Well, the marathon of MMA events is almost over. If you’re crazy like me, you saw some excitement on XFC last night, you saw Roger Huerta get soccer kicked into oblivion this morning, you napped during Bellator, and you watched some pretty fun fights on FX last night. One more big event to go, UFC 147.
–Milton Vieira vs Felipe Arantes
Chute Boxe may not have much left to offer the world of MMA, but don’t tell Felipe Arantes that. Arantes hasn’t had the best of luck recently, but he’s a solid fighter, who can very well go for a solid fifteen, dominating minutes. Vieira hasn’t fought in nearly a year, but the former Strikeforce fighter is a highly decorated grappler, and can very well make anyone pay with his submission chops. I think he falters in his UFC debut though, look for Arantes to take home a lackluster decision win.
–Marcos Vinicius Borges Pancini vs Wagner Campos
Wagner Campos failed to put it together on TUF Brazil, and like many others, this is his one chance to join the ranks of the UFC. He takes on “Vina”, who faced off against two of the best fighters on the show. Not exactly the best path to take. Campos is a nice guy, but just not much a fighter when it comes to this level of competition. I suspect “Vina” to light him up on the feet, clinch with him, and score a quick TKO victory.
–Leonardo Mafra Texeira vs Thiago de Oliveira Perpetuo
Two men with contrasting styles can make for an interesting fight.. or a terrible fight. I honestly don’t expect a whole lot from this fight, but Perpetuo is going to use his technical prowess to punish Texeira, who is more of a brawler. I expect a slow, grinding, punch-heavy decision.
–Hugo Viana vs John Teixeira da Conceicao
Undefeated Hugo Viana has his shot at octagon glory tonight. After having one of the better runs through TUF Brazil, eventually falling to finalist Rony “Jason”. Teixeira is also undefeated, and has some pretty nasty grappling chops. This fight is a dangerous one for both men, as “Wolverine” has some vicious striking, and Teixeira has some nasty grappling. I’ll take the former in dramatic fashion.
–Francisco Drinaldo vs Delson Heleno
“Massaranduba” a lightweight fighter, who opted to move to middleweight instead of featherweight, continues his run at 185 tonight. In Heleno, he takes on a man who bested Jake Ellenberger under the IFL banner, and has but together a pretty damn good string of wins in his last dozen bouts. I like Drinaldo in this bout, and I think his striking is good enough to guide him to solid stoppage win.
–Anistavio Medeiros de Figueiredo vs Rodrigo Damm
I expected Rodrigo Damm to take home the TUF Brazil title, before an inconvenient injury forced him out of the competition. While his record isn’t necessarily fantastic, the quality of his opposition has been. The last pick of the competition, “Gasparzinho”, was the prankster of the house, and it may have gained some fans because of it, but he certainly didn’t get him any friends. He and Damm were often on each other’s cases for various reasons, with it stemming mostly from Damm’s disgusted reactions to his antics. I expect a great fight here, as these two men genuinely do not like each other, but I think Damm does what he does best, violently decimate his opponent.
Anyway, there you have it, the preliminary card should be a good one. It all goes down at 7pm ET on Facebook, and 8pm ET on FUEL TV or FX or something. Check my later for my breakdown of the main card.
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