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Hello, boys and girls! As the new Bloody Elbow advances into uncharted territory while we continue to expand into independence, I have had the opportunity to try something new of my own. Starting this Thursday, I welcome all readers to follow The Brazil Beat, the weekly column where I will be gathering everything related to fighting news in my home country.
This is where you’ll find coverage of Brazilian fighters, social media posts, news about the local MMA scene and anything else that may comes up that I think you might want to read about. This week we have something from Kingpyn (one of the latest cross-over boxing promotions) and some fallout from UFC Vegas 71, as well as a callout for Amanda Nunes.
So, without further ado, let’s dive right into the first one, shall we?
Comedian scores body shot KO at Kingpyn
Kingpyn Boxing: AnEsonGib vs. Austin McBroom 2 card featured some Brazilian content to great effect on Saturday night with Whindersson Nunes, one of the most famous Brazilian comedians of the last decade. Having started as a YouTuber, the 28-year-old owns the fourth biggest channel in the country, with a whopping 44 million subscribers. However, being a successful entertainer did not stop ‘Whind’ from trying his hand at other endeavors, such as stand-up comedy, music, acting and most recently, boxing.
Before scoring highlight reel KOs at Kingpyn, Nunes started his boxing career with a unanimous decision in an amateur bout back in 2019. The comedian followed that up with one of the most watched fights of 2022 in Brazil, when he took on former WBO and WBA champion Acelino Freitas in an exhibition match. Though Whindersson was left badly bruised after eight rounds, the match was deemed a unanimous draw due to the rules that could only declare a winner via knockout.
Most recently, Whindersson joined the roster of Kingpyn High Stakes Boxing, a tournament that gathered eight male and female YouTubers from around the world to fight in a grand prix format. Last Saturday, Nunes fought Polish entertainer Filipek in the quarter finals and scored a highlight reel body shot TKO in the second round of their fight, in London, England.
With the win, Whindersson moves to Kingpyn’s tournament’s semi final, which is scheduled to take place on June 3, in Dublin, Ireland. Now, Nunes is expected to take on Kenny ‘King Kenny’ Ojuederie, a British YouTuber who scored a TKO victory over Nate ‘My Mate Nate’ Bartling on Saturday, April 22, as well.
More knockouts!
Whindersson Nunes win at Kingpyn was not the only highlight reel knockout of last weekend. In fact, a couple of other Brazilians went home with impressive finishes added to their resume at other promotions.
Bantamweight Wellerson Martins perfectly timed a knee when Patryk Surdin went for an ill-fated double leg at KSW 81, resulting in a KO just 12 seconds into the third round of their match.
Meanwhile, muay thai fighter Felipe Lobo scored an upset win when he knocked out Saemapetch Fairtex in the third round of their match at ONE Fight Night 9.
Norma Dumont wants that title shot after UFC Vegas 71 win
Following her unanimous decision win over Karol Rosa at UFC Vegas 71, women’s featherweight contender Norma Dumont has now set her sights on the belt. Though she knows that Amanda Nunes still reigns over the division and is expected to take on Julianna Pena next, the 32-year-old claims to have already started getting ready to take on the ‘Lioness’.
“The time has come. It’s time for Amanda to defend her belt.” Dumont told Ag Fight. “It’s been three years since she last defend it. The last time was against Megan Anderson. The moment has arrived and I’m super ready. I’m rooting for her to beat Julianna Pena with ease. so she can be a big deal. I want to beat Amanda in her best performance, because that would make me a dominant champion at featherweight.”
“I really want to face her in November or December, but my camp for Amanda starts today (last Saturday). Actually, it’s been a few years already, but it officially starts today. Our training camp will be totally focused on Amanda now.”
The win at UFC Vegas 71 put Dumont on a two-fight winning streak, with a unanimous decision win over Danyelle Wolf in September 2022.
Karol Rosa’s nasty eye cut at UFC Vegas 71
While Dumont celebrates her win at UFC Vegas 71 and makes big plans for her future, her opponent had to deal with a tough loss on Saturday. Not only did Karol Rosa suffer her second loss in three outings, she was also on the receiving end of a gnarly injury.
Though it may have not been entirely clear during the broadcast, the cut Rosa suffered during her fight against Dumont was in a tricky spot. UFC President Dana White was so shocked by it that he shared a picture of the injury on his personal Instagram account. The image is quite graphic, so beware.
The loss at UFC Vegas 71 came after a unanimous decision win over Lina Lansberg for Rosa. Before that, the 28-year-old suffered a unanimous decision loss to veteran Sara McMann in March 2022.
Olympic medalist gives up on MMA
Moving on from Kingpyn boxing and UFC Vegas 71, we turn our attention to an interesting MMA topic. Olympic judokas that tried their hands at MMA. Though we have successful stories such as Ronda Rousey’s and Kayla Harrison’s, to name a few. However, the shift is not everybody.
Rafaela Silva made history in Brazil when she became the first ever judo champion in 2013, an impressive feat that she followed up with winning a gold medal in the 2016 Olympic games and another world title in 2022.
