The first thing we se this episode is Lyoto limping around the house. He injured his foot during his fight against Borrachinha, and still can’t put any weight on it. Luckily, the doctors say that it doesn’t appear too serious. Things should improve if he stays off it for a couple days. We then move to this week’s fight announcement. Team Wanderlei has control and they choose their heavy hitter Montanha to face Team Sonnen’s Vitor Miranda. The two are former training partners, and Vitor isn’t happy that he has to square off against a former friend. Montanha doesn’t like it either, but tells us that he didn’t have a choice. It was “an order from the boss.”

When Team Sonnen assistant coach Vinny Magalhaes hears this, he calls out Wanderlei. Specifically, Vinny calls Wandy a hypocrite for making two teammates fight when he made such a deal about a similar instance on the first season of TUF Brazil. We’re then treated to a flashback, and sure enough, Wanderlei is on camera criticizing the opposing team for making two former teammates fight one another. When asked about this contradiction, Wanderlei claims that the two situations are totally different. “[Montanha and Vitor] know each other, but they don’t train or live together.”

Back at the house, the kitchen looks about as bad as any fraternity. There are so many dirty dishes that all of them can’t even fit in the sink. Cara de Sapato has had a enough of it and channels his anger toward Joilton. He yells that someone should do something about the mess and start cleaning. Upset at being yelled at, Joilton also has a problem because Cara makes this big commotion and doesn’t do anything about it. Sick of hearing everyone complain, Demente starts cleaning so everyone will shut up.

The fighters may be at each other’s throats inside the house, but the battles are even more intense at the gym. Chael Sonnen brings former UFC middleweight Yushin Okami in to help set an example for the other guys. Worried that the team has fallen into a bit of the rut, Yushin comes in and ratchets up the intensity level. The sparring rounds we see are definitely not done at a cruising speed. They’re going at each other like it were a UFC title fight.

From there we move to this week’s physical challenge. Simply titled “The Bridge,” members of each team work together to create a bridge using narrow have to create a bridge using narrow sticks that can support the one of the Octagon girls. The team then has to guide four different Octagon girls across their makeshift structures. Team Wanderlei takes the early lead and they don’t look back. They cruise to another easy win and earn an all day spa treatment.

We then learn more about each of this week’s combatants. Vitor’s first love was basketball. After a teammate took him to a Muay Thai class, though, he gave it up to dedicate himself to martial arts. He moved to the US to train, but tragedy struck when his four year old drowned in a swimming pool. It’s greatly affected him, but he tries to turn all the sadness in his heart to motivation. Not only is Montanha a former teammate of Vitor, the 25 year old is also a former fat kid. He admits that the other kids picked on him a lot, but they’re probably not interested in teasing him now. The 25 year old describes himself as “stubborn” and “competitive.” We’ll see if that carries him to victory because it’s fight time!

ROUND ONE
Montanha uses his distinct size advantage early. Vitor throws some kicks, but the big man walks right through them. The two clinch against the fence and Montanha moves for the takedown. Vitor defends, and the two exchange knees. Montanha wears Vitor down from this position then moves in for a single leg. Vitor defends, circles away and reverses position. They break apart, and Montanha loses his balance. Vitor tries to kick, but can’t garner much offense. The referee stands them up and there’s less than a minute to go. Vitor has found his groove and he starts landing solid low kicks. He scores another low kick then adds some punches behind them. Montanha is reeling and rests against the cage. Vitor continues to pressure and connects with a thunderous body shot. He follows up with an overhand right hand that Montanha crashes to the ground. Vitor jumps on the injured man and grounds and pounds his way to a win only 23 seconds remaining.

