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Hello, boys and girls. It is Thursday once again, which means it’s time for another edition of the Brazil Beat. You know, the weekly roundup of all the news in the Brazilian fighting community, all conveniently put together in one place by yours truly.
This week, we’ve got a beef between women’s bantamweight contenders Mayra Bueno Silva and Julianna Pena, a callout that crosses weight classes regarding Dustin Poirier’s next move, a training partner of Charles Oliveira who vows to impress and much more. So let’s dive right in.
Mayra Bueno Silva wants chance to silence Julianna Pena
In our top story of the week. the whole Mayra Bueno Silva positive test debacle has seen a new development.
While the Brazilian stands by her story and denies having used any performance enhancing drugs, that did not stop former champion Julianna Pena from taunting Mayra Bueno Silva, calling her ‘Cheatara’ as opposed to her nickname ‘Sheetara’.
In an interview with MMA Fighting, Sheetara seemed to be amused by Pena’s comments, but did not take the provocation lightly. In fact, Mayra Bueno Silva would like a chance to spend five rounds in the Octagon with the ‘Venezuelan Vixen’, claiming it would be easy money for herself.
“I love Julianna, she is funny. She is funny, but I promise you, I promise that I don’t go to finish [Peña], I don’t go to knock her out, I will smash Julianna for five rounds. She needs help, your coach will have to throw the towel in the octagon, because I will smash her for five rounds. I promise.”
“I’m waiting, and I don’t want this fight [between Peña and Pennington] to happen, because nobody wants to watch this fight,” Bueno Silva explained. “The best fight is me and Julianna, because nobody will do what I do to Julianna.”
“I don’t think Julianna will beat anybody,” Bueno Silva said. “Raquel [will win], of course. Everybody wants to fight Julianna. Every girl wants to fight Julianna. Is it because Julianna is good? No, because she’s easy money.”
I will have to agree with Mayra Bueno Silva here, at least when it comes to Pena. It’s kind of hard to take her seriously these days and she’s dangerously approaching Bethe Correia levels with her trash talk/performance ratio.
Mini Charles Oliveira is coming at UFC 293
Moving on from Mayra Bueno Silva and Julianna Pena, let’s take a quick look at what’s happening at UFC 293 for a second. As the UFC makes another trip to Australia and Israel Adesanya and Sean Strickland are in charge of headlining the event, there is a Brazilian in the prelims who’s planning to steal the show.
Paired up against flyweight Manel Kape, Felipe dos Santos, who is a training partner of former UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira, is excited to show the fans his thrilling fighting style. Though he is aware of his opponent’s skills, the 22-year-old prospect vows to make history in the promotion.
“For those of you who don’t know me, I’ve got this style.” dos Santos told Ag Fight. “As many people say, I’m like a ‘Mini Charles’. I’m sure you’ll see it. I’ve got so much to show. I’ve already got the Charlie style, with the bleached hair. That’s our magic. It makes a huge difference for us.”
“From what I could tell, he’s a chill guy. He likes to stalk you, too. Most guys who fought him walked backwards too much. I have that Chute Boxe style. I’ll walk him down as much as possible. I have to stay focused, because he’s versatile. He likes to strike, he’s a tough guy. I respect him, but we’re going to shine. We’re going to make history, believe it.”
Fun prospect. 22 years old, undefeated at 7-0, I have to say he’s getting a big test against Kape. Even if he wins, I hope the UFC doesn’t throw him to the wolves just yet. There’s plenty of time to let Felipe mature properly.
Gilbert Burns wants a piece of Dustin Poirier
It seems welterweight contender Gilbert Burns may not have a problem going back to the lightweight division once again for the right opportunity. As former interim champion Dustin Poirier recovers from a loss to Justin Gaethje, ‘Durinho’ took the chance to present himself as a potential future opponent for the ‘Diamond’.
I can dig it. Burns would have to be careful on the feet, but it would be a fun ground battle where he would have the advantage. Provided that the weight cut doesn’t drain Durinho too much, he could be on to something.
Vitor Ribeiro, from fighter to ref
Taking a break from fighters to talk about a referee, there was an interesting interview with former athlete turned ref Vitor ‘Shaolin’ Ribeiro on Combate’s podcast Mundo da Luta.
