Fighters Only

Issue 016

August 2006

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, May 20th 2006

By Denis Martins

How could the land of Brazil keep up with the happenings of the fight world in the last few months? I mean, with leagues, re-births of events and all kinds of good things popping up mainly in North America, the South American country could easily be ignored. Well, I don’t know if the promoters of Gold FC (held in Pedro Jahara Gymnasium) thought about this, as their new concept of event organisation was perfect that Saturday night. Taking a look on the card, we could see the presence of Shooto Japan veterans and a UFC competitor among others, so the guarantee of a good show was almost 100% when the fights started.

Main Event

The Peruvian fighter and Nova Uniao representative Tony DeSouza had fought in Brazil often, and in this fight against local fighter Fabricio Monteiro (11-3), he added one more victory to his resume. Monteiro is a tough kickboxer, with a background in wrestling and BJJ, so Tony used his wrestling to double-leg Monteiro first. On the ground he controlled Monteiro, who punched from the bottom while Tony tried to work a submission attack. The fight stayed on the ground more than the others did that evening, and Monteiro’s cornerman complained a lot to the referee. The fight was restarted standing, and Monteiro tried to land his arsenal of kicks (to the body and legs). Some of them connected and Tony was forced to shoot without accuracy- Monteiro defended it easily and kept the fight up. To box against a fighter like Monteiro was a danger for Tony, so he wanted the fight on the floor. At the close of round one, Tony clinched but Monteiro managed to take the back of Tony while they were on the feet, the bell was nearly sounding when Monteiro slammed Tony with a suplex and the round finished.

In round two Monteiro was better on the feet, though he didn’t hurt Tony; the kicks were meant to force Tony to commit a mistake. Tony didn’t, and he took the fight down again where he worked some ground and pound while Monteiro tried to punch from the bottom. One of Tony’s cornerman was the Cage Rage world lightweight champion Vitor ‘Shaolin’ Ribeiro and he told Tony to keep working from the top, but Monteiro was a tough fighter and he grabbed the arms of Tony to force the referee to stand the fight back up.

Round three was the same as the first two and the decision victory was given to Tony, who ground and pounded Monteiro and tried to sink a leglock. Though Monteiro defended well and punched the body, Tony took the majority decision after three rounds.

The ladies fought like men in a match involving Brazilian Top Team’s (BTT) Ana Maria and tough female fighter Vanessa Porto. The experience of Vanessa saw her dominate the action and control her opponent- she opened the fight with a huge inside low-kick, which shook Ana’s leg. Ana tried to answer, but Vanessa shortened the distance and punched Ana. The frank trading of blows happened a lot and each one of these girls had a close moment of finishing the fight with a punch. Vanessa connected heavily and Ana was knocked down trying to avoid the flurry of strikes that were landed. When the fight was back on the feet, Ana tried to land body kicks, but they were not strong enough to stop Vanessa’s better game. Round two saw another quick trading of punches- Ana went to the canvas, Vanessa took Ana’s back and sunk a rear naked choke to finish a very exciting fight.

BJJ fighters battle like brawlers

Two BJJ fighters chose to brawl in the sixth fight of the night. BTT’s Danillo ‘Indio’ Villefort was close to knocking Rafael Sapo down after they traded bombs on their feet. A staggered Sapo avoided the strikes of Villefort and recovered and in a quick movement the fight hit the ground and Villefort gave up the mount position. Sapo, bleeding, mauled Villefort with several strikes and the referee stopped the contest.

While Sapo celebrated his win, Villefort (still lying down) was close to me and I was able to hear him talking to himself- he actually said out loud he couldn’t believe the outcome of the fight.

It is always exciting watching Jose Aldo Jr, but it wasn’t his day against the former undefeated fighter Tiago Minu of Boxer Garra Team. Even though Aldo Jr won his match, his game on that night was very hesitant. He tried to control the stand-up action but ate strikes back from Minu, so he shot for a clinch and then the takedown. This was not common from Aldo Jr, who never normally refused a frank trade of blows.

Maybe his defeat in his last fight against Luciano Azevedo (at JungleFight 5) may have been traumatic, and he preferred a safety

win than a ‘beautiful defeat’.

Both fighters showed their tools on the feet with low-kicks and punches. Aldo Jr connected the first bombs but instead of following it up to knock Minu out, he shot and took Minu down. From the half guard of Minu Aldo Jr landed some strikes while his corner screamed at him to sink an arm-triangle choke. Minu fought to restore the guard, from where he caught an armbar that seemed to be tight, but Aldo Jr managed to escape.

Round two was much the same with Minu trying to keep the fight standing and Aldo Jr putting in the work and getting Minu down. By the end of this round, the audience booed the fight due to the lack of Aldo’s will to trade punches. Going for all or nothing, Minu opened up in the third round and tried to press the pace on the feet with a high kick. Aldo clinched and tried a takedown again, but Minu dominated the clinch to land knees. Aldo insisted on grabbing Minu’s body to guarantee the victory though, which he took by decision after three rounds.