Both coaches are impressed with each fighter’s performances. Chael praises Montanha’s strategy, but once Vitor found his range he knew that it was all over. “You don’t want to stand and trade with Vitor Miranda.” Wanderlei says that the low kicks had a big effect on Montanha. They gradually wore him down and ultimately lead to the knockout. The former teammates turned opponents walk out to the locker room arm and arm, and we’re able to pick up their conversation. Montanha says, “You know I never wanted this fight,” Vitor hugs him and responds, “We did what we had to do. You’ll have another chance.” A proud coach Sonnen smiles and the episode closes with “The tides are turning around here, and there’s a storm coming.”
We have a sneak peek into next week’s episode. Can Team Sonnen keep the momentum going? How does Team Wanderlei respond? Who wins the coach’s challenge? Find out this and more next week on The Ultimate Fighter Brazil!

Source: www.ufc.com By: Dan Downes

The subject of retirement is a hot one among veteran MMA heavyweights these days.

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira is at the forefront of the list, as the former PRIDE and UFC interim champion was finished for the fifth time in his past eight fights last month when he was knocked out by Roy Nelson. Former UFC champ Frank Mir is another under frequent discussion, as he’s lost his past three fights in a one-sided manner.

Another former UFC champ, Josh Barnett, knows he can’t fight forever. But the 36-year old Seattle native says he’ll know when to walk away, and when that time comes, he’ll have no problem doing so.

Asked on a recent edition of The MMA Hour how many fights he has left, Barnett explained his position.

“I can’t put a real number on it, because I won’t know until that time comes,” Barnett said. “But I know that when it does, that’s it, I’ll have used up every aspect I have in terms of my athletic window. I can act, I can do other things, but once your athletic window is done there’s no returning to fighting.”

Barnett made headlines in recent weeks by declaring he’d like another fight with Nogueira before the latter retired. Most fighters want a chance to avenge losses, of course, and Barnett lost twice to Nogueira in PRIDE.

“What it was based on is Nogueira’s statement of, I want one more fight and then I want to retire,” Barnett said. “If he wanted to retire a year ago, that’s his perogative of course. But if he wants to make a statement that he wants only one more fight I mean, there’s really only one more fight for him to take and that’s the two of us, and that’s because, we could have a trilogy. That’s all.

“I don’t think he actually beat me the second time, but I have to accept, even if I feel the judges’ decision was the wrong one, that’s just the way it has to go, Barnett continued. “That’s why I said, you want to call out, you want to be bold, you want to have one more fight, there’s only one more fight that you should really even be considering.”

Where Barnett feels he differs from Nogueira at this stage of both’s respective careers, however, involves differing fight styles the two have employed over the course of their careers.

“Big Nog and me are two different types of fighters. Nogeuira lived by his chin, he wasn’t afraid to take a lot of punishment in order to dish out a whole lot of punishment. Personally, I know I can take a really big shot. I’d rather not. … Nogueira is still a fantastic grappler and a good athlete, I know he’s got decent boxing skills, but he hasn’t necessarily been good about making the transition to not taking it on the chin. Chuck [Liddell] was known for taking one, taking two, three, four to give one, and eventually that caught up with him. Fighters have to be a lot more judicious about the way they fight. Once you start losing your chin, you can’t fight that way any more. It just doesn’t work.”

Speaking of veteran former champions, Andrei Arlovski, the UFC champ during much of Barnett’s PRIDE heyday, is back in the UFC. For his part, Barnett welcomed the news.

“Good for Andrei,” Barnett said. “I’m sure sitting on the outside looking in as a former champion has been tough for him, and having to bounce from one fight to the next can be very difficult. Not knowing when your next fight is going to come is a really difficult way to try to stay ready. So having the opportunity to claim, ‘hey, I knocked out Roy Nelson last time we fought, and now he’s considered one of the more notable names in the heavyweight division.’ He has a claim on deserving to be there.”

Barnett has been keeping busy with non-MMA activities since his loss to Travis Browne in December. Among other things, he had a role in a Steven Seagal movie and he recently one “Most Metal Athlete” at the Golden Gods Awards.

But “The Warmaster” did admit to watching the UFC on FOX 11 bout between Browne and Fabricio Werdum, and he basically was more or less kicking himself for letting his fight with Browne, a quick first-round loss, get out of hand the way it did.