In the conversation, Ribeiro talked about his experience as an athlete and how it helped him become a referee later into his career. Nowadays working as a ref at ONE, the Brazilian explained how the company deals with this side of the business.
“It’s not easy. I spent years watching the UFC. When I fought for promotions like Cage Rage, their rules were the same as the UFC’s. I’ve fought at Shooto, which had slightly different rules. I was only a fighter, so I was still learning about those rules. ONE is different, though. I started there with grappling and since I have this MMA background, I also refereed some MMA fights. It’s not easy. The company won’t let some things slide. They want to know why this guy won, why you gave him the win. There’s a meeting with all refs before the event, where we break down some events and complicated fights.”
“I started with smaller promotions,” Ribeiro said. “I’d work in the first fights, where they’re there to correct it if you make any small mistakes. Then you move on to bigger shows, then main events at medium shows in New Jersey. Then they send you to some place, some promotion.”
Anyway, I thought it was kind of cool. I don’t know much about the referee aspect of MMA. Especially at Asian events like ONE.
Eduarda Moura wants a spot at UFC Sao Paulo
Ok, going back to fighting, there’s a newly signed women’s strawweight who does not wish to waste any time at all when it comes to getting her UFC career going. Having just secured a contract with a rear-naked choke win over Janaina Silva at Contender Series, Eduarda ‘Ronda’ (remember when I told you guys about Brazilian fighters whose nicknames are just another fighter’s name?) Moura is ready for the next round.
On her official Instagram account, the undefeated (9-0) Brazilian called out Diana Belbita for a match at the upcoming Sao Paulo card, which is scheduled to take place in November.
“Diana, let’s dance in the next round?
On November 4th, in São Paulo, a big card is being put together with the new generation of MMA stars, I think we fit well in this position, so, do you accept my challenge?
In your last fight you fough against a Brazilian in your home and came out with a good victory, now return the kindness and come to Brazil to face another fighter from our country, me!
I saw you only fight once a year, let’s increase that frequency! I hope you accept the invitation!”
That’s a fitting, respectable callout. Diana is more experienced, but she does have some losses on her record, too. Could be a great way to get started for someone like Eduarda.
Jungle Fight 119 features a lightweight title fight
There’s another Jungle Fight card coming up this weekend and a lightweight title fight headling it, too.
Scheduled to take place in Sao Paulo, Brazil, Jungle Fight 119 features champion Marciano Anjos against challenger Lucas Campos in its main event and the latter is ready to showcase his style while taking home the belt.
In an interview with Combate, Campos explained he is the son of a karate master and has been practising the martial art from an early age. In fact, the Brazilian says that fighters such as Lyoto Machida and Georges St-Pierre when bin inspirations for himself when he started, as they also relied on the karate style in MMA.
“Back in the day I’d watch a lot of UFC, I really enjoyed watching Lyoto Machida and Georges St-Pierre, who were karatekas. They inspired me a lot, personally, my style of fighting. Ever since then I decided ‘That’s what I want to do'”.
“My dad was a blackbelt, a sensei. I’d watch the training sessions since I was a little kid. I started liking it when I was three or four. I still have my little gi to this day. I started doing karate and never stopped. My dad still says ‘Even though I’m your dad, even though you’re here with me, you’ve never missed practice’. I’ve always been very dedicated and I became a kyokushin karate blackbelt, which is contact karate. Then I migrated to kickboxing, jiu-jitsu and I found MMA along the way.”
I do like when these karate guys go to MMA. Some people might find their styles boring, but I think they bring something new and interesting to watch. Jungle Fight has been delivering great fights lately. Here’s to another one!
A Brazilian Beat
Maglore is a band from the Northeast state of Bahia that released one of the best albums of 2022 in my opinion. Their fifth record is properly named “V” and draws inspiration from several Brazilian artists from the 60’s and 70’s to deliver this soothing music that would fit perfectly into a Sunday morning or just a lazy afternoon.
It’s been one of my favorite albums to play while I’m writing, actually, as its atmosphere gets me in the right mood to get things done. So check out the first album of the track just for a taste, then maybe check out the rest, if you’re into it. Here is “A Vida é Uma Aventura” (Life is An Adventure), by Maglore.
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