Issue 216

April 2025

E. Spencer Kyte tracks the rise of MMA’s most unconventional squad of thinkers, tinkerers, and tape-wearing technicians who redefine what it means to fight smart.

 The Fighting Nerds rarely roll less than four or five deep, traveling in packs whenever one of the Sao Paulo-based team members walks into the Octagon. More than any other squad in the sport, they look the part of a team on Fight Week, dressed in matching jackets with the team’s name sewn on the back and their signature broken glasses logo stitched emblazed over the chest. Down the left sleeve, block letters designate which team member is set to compete—the name on the arm and the color of the jacket shifts for each member. Carlos Prates rocked yellow and black ahead of his main event debut opposite Ian Machado Garry. Jean Silva donned a clean white and black version of the Venum apparel earlier this year. Mauricio Ruffy went all black for UFC 313. Caio Borralho, the first to break into the UFC, will surely have a colorway all his own when he finally returns to action. They would look like a gang if not for the fact that they’re usually all smiles and full of infectious energy, except for the stone-faced Flavio Alvaro. All of it is genuine and earnest — the look, the exuberance, the enjoyment — and precisely what the team’s head coach and co-founder, Pablo Sucupira, envisioned when he built the team years ago.

EARLY DAYS AND AN EVOLVING NAME

A knockout loss at age 29 completely shifted the trajectory of Sucupira’s life. He got his start in combat sports in his early 20s after being pushed toward Muay Thai while constantly getting into fights at school. He was good, maybe even very good, but admittedly wasn’t committed to the sport like today's high-level talents.

“I had this fighting life, but not the champion life,” began Sucupira, kicking off an extended explanation of how the group that claimed Gym of the Year honors at the 2024 World MMA Awards came into existence. “I trained every day, but I went out to clubs, used to drink during the week and stuff. Looking back, I can realize I wasn’t (living) the champion life, and for me, the most important thing was to be the world champion. I wanted to be the best in the world at something. Didn’t matter what.” 

The knockout loss was a cold shower that forced him to reassess his life’s direction. He decided coaching might be his best path to ascending to those heights.

“I realized I won’t be world champion as a fighter; there is no time, and I’m not that person,” continues the personable coach, lounging on the couch in his living room on one of the rare weeks he’s at home. “But if stop now, I’m young, 29, I can start a career as a coach, and there I think I can be a world champion. I quit everything I was doing. I was a marketing guy. I went to university for marketing, was working at ad agencies, but I quit everything. I said ‘f*** it,’ and I started as a coach.”

STARTING SOMETHING BIG

With fresh ambition, Sucupira set out to find athletes to work with. One day, he rolled into the gym to meet a famous fighter, and while he waited, someone on the other side of the room caught his eye. When he first inquired about the person’s identity, he was blown off and told that’s not the guy you’re here to see. But something piqued his interest, and he pressed for more insights.

“They said, ‘It’s that guy from judo that arrived from the north; his name is Caio Borralho,’” he said, a smile washing across his face as he recalls what is now a fateful first encounter between the close friends and partners. “I don’t know why, but I said, ‘Let me talk to this guy.’ I talked with Caio, and I liked (the way he carried himself), you know? I liked his vibe.”

The two men sparred that afternoon. Sucupira left without talking about a future together. But much like Barry and Dick, the record store employees in Nick Hornby’s classic High Fidelity, Borralho just turned up every day. That convinced Sucupira that he’d found a like-minded soul to start building with.

“He was there every day after that, and I saw the potential there. I need somebody on the other side of the table with the same drive, and I saw that in Caio. He was someone where I said, ‘I can put all my energy, and he will put all his energy also.’”

And with that, Combat Club was born.

NEW NAME NEW SYSTEM

More athletes joined, and the team found success throughout the regional scene. However, after two years, the former marketing guy recognized the team needed re-branding.

“As a marketing guy, I knew my slogan was weak,” Sucupira says with a laugh. “We were four guys — me and four athletes. I used to put all four guys in my car, and I used to say, ‘There’s a gym 300km from here; let’s go there and spar everybody.’ We used to go in the car and search for the biggest — I used to call it the biggest waves, so the first name that came to my mind was ‘MMA Big Riders’ because we’re like surfers: ‘Where’s the big wave today?’ and then we would go to the big waves by car.”

While he pondered names, Sucupira honed the team’s system. While every fighter is different, the core principles were something he could impart to the team. It’s the same way a football club has a strategy they deploy each time out.

“What I used to say is that we find a better mental state to fight than angry,” he began. “I used to see a lot of people trying to be angry to fight, even the coaches — slapping their faces, (yelling in their faces) — and I said, ‘Going to fight somebody is like going to an exam in school: you can’t be angry, you can’t be emotional. You have to be rational.’ We started to fight calm, relaxed, reactive. It’s not ‘I’m gonna cut his head off,’ it’s ‘I will touch his hand, follow his steps, see the emotion in his face, look to the hips to anticipate the movement.’ We started to see the fighting game as an exact science. It’s not a mystery — there’s some possibility, some ways — and it’s not just action. We understand the intention before the action. And we started to understand we don’t fight against the guy, but with him. It’s a dance, and we dance with him. Every step he makes, I do a step. It’s a different way of seeing the fight.”