“I should have been in there for that fight, and it was really only myself to blame,” Barnett said. “I knew how the fight was going to pan out, I knew what the key to winning that fight was and I knew that Werdum had it in him to do so. In the end, I didn’t, what I saw wasnt entirely surprising to me, but still, I had to sit back and watch it instead of being the one that’s in there. So, it’s just, that fight, to me, is just deeply personal and it just sucks. I didn’t show up and I paid for it and it sucks.”

Sometime, perhaps sooner than later, Barnett will get his chance to step back into the cage and shake off his loss.

“All fights interest me,” Barnett said. “Punching people in the face and watching them cry for their momma always interests me. … I’m sure the opportunities will present themselves easily enough. There’s plenty of heavyweights out there that could use a good ass kicking, and there’s plenty who would like to see me do it.”

Source: www.mmafighting.com By: Dave Doyle

This time around, there was no doubt about the outcome.

The last time we saw Jon Jones in the Octagon, he went down to the wire against Alexander Gustafsson before escaping with his UFC light heavyweight title via narrow decision.

Saturday night, Jones once again went this distance. But this time, Jones put on a show. Jones picked apart a tough Glover Teixeira for 25 minutes in the main event of UFC 172. Jones retrained his title via unanimous decision, taking across-the-board 50-45 scores at the Baltimore Arena.

It was Jones’ 11th straight victory. It was also his seventh successful light heavyweight championship defense, extending his own record in the division.

“It was a lot like who what we thought it would be,” said Jones (20-1). “We foresaw a lot of it. He was a tough dude.”

Jones seemed to show off dozens of his weapons in the opening round. From his standing elbows to his low kicks to body shots, Jones threw a little bit of everything at Teixeira, even landing an axe kick in the rounds closing seconds.

The heavy-hitting Teixeria’s best bet was to get in close and hope to catch Jones. He displayed this in the second round, as he tagged Jones several times in an exchange, temporarily slowed him down.

But that turned out to be Teixeira’s only moment of real advantage of the entire fight. And worse for the challenger, from there, Jones waded into Teixeira’s wheelhouse and took the fight to him in close. In one memorable third-round exchange, the two fought in close in the clinch, and Jones wrecked the Pit fighter in close, opening up a huge cut over Teixeira’s right eyebrow with his elbows.

By the championship rounds, things seemed academic. Teixeira lost his mouthpiece three times, prompting ref Dan Miragliotta to warn him he would deduct a point. But it was moot, as Jones simply resumed picking Teixeira apart until the final horn.

“A lot of it was improv,” said Jones, who was a heavy favorite of the crowd, which included his NFL-playing brothers, Arthur and Chandler. “The game plan was takedowns and going at him from range. But I realized he was winding up on his punches, and you can’t do that when someone is on top of you. I realized I was a lot better hand fighter than he was.”

For his part, Teixeira, who had a 20-fight win streak which dated back to 2006 snapped, was gracious in defeat. “he surprised me,” said Teixeira (22-3). “My game plan was to push him, but hey, he’s a great champion.”

Source: www.mmafighting.com By: Dave Doyle

It appears for a second time a match up between Chael Sonnen and Wanderlei Silva has been delayed.

UFC President Dana White spoke to Yahoo! Sports this week and confirmed that the bout has been bumped from the May 31st card and will now instead take place at UFC 175 in July.

A heavyweight bout between Junior dos Santos and Stipe Miocic will now headline the card in Brazil. It was originally scheduled for UFC 173.

Source: www.mmanews.com By: Chris Howie

After being called out by Bellator middleweight champion Alexander Shlemenko, it appears for UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Tito Ortiz will step back into action on May 17th at the first ever Bellator pay-per-view.

Shlemenko posted the following video challenging Ortiz despite the weight difference:

Ortiz would follow that up with a tweet stating that he was cleared to fight again and with a mention of the champions call out.

