tough. The guy has almost no body fat. His next fight might be at welterweight but lets go with 155. Him and Tibau have very similar body types but Tibau’s next fight is with rising star Khabib Nurmagomedov. I think Drinaldo should fight the winner of that fight.
Rodrigo Damm vs. Anistavio “Gasparzinho” Medeiros: This fight was the only grudge match from the season. Typically TUF grudge matches are close but this one was absolutely dominant. Damm controlled the standup and eventually dropped him. Damm showed that he is a true veteran of the sport as he went for the rear naked choke rather than trying to finish him with strikes.
Possible matchups for Damm: Although Damm entered TUF with a lackluster record of 9-5, you have to look at who those losses are to: Eiji Mitsuoka, Gilbert Melendez, Justin Wilcox, Maximo Blanco, and Luciano Azevedo (by split). All of those guys have names in the sport, except for Azevedo but he is a veteran (he s the only one to defeat Jose Aldo, and it was by 2nd round submission. WOW!). Anyway, Damm was unable to continue on TUF due to medical reasons, and he was well on his way to the Finale. He said that he believes that he would have won the season, and I believe him. I think that he deserves a fight against a talented fighter. Fellow Brazilian and TUF winner Brandao is coming off a loss and Damm has the skills to be a top guy in the UFC at 145.
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