Jump to
Hello, boys and girls. It is Monday 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 have former light heavyweight champion Glover Teixeira reminiscing about the good old days, a mysterious tweet from Paulo Costa, the new PFL heavyweight champion calling out none other than Francis Ngannou and much more. So let’s dive right in.
Glover Teixeira misses the gold old days
Former UFC light heavyweight champion Glover Teixeira may be glad that he has retired from the sport, but it does not mean the does not miss competing. A training partner and coach of the division’s new champion, Alex Pereira, the 44-year-old admits that being this close to the action makes him miss the good old days.
“I told ‘Poatan’ [Pereira] when we were waiting to walk out (at UFC 295) that I missed that a little bit,” Teixeira said with a laugh during an interview on MMA Fighting’s Trocacao Franca podcast. “But that’s not something I did for money, I did it because I really loved it. I miss the old times, but I it’s not like I think about coming back.”
“I’m enjoying the moment. I don’t know what it is, but I’m in a state in my life, even before I won the belt, that I’m in a state of appreciation, of gratitude for having everything I have and accomplishing everything I’ve accomplished.”
At 44, Teixeira believes he has made the right call to retire after losing back-to-back bouts to younger athletes in Jamahal Hill and Jiri Prochazka. In fact, the former champion even believes things would’ve gone differently had he been a younger man when he faced his latest opponents.
“Fighting, maybe that would get me out of a comfort zone. I was fighting and enjoying the hell out of it. I simply stopped fighting because I thought I lost to some guys — even Jiri [Prochazka], and that last fight with Jamahal. Not taking anything away from those guys, but I felt it was the age factor, really. I was getting slower, weaker. F-ck, 35-year-old me would trash those guys. But it’s time, right?”
Glover Teixeira was a real late bloomer in the UFC. Being able to win a title in your forties is only for a select few and the man still managed to put on impressive performances while fighting smart since he knew he was no longer a young man. I’m glad he realized he could not keep it going anymore and made a smart move once again. Really intelligent fighter, in my opinion.
Renan Ferreira wants Francis Ngannou
Speaking of former UFC champions, Francis Ngannou still has not made his PFL debut after signing a contract with the promotion earlier this year. Though the ‘Predator’ impressed the world in his boxing match against Tyson Fury, some MMA heavyweights are still urging him to head back to the cage.
One of such men is none other than the 2023 PFL heavyweight champion Renan Ferreira, who TKO’d Denis Goltsov in the second round of their title fight to win the title last Friday. Now, in an interview with Combate, ‘Problema’ eagerly awaits Ngannou’s return.
“I’ve already called out Francis Ngannou. I’m the heavyweight champion and I’d like to welcome him.” Ferreira said.
When it comes to his title win against Goltsov, Ferreira says it was always a matter of being able to handle his opponent’s grappling so he could implement his striking. The Brazilian was quick to praise his opponent’s sambo, but said he had prepared a gameplan to overcome it, which is why he managed to score the knockout in the second round.
“Denis is a world sambo champion. He’s a takedown specialist. I had some trouble grappling him on the feet, to defend the takedowns. He ended up taking me down, but I was hitting hard the whole time, even while on the bottom. I noticed he got really tired in the second round. My coaches were yelling the strategy all the time. We were able to impose our gameplan and get the knockout.”
I hope Ngannou accepts to face Ferreira. Skill-wise, I think it could be a great heavyweight banger. Speaking more realistically, I’d say the PFL is probably still looking for a higher-profile opponent for the Predator to make his debut, so I’m not sure if Problema actually has a shot here.
Alex Pereira looking bigger than Big Nog
Moving on from former UFC champions to a current one, let’s take a look at what Alex Pereira has been up to recently. While it’s true ‘Poatan’ has been mostly chilling after beating Jiri Prochazka to win the light heavyweight belt, the Brazilian still managed to impress by just standing in a picture.
In an event promoted by MMA legend Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Alex Pereira looked like he could comfortably move up to the heavyweight division and pursue a third title by looking much bigger than ‘Big Nog’, who is not a small man at all, standing at 6 ft 3 in.
Fans and pundits were impressed to see both men side by side in a picture posted by Nogueira on his official Instagram profile.
Does anyone else think Poatan has the size, the power and the skills to go to heavyweight and at least make it competitive against the ranked guys? Because I do.
Paulo Costa due to return at UFC 297?
Speaking of social media posts, we’ve got a cryptic one from the most active online and inactive in the cage UFC athletes. According to a short tweet from middleweight contender Paulo Costa, it seems he’s making a return in early 2024.
January 20, to be precise, which is conveniently the date of UFC 297, the card that is set to feature a middleweight title fight between Sean Strickland and Dricus Du Plessis.
Maybe a title eliminator could be in store for the Brazilian? With Jared Cannonier still nursing an injury and Robert Whittaker’s recent loss to Du Plessis, there are not many options close to the top, but I guess a match against the former champion could still have enough appeal anyway. Especially if Strickland defends the title.
Jungle Fight delivers the highlight reel KO’s again
Last weekend also featured another typical Jungle Fight card, once again in the city of Sao Paulo. When I say typical, what I mean is a night full of wild finishes with 11 out of the 13 fights on the card not going the distance.
One of said fights was the night’s main event, where Wagner Ferreira became the promotion’s new flyweight champion by knocking out then champ Manoel da Silva only 37 seconds into the match. The one-punch and face plant combo is going to look great in the Brazilian’s highlight reel.
In the co-main event, which featured a bantamweight title fight between champion Tiago Pereira and challlenger Carlos Vinicius de Oliveira, the belt did not change hands, but we still got to see another highlight reel KO. This time around, it was a body kick from the champion that made his opponent crumble and secured Pereira another title defense 56 seconds into the first round.
We still have more impressive knockouts, though. For example, how about bantamweight Ronaldo de Souza, who finished Isaque Silva with a powerful knee just seconds before the end of the second round? Or flyweight Kaysson Pereira, who only needed 15 seconds to finish Guilherme Alves with punches.
Though I don’t have footage of all the finishes, you can always expect Jungle Fight to deliver some great entertainment and who knows, we might even those guys fighting in the big leagues in the near future. We know other promotions pay attention to Jungle Fight for talent and some of those finishes surely speak for themselves.
A Brazilian Beat
In the state of Maranhao, the Northeast region of Brazil, one of the latest phenoms in pop music is my choice for this week’s Brazilian Beat. You probably have heard of Pabllo Vittar when Darren Till made a transphobic joke about her two years ago, but I’m here today to celebrate her music.
A drag queen singer hailing from a lesser-known state has become a household name in pop music alongside other giants such as Anitta, but Vittar brings a different spice to her craft, one that draws inspiration directly from the music styles of her birthplace, which is what makes some of her songs so catchy to me.
To be more specific, I’m mostly talking about Vittar’s 2021 album aptly named ‘Batidao Tropical’ (Tropical Beats), which mixes modern pop music with multiple latino genres that the singer herself grew up listening to and were widely popular in the 2000’s and 90’s, such as calypso, reggae, forro, technobrega and much more.
The result was a catchy, upbeat and just fun record to listen to when you just want to put on something that makes you feel good.
But enough talking, the music speaks for itself, so here’s A Lua (The Moon), by Pabllo Vittar. Enjoy!
That’s it for this week, folks. See you next week. Stay safe!
Lucas out.