F4Wonline.com spoke with sources close to Bellator stating that the fight had now been added to the card which now looks like this:

Eddie Alvarez vs. Michael Chandler – for lightweight title Quinton Jackson vs. Muhammed Lawal – light heavyweight tournamenty final Tito Ortiz vs. Alexander Shlemenko Will Brooks vs. Nate Jolly

Source: www.mmanews.com By: Chris Howie

UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey is slated to face Alexis Davis at UFC 175 according to UFC President Dana White. The announcement was made over the weekend and now joins a card that will feature a UFC Middleweight title defense as Chris Weidman attempts to defend against Lyoto Machida while Wanderlei Silva and Chael Sonnen are also expected to be part of the main card portion.

The event takes place on July 5th in Las Vegas, NV.

Source: www.mmanews.com By: Chris Howie

The Ultimate Fighter Nations finale took place Wednesday evening (April 16th) in Quebec City, Quebec and we have complete quick match results from the event below:

Main Card (Live on Fox Sports 1, 7:00 PM ET)

-Tim Kennedy defeated Michael Bisping by Unanimous Decision (49-46, 49-46, 49-46) -Patrick Cote defeated Kyle Noke by Unanimous Decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27) -Elias Theodorou defeated Sheldon Westcott by TKO (Punches, Round 2, 2:41) -Chad Laprise defeated Olivier Aubin-Mercier by Split Decision (28-29, 29-28, 30-27) -Dustin Poirier defeated Akira Corassani by TKO (Punches, Round 2, 0:42)

Preliminary Bouts (Live on Fox Sports 1, 5:00 PM ET)

-KJ Noons defeated Sam Stout by TKO (Punches, Round 1, 0:30) -Sarah Kaufman defeated Leslie Smith by by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) -Ryan Jimmo defeated Sean O’Connell by KO (Punches, Round 1, 4:27) -George Roop defeated Dustin Kimura by Unanimous Decision (29-28, 30-27, 29-26)

Preliminary Bouts (Live on UFC Fight Pass, 3:15 PM ET)

-Mark Bocek defeated Mike De La Torre by Split Decision (28-29, 30-27, 29-28) -Nordine Taleb defeated Vic Grujic by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) -Richard Walsh defeated Richard Indich by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27) -Mitch Gagnon defeated Tim Gorman by Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Source: www.mmanews.com By: Chris Howie

Fabricio Werdum (right) surprisingly dominated Travis Browne, setting up a UFC heavyweight belt fight against Cain Velasquez

Cain Velasquez has been on Twitter a lot lately, posting updates on the baby blue ’71 Torino he’s having rebuilt. And there he was a couple of weeks ago in a San Jose Sharks sweater, standing at center ice at the SAP Center between two NHL players for a ceremonial pregame puck drop. These are the spoils of being the heavyweight champion of the world. Opportunities and sweet moments come your way.

When you’re rehabilitating from shoulder surgery and out of the octagon until the fall, you’ll take any distraction you can get. Maybe you take up a hobby. With so much down time thrust upon you, you’ve got to have things to occupy your mind.

Well, the champ got something new to think about on Saturday night. Fabricio Werdum, who as a multiple-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion is generally accepted to be the most dangerous submission fighter among UFC heavyweights, turns out to be a pretty sharp striker as well. He demonstrated as much in a blowout unanimous-decision victory over Travis Browne at the Amway Center in Orlando, Fla.

It was a fight between the top two viable challengers for the belt, which is to say that in the SI.com rankings, the media-voted UFC tally and any other right-thinking mixed martial arts Top 10, Werdum and Browne are below only Velasquez and Junior dos Santos. And with Junior’s two thrashings at the hands of the champ exiling him from another shot at Cain, it will be Werdum (18-5-1) who’ll welcome Velasquez back to the cage.