It was the nerdiest approach to break down a fight.

"In the beginning, it was funny because nobody liked what I was developing,” admitted Sucupira with a laugh. “The name, Fighting Nerds, nobody liked it. ‘You’re crazy! Nobody is gonna be scared of us!’ but that’s the point! I don’t want anybody to be scared. It’s better if they are confident. The first guy who said, ‘That’s a cool name’ was Caio Borralho because he was a nerd. He was a chemistry teacher. He loved the name, so I said, ‘Let’s go!’”

The Fighting Nerds adopted their name in 2019.

THE BREAKTHROUGHS

The team continued to succeed on the regional circuit, but it wasn’t until 2021 that the MMA world was first introduced to The Fighting Nerds. After a loss in his second pro bout, Borralho had put together an eight-fight unbeaten streak. It was enough for an opportunity to compete on the fifth season of Dana White’s Contender Series. Borralho was matched up with Aaron Jeffrey in the middle of the season and won a hard-fought decision against the Canadian middleweight, who has since enjoyed success with Bellator and the PFL. White was non-plussed.

“You remember when Caio won his first fight on the Contender Series?” asks Sucupira, setting the scene as he explains the moment everything changed for the team. “He won against Aaron Jeffrey, who was a really tough guy, and Dana said, ‘I’m not interested.’ He just said that. He didn’t say anything else. Five minutes later, we’re in our hotel room looking at each other like, ‘What the f*** happened?’ Caio just told me, ‘I’m not going back to Brazil!’ I told him we have a flight, and he said, ‘I don’t care. I’m not going. We came here to get into the UFC. I’m gonna stay here.’ We told the manager, Ivan (Jatoba), to send a message to Mick Maynard saying we’re not leaving. We’re gonna stay here. He sent the message and said, ‘Caio’s not leaving, and if you need anything short notice, he’s here.’”

Maynard sent a one-word reply: awesome. Sucupira considered it a negative, but Jatoba explained that his brevity was a major positive.

SUCCESS THROUGH ADVERSITY

The initial rejection wasn’t all bad. 

“Three weeks later, we got the other fight,” continues the coach. “He fought a weight class above, and we got the contract. I think that was the first sign to the UFC that we are different. We don’t do things the same way, and we know where we want to go.”

Borralho hit the ground running in the UFC, earning unanimous decision wins over DWCS graduates Gadhzi Omargadzhiev and Armen Petrosyan in his first two appearances. By the time the next season of the Contender Series came around, there was more buzz around the team, and expectations were elevated.

“The first fighter we had (in Contender Series) after Caio was Bruna Brasil, and it was tricky because we helped in her camp in her last fight in Brazil for LFA, but she wasn’t in the team,” explained Sucupira. “After she fought in LFA, she said, ‘I won, thanks a lot; let’s train more.’ I said, ‘Come to the team,’ and she started to train with us, and really quickly, she got the Contender invite. She hadn’t been training for us (for very long); it was (snaps fingers). I was thinking, ‘If Bruna goes there and doesn’t perform well, they will say, ‘It’s just Caio. It’s not the team.’ So, we had huge tension in that Contender Series.”

Late in the second round of her clash with Marnic Mann, the two rose to their feet, Brasil stalking forward. As Mann moved to her left, Brasil fired off a right high kick that connected flush and ended the fight in an instant.

RISING STARS 

There was more interest from White this time around. The UFC CEO was blown away by Brasil’s effort, lauding the finish as one of the best in the show’s six-year history.

“Even though Bruna doesn’t train a lot with us after that fight — I’m not close to her anymore. I’m not in her corner — that moment was a huge moment for the Fighting Nerds because that moment showed it’s not just Caio,” said Sucupira, reflecting on the pivotal knockout. 

“Because of Bruna and Caio, we could put three guys in Contenders the next year.”

Those three guys — Prates in Week 4, Silva in Week 5, and Ruffy in Week 9 — all earned victories and contracts in Season 7, with Prates stopping Mitch Ramirez, Silva out-working a game Kevin Vallejos over three rounds, and Ruffy fighting up a division at welterweight and stopping Raimond Magomedaliev in the third round.

By then, the signature plastic glasses with a band of white tape around the center and left arm had become ubiquitous whenever one of the team members stepped into the cage. 

“I’ve never told this to anybody,” began Sucupira, grinning like a Cheshire Cat. “Ruffy got the knockout, and you go outside the cage and pass by the matchmakers and Dana White. I said hi to them and I could hear Sean Shelby saying, ‘What do those guys have different than the others? What are they doing there?’ and I thought, ‘Oh my god!’ When I heard this from Sean Shelby talking to Dana White, I said, ‘Now we have the spot. Now we have the lights,’ and that led us to 2024.”