The feats cemented her name in history by being the first Brazilian athlete, male or female, to ever conquer both achievements. However, the 30-year-old is at peace with something she will not accomplish: being an MMA fighter.
Following a two-year suspension (from 2019 to 2021) due to testing positive to banned substance Fenoterol, the Brazilian turned to MMA in order to stay active during the time off. However, once it was all said done, Rafaela was thankful for the time she could spend practicing the sport, but she was also certain mixed martial arts were not her cup of tea.
“MMA is not for me,” Silva said with a laugh on MMA Fighting’s Portuguese-language podcast Trocação Franca. “I can’t. It doesn’t work for me. I got kicked in the face, kicked on the leg, and couldn’t put my foot on the ground for three or four days. It’s very tough.”
“It was a very unique experience for me because it’s a whole different fight,” Silva said. “I have a judo background which is totally different for MMA, so it messed with my head quite a lot. I had to adapt a lot of things. It was a very difficult but amazing experience for me, because it came at a moment I couldn’t train judo, so I gave myself the luxury and privilege of training another sport.”
Despite having learned that she was not built for MMA, Rafaela still sees the experience in a positive light. Not only did the sport help her stay active during a suspension, but Silva also sees it as something that made her mind and spirit stronger as a fighter.
“I believe it helped me a lot because I was always asking for help, advice, [and it helped] me in my return to judo,” said Silva, who won her second world title in her first tournament back from suspension. “I’ve trained in several spots and would always try to learn something here, something in wrestling, in the grappling area. I always had difficulties on the ground.
“At the same time, there I was trying MMA, bringing all I could to judo. Even after so many years training judo, this period training MMA helped me a lot, it made my spirit stronger as an athlete.”
MMA pros help actress get ready for movie part
On the entertainment side of the business, there is a new MMA movie in production right as we speak.
Popular comedy actress Samantha Schmutz has a challenging role ahead of her next movie. As she gets ready to start filming ‘Juninho Play’ in a movie where the title character will play an athlete looking to find a spot in the UFC, the Brazilian decided to get some help from actual professionals while at it.
Although she is still writing the screenplay for the movie, Schmutz explained to Ag Fight she got in touch with some well-known names in Brazilian MMA to help her train for the part, such as former UFC strawweight Claudia Gadelha and PRIDE star Ricardo Arona.
“I’m having this amazing opportunity to get in touch with these champions.” Schmutz told Ag Fight. “I’ve had the chance to train with Claudia Gadelha at Anderson Silva’s gym. I want to learn to fight perfectly, I want to get the technique down so people watching the movie can say ‘Wow, she put some work into this’.
“Training started in the middle of the pandemic, I started training with Ricardo Arona. He’s a beast. It was a pleasure having started out with him. Now I’m living on Los Angeles so I have more free time to get better. I’m training at Gracie Barra.”
Though she movie is still in its early stages of production, Samantha hopes to get some popular names to make cameos and already has some fan-favorites in mind as frontrunners. While Schmutz hopes the ones who helped her can appear in the film, she actress would also want legends and such as Anderson Silva and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira to make appearances.
“Claudia Gadelha will not have a choice, she will not escape my guard. I’d also like to have popular Brazilians like Anderson Silva, Junior dos Santos. Maybe Antonio Rodrigo and Rogerio Nogueira. Ricardo Arona, Kron Gracie. There’s a lot of people to call. I’ll need a big budget for this movie, so I can have all these stars.”
Fight announcements
Looking ahead into the future, we have got some interesting pairings to close off this week’s beat.
Bantamweight Raoni Barcelos already has another opponent lined up. Per Ag Fight’s report, the 35-year-old is now expected to take on Miles Johns at UFC Vegas 75, on June 17. The UFC Apex card is scheduled to be headlined by a middleweight bout between Jared Cannonier and Marvin Vettori.
In dire need of a win, Barcelos (17-4) only has one win in his last four outings, having lost to Timur Valiev, Victor Henry and most recently, in January 2023, Umar Nurmagomedov. The Brazilian’s sole win during this time came in October 2022, when he scored a unanimous decision over Trevin Jones.
In an opposite situation, Johns (13-2) has won three of his last four bouts, beating Kevin Natividad, Anderson dos Santos and Vince Morales. The 29-year-old’s last defeat happened in February 2022, when he got submitted by John Castaneda.
In the welterweight division, Elizeu Zaleski (23-7) is also going to fight next June. Per MMA Fighting’s confirmation after Canal Encarada’s original report, the Brazilian is expected to take on Abubakar Nurmagomedov (17-3-1) at UFC Vegas 74, on June 3. The card is scheduled to be headlined by a middleweight bout between Jack Hermansson and Brendan Allen.
Zaleski will look to start a new win streak following his unanimous win over Benoit Saint-Denis, back in October 2021. Before that, ‘Capoeira’ suffered a split decision loss to Muslim Salikhov in July 2020.
Meanwhile, Nurmagomedov will look for his third straight win after beating Jared Gooden and Gadzhi Omargadzhiev via unanimous decision in his most recent outings. The 33-year-old’s last loss dates back to November 2019, when he got submitted by David Zawada.
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