Werdum earned that honor by beating Browne (16-2-1) at his own game thoroughly, assuredly and a bit unexpectedly. The appraisal going in was that if the fight went to the ground, it would be all Werdum, but if it stayed on the feet, the striking range of the 6-foot-7 Browne would carry the day. And that latter scenario was the expected result, in part because Browne had never surrendered a takedown in 19 career bouts and has the length to keep at a safe distance while remaining dangerous himself. Even though Werdum was ranked a spot higher, most had Browne as the favorite.

But Werdum let it be known right from the start that he was going to make this his fight no matter where it was fought. Midway through the first round he got the takedown he coveted, and even though Browne managed to get back to his feet before being threatened, a precedent had been set. Browne proceeded cautiously. Werdum didn’t. Late in the round, after Browne landed a solid kick to the body, the Brazilian slapped his side tauntingly and attacked, putting Browne on the defensive until the horn sounded.

It only got worse for Browne, which shouldn’t be such a surprise if you consider how his career has unfolded. Each of his last five bouts had ended in the fist round, as had all but five in his career. Travis’s pace slowed considerably as the fight wore on, making him a stationary target for Werdum’s sharpened striking and his grappling, too. Werdum got another takedown in Round 2, going right into side control for a kimura attempt. Browne defended well and got up again, but it took a lot out of him. The rest of the way, he had the footwork of Lurch from The Addams Family.

By the end of the night, according to FightMetric statistics, Browne had landed but 60 significant strikes, while Werdum had more than doubled that production with 121 — the fourth-most by a heavyweight in UFC history. That’s something for Cain Velasquez to think about.

Of course, Werdum has something to occupy his mind as well. Velasquez is going to be far, far quicker than Browne. He’ll be a crisper striker. He won’t be afraid to take the fight to the canvas. And he’s not going to slow down. The champ has shown himself to be head and shoulders above the rest of the heavyweight division.

The Brazilian can’t wait for the challenge. His first run among the big boys ended unceremoniously, when he was released by the UFC following a first-round knockout loss to dos Santos back in 2008. Since then, he’s gone 7-1, including four straight wins in his return to the world’s biggest MMA promotion. Just before rejoining the UFC, he shocked the MMA world by submitting Fedor Emelianenko, who hadn’t lost in a decade. Is Werdum ready for another shocker?

“I’m looking forward to fighting Cain Velasquez,” he said. “That championship means everything in this sport, and I’m excited to have the opportunity to show that I can win the title.”

The usual rejoinder to that, especially when it involves a date with Velasquez, is “be careful what you wish for.” But there’s also wisdom in this cautionary edict for the champ: Do not underestimate Fabricio Werdum.

Notes from the undercard

Fighting to be seen: The women’s bantamweight division is not too deep, so this was not a loser-leaves-town fight. But with Ronda Rousey’s stiffest competition seeming to be outside the UFC (Cyborg Justino, Holly Holm) and therefore no more than a gleam in the eye of Dana White, the Miesha Tate vs. Liz Carmouche co-main event was an important date for both in the pursuit of continued relevance.

It was a rugged fight, but the result didn’t exactly create intrigue. Miesha, who took a slim split decision, has lost to Rousey twice, so she’s not getting a third shot anytime soon. And Carmouche, who gave Ronda her toughest fight, saw this one turn around after a strong start. (I thought she won the first two rounds before being dominated in the third, but two judges gave the nod to Miesha.) Both women showed grit and will continue to be roadblocks for any others who fancy themselves championship contenders.

Cowboy up: A jab did the job. Donald Cerrone flicked a crisp one into the face of Edson Barboza a little over three minutes into their lightweight fight, and there was enough on it to drop him to the canvas. “Cowboy” didn’t hesitate, jumping on the stunned Brazilian’s back, clamping on a rear-naked choke and getting the tapout at 3:15. It was an efficient, explosive performance, handing Barboza only his second loss in 15 career bouts and running Cerrone’s win streak to three fights, all finishes.