THE YEAR OF THE NERDS

Whenever a team succeeds, more people want to be affiliated with them, and the squad’s Tapology page goes from listing a handful of people to dozens overnight. With its popularity and expansion, Sucupira breaks down the team's current state.

“We have the four guys who train with us the whole time: Caio, Ruffy, Jean, and Carlos,” he said, acknowledging that Prates still spends time with Vale Top Team, but is primarily in the gym in Sao Paulo. “These four guys train with me a lot. Then we have people like Bruna. When she has a fight, she comes to train with us, but when she doesn’t have a fight, she’s in her town. We have people who do camps with us, so “Sheetara” (Mayra Bueno Silva) did a camp with us, “Carcacinha” (Ricardo Ramos) did a camp with us, and now (Michal) Oleksiejczuk is training with us, and Caio was in his corner. We have those guys, some guys that do camps with us, so we’re between 50-60 fighters training there every day.”

While it’s a considerable number, the core four are the ones who have made an emphatic statement inside the Octagon last year. Here is how their year unfolded: 11 appearances, 11 wins, nine finishes, and eight bonuses in 11 months, just from the four main representatives of the squad. Despite all the success, Sucupira admits he has difficulty taking stock to appreciate everything.

“I try a lot to not think about what we’ve been accomplishing because I want so much more,” he says. “The martial arts, for me are a tool to evolve as a person. To expand, and I don’t know — maybe it’s a mistake, but I get so focused that it’s hard for me to enjoy. In that moment, I feel we are on the highway, driving so fast that I have to try really hard to enjoy. I’m so focused on the process. The only thing that makes me mad is when I don’t have the time to do everything we want to do. I’m really focused on the process, really focused on achieving and evolving. I will look backwards in my elderly days. I feel like I can change my life drastically in a short period of time. I think in the next two years, I can change the whole path for my life. I can change how it’s gonna be for my grandsons, you know? So, it’s hard to — I can’t feel the energy because I’m submerged in the process.”

FORECASTING THE FUTURE

Having a monster year like the Fighting Nerds had in 2024 means the focus on each member and the unit gets ratcheted up. Sucupira couldn’t think of anything he wants more.

“We are obligated to do better the next year,” he said when asked how they top last year’s campaign. “Last year, we won all the fights. If we win the fights again this year, we’ll be better because we’re fighting higher-ranking guys. We have no option but to do better.”

That goal has already fallen by the wayside, as Prates landed on the wrong side of the scorecards in his clash with Machado Garry. It is the first loss suffered by any of the “core four” inside the Octagon.

“There is this thing about hype: it’s something that is a big flame that goes away fast,” continues Sucupira. “I know about that. I know everybody is expecting a belt from us, so the best thing to do is (to say), ‘Let’s accept the pressure.’ I know my obligation now is to create a UFC champion. Everything else doesn’t matter. The Fighting Nerds need a UFC champion. We accept that, so let’s do that.”

While that is unquestionably the ambition of every coach and team, the methodical way Sucupira breaks everything down makes it feel like a more real possibility. 

FRESH PERSPECTIVES

Take the way he assesses Ruffy’s performance against Llontop last year. After debuting with a brilliant effort against Australian veteran Jamie Mullarkey, he ended up opposite James Llontop, a fellow Contender Series grad who tagged in on short notice for Charlie Campbell. The Peruvian had dropped each of his first two appearances, so most anticipated that the man Borralho and Sucupira acknowledged as the team's most talented member would run through his opponent. Instead, the duo went all three rounds, with Llontop showing tremendous grit and Ruffy working harder than expected to earn his second UFC victory.

“He needed that,” offered the coach. “He needed the Llontop fight. He’s a guy who thinks differently. (Lionel) Messi he’s really good, but there are some games where he doesn’t play well. That doesn’t mean he’s not good, but some days, it doesn’t work, but he still wins the game.”

He pauses, allowing the analogy to sit in the air.

“It wasn’t his best day, but he won the fight easily,” he added. “It was one of the best experiences he could have had.”

That thinking permeates the entire approach, and it feels like it will continue to lead to great success for the surging camp from Sao Paulo.

“What’s made us successful isn’t the victories — it’s the way we overcome the defeats, and we’re good at that,” said Sucupira. “Sometimes you don’t see it, but there was a day a few years ago where Bruna lost in the UFC, and five guys lost here in Brazil. Six defeats in one day. I called the team and said, ‘That’s not our place. We don’t belong here. We are made to win. We will not accept what has happened. We will go forward, we will evolve, and we will correct what we have to correct. We will accept our mistakes.’ From there, we’ve been so much better. I don’t want to lose again, but if we lose, I know we will be much better after that. We are ready for anything.”

The wins are flashy, the jackets are cool, but it’s the failures — and what they do after them — that prove the Fighting Nerds are built for more than just one moment. They’re built for a legacy.