Silver shines: Yoel Romero’s first takedown was so quick that viewers at home might have thought the TV was in fast-forward. There’s a reason for that: The Cuban was a freestyle wrestling silver medalist in the 2000 Olympics. That would make him the most highly decorated male wrestler in the UFC. He sure put those chops on display against Brad Tavares, tossing him off his feet to the tune of four first-round takedowns (on four tries) and seven overall. He was an accurate striker, too, landing 65 percent of the leather he threw. It all added up to a dominant and unanimous decision win, his fourth straight win since joining the UFC’s middleweight division last year.

Twenty-two and oh: Hear the buzz? It’s been going on for quite a while for Khabib Nurmagomedov, the 25-year-old Dagestani with the relentless wresting drive. He was 5-0 in the UFC, 21-0 for his career, when he stepped in with Rafael dos Anjos, who was on a five-fight run and getting his own buzz buzzing. Nurmagomedov was all over his fellow Top 10 lightweight from the get-go, and while he didn’t break his own UFC takedown record — he had 21 against Abel Trujillo last year — he controlled the fight everywhere it went and earned a lopsided unanimous-decision win.

Welcome home: Thanks to injuries to himself as well as scheduled opponents, Thiago Alves hadn’t fought in a little over two years. And before his layoff, he had lost four of six fights. (Of course, that slide began the way a lot of UFC losing streaks do: on a date with Georges St-Pierre.) But maybe fighting MMA is like riding a bicycle, because Alves (20-9) jumped right back on and rolled past a game but beaten-to-the-punch Seth Baczynski via unanimous decision. And just like that, the 30-year-old Brazilian is once again someone for the stacked welterweight division to worry about.

Source: www.SportsIllustrated.com By: Jeff Wagenheim

We open with Wanderlei Silva at the doctor’s office. His hand has been bothering him since last week’s scuffle with Chael Sonnen, and he wants to find out if anything is seriously wrong. The doctor tells him that he pulled a muscle in his hand and puts him up in a soft cast. We cut to the TUF gym and Job Kleber has his hand in a cast. Unlike Wanderlei, his injury came inside the Octagon. If the injury weren’t bad enough, Chael Sonnen has to deliver more bad news. Because Job cannot continue training, he must leave the show. Chael tells him that he’s very proud of his performance, and he will miss him. Job walks back into the locker room to tell his teammates and delivers a moving speech. It stirs up some powerful emotions, and Chael walks out of the room because he starts to tear up. Thugs cry and so do American Gangsters.

Later, Dana White appears via video conference and he delivers a speech of a different sort. First, he kicks Team Silva assistant coach off the show for sucker punching Chael during last week’s brawl. He calls Dida a “disgrace,” and even suggests that he should be arrested. Once Dida walks out, Dana then turns his attention to Wanderlei and Chael. “We’ve been flying around the world for years trying to get this sport regulated…people thought this sport was filled with thugs and that’s what you looked like.” He derides them for their unprofessionalism and calls them poor mentors to the young fighters on the show. Both coaches know they’re on thin ice, but neither seems to show much remorse. Chael points the finger at Wanderlei and Wanderlei praises Dida. He calls a team huddle to give the assistant coach a sendoff, and lauds Dida’s actions as something any Brazilian would do.
We shift our focus to this week’s fight between Borrachinha and Lyoto.

Chael predicts that this fight will be the closest matchup we’ve seen all season. A classic striker vs. grappler matchup, Team Wanderlei drills takedowns while Team Sonnen focuses on solid striking stance. We then learn more about the first combatant Borrachinha. He readily admits that he’s “very vain,” and we witness his grooming habits. Coach Silva has a lot of good thing to say about the 22 year old and not just because he has impeccable eyebrows. Wandy calls him strong, powerful, explosive and good looking (ok maybe the eyebrows do have something to do with it). He believes that Borrachinha is ready for the UFC and should be offered a contract right here and now.

Lyoto, on the other hand, doesn’t have much to say about hair product. He characterizes himself as a strategic fighter, and plans on using his wits and striking to earn Team Sonnen their first victory. He knows that Borrachinha has dangerous ground and pound, and plans on moving a lot and using distance to minimize the amount of grappling. You can’t take down what you can’t touch. Don’t expect him to be a slow, plodding fighter, though. His current record sits at 12-0 and he’s finished every single opponent in the first round.

Weigh-ins go on without a problem this week (thankfully), and former UFC light heavyweight champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua shows up to lend some support to Team Wanderlei, and Borrachinha seems genuinely starstruck. Let’s hope he has his wits about him because it’s fight time!

ROUND ONE
Borrachinha wastes no time bringing the fight. Lyoto dodges the initial charge, but inexplicably engages the clinch first. They move against the fence, Borrachinha throws a hard elbow and scores a takedown. He tries to advance, but Lyoto locks him down in half guard. Borrachinha may not be able to generate much offense, but Lyoto can’t rise to his feet either. Lyoto finally causes some separation, but Borrachinha responds with a massive overhand right. It partially connects, but Lyoto still manages to make it back to his feet. Borrachinha glues himself right to the karateka, and winds up taking his back. The powerful middleweight moves for the rear naked choke and starts wrenching Lyoto’s jaw. Lyoto fights off his hands, but Borrachinha stays in place and continues to work for the submission. After stalling his attack, Borrachinha unwinds his legs and switches to a guillotine. Lyoto gets his head out, but he’s back on the mat absorbing punches. Lyoto returns to his feet as time expires, but Borrachinha controlled the majority of the round.

ROUND TWO
Lyoto finds his range in the early portion of the second round and connects with repeated low kicks. After ripping up Borrachinha’s leg, he starts kicking to the body and scores with those as well. Borrachinha tries to clinch up, but Lyoto breaks free. Again, Lyoto appears to be winning the striking exchanges, but he forces the takedown. Borrachinha defends and pushes him against the fence. They jockey for position in the clinch, and neither gains the advantage. Borrachinha moves for a high crotch takedown, but Lyoto defends. They break apart, and Lyoto goes back to attacking with his kicks. Borrachinha spends the rest of the round fighting to bring the fight back to the ground, but he can’t finish. Lyoto sprawls and brawls his way to win the second round. We’re headed to “sudden victory!”

ROUND THREE
Both fighters are fatigued and it shows. Lyoto goes back to chopping away with the low kicks, and Borrachinha has little to no defense. At one point, he even stands with his hands on his hips gasping for air. Lyoto pounces on this opportunity and drops him with a left hand. Borrachinha recovers and immediately shoots for the takedown. Lyoto quickly returns to his feet and tries an outside trip, but can’t get separation. They stall against the fence and the ref breaks them up. After the restart Borrachinha dives for a desperation takedown and misses. He lays on his back and Lyoto milks the clock with some standing kicks. The ref stands them up with less than a minutes remaining, and it is a sprint to the finish line. The two fight in the clinch and Borrachinha’s takedowns continue to be denied. Lyoto hits a takedown of his own and finishes the round in top position.

The judges’ scorecards come back and Lyoto wins by split decision. Wanderlei gives credit to Lyoto for a tremendous performance, but says that Borrachinha didn’t pace himself well. He used too much energy in the first round and couldn’t recover. He’s sad for his fighter, but knows that Borrachinha is only 22 and has a long future ahead of him. Chael credits Lyoto for digging deep and committing to his strikes. The victory is bittersweet, however, since one of Lyoto’s kicks was checked hard and he can barely walk on it. We don’t hear any more about his condition.

The episode closes with the “Wrapped Up Challenge.” Four members of each team are covered in plastic wrap with their arms pinned to their body. The fighters will then have to scramble in any method possible to get back to their feet and ring the bell. The first team to get all four of their participants to ring the bell wins. Team Wanderlei cruises to victory and all of its members get to their feet before Team Sonnen even has one. This gives Team Wanderlei control to choose next week’s fight. Who is it? You’ll just have to wait until next week and watch the Ultimate Fighter Brazil!

Source: www.UFC.com By: Dan Downes