GuaraFight 2: SHOOTO veterans packed the action in first MMA of ’06 in Brazil. It is impossible to visit Guarapari and not want to stay there for only two days. I took a trip there early 2006 to cover the first event of 2006, and I realized I could stay there more than only 2 days. Guarapari is a summer vacation city located in Southeastern Brazil, where the beaches and the gorgeous women are the high point of the city. The combination of GuaraFight 2 and a beautiful city where there is sun, the beach, and pretty women added a great atmosphere at SESC Gymnasium. The card of the show featured SHOOTO veterans, who displayed high-voltage moments throughout the entire card of 12 matches. SHOOTO Japan veteran Johnny Eduardo stepped-up for the third fight of the night, to execute a good game on the feet, where his opponent (Jose Adriano) was forced to clinch and try to put Eduardo with the backs on the mat. They turned a lot of positions and went to the ground where, Eduardo and Adriano exchanged moments on the feet and on the bottom until Eduardo grabbed the leg of Adriano and extended it by a kneebar. Adriano escaped, but he did not free his leg from Eduardo’s hands, so Eduardo changed his idea of submitting from a kneebar to a very-well sunk heel-hook that made Adriano scream in pain and tap-out at 1:08.
Julian Soares, a SHOOTO Brazil competitor, came to the ring, but did not have the same enthusiasm at colliding against the young and calm Erik Silva. Soares kept the pace on the feet and suffered a straight-right to the face. Silva shot in and Soares sunk a guillotine-choke. Still on the feet Silva body-slammed Soares, who got the full guard. The fight came back to their feet and Silva connected a rock solid punch, knocking Soares out in 2:30. A crowd-pleasing battle in under -60kgs fight happened between SHOOTO Brazil 1 champion Aritano Barbosa of RFT Luta-Livre, who handled his better ground skill to conquer an unanimous decision over Albino Mendes (Nova Uniao) after 3 rounds. The fight-plan of Barbosa worked perfectly when he waited for Mendes low-kicks to take the fight down. In four occasions, Barbosa stayed close to submitting Mendes with an ankle-lock, guillotine choke, armbar and a triangle that Mendes escaped but for sure will have problems with his joints after that fight. Fight #10 was David vs. Goliath, when Artur Cesar’s (100kgs) opponent was forced to withdraw by injury and was replaced voluntarily by Fabio Issa (74kgs) a SHOOTO Brazil 7 winner. The warrior Issa low-kicked and connected some punches on Cesar’s face, but the huge weight difference was a key for Cesar as he threw two flying knees and controlled the pace on the ground by a few mount-positions. The fight went to the distance, and Cesar won by unanimous decision. “I did not punch his face badly in opportunities I had because I think Issa was a warrior for accepting this fight on short-notice, and with the big weight difference. Issa deserves respect and I did not want to hurt him.” exclaimed Cesar. The co-main event featured a toe-to-toe match with a controversial end by weird judging criteria. Henrique Lango mauled SHOOTO Brazil veteran Gilmar de Andrade in the 3 rounds of the fight. Gilmar is a striker specialist, but his insistence of landing spinning kicks and punches to please the crowd harmed his intention of getting a victory a lot. Lango ate a spinning kick to the ribs which catapulted him against the ropes, and it was all that Gilmar did. By his side, Lango did not refuse to fight on the feet andtook Gilmar down every opportunity he could. On the ground, Lango smashed Gilmar from the mount position. The only mistake of Lango was to knee Gilmar’s head when the fight was grounded (not allowed by the GuaraFight rules). This was enough to erase his all attitude during the three rounds and put Gilmar such as the winner by decision. A weird criteria – do you not think?
Main event: JVT ’99 veteran and 39 years old Angelo Sergio of Boxe Thai team schooled local idol (and until then undefeated MMA fighter) Joao Neguinho by KO in 57 seconds. Neguinho had stated that the “old” Sergio would be easy prey for him. So, Sergio waited for Neguinho’s attempts in the fight. Neguinho went for a huge low-kick and Sergio opened his counterattack on Neguinho with a straight-right that made Neguinho stare. Neguinho should have put the fight on the ground with his BJJ, but he kept standing and suffered low-kicks that shook his leg. It was not even at the one minute mark when Sergio low-kicked again and missed some shots, until he connected with a hammer of a punch (straight-right) that made Neguinhofall like a tree cut by an axe. A great show by Sergio! GuaraFight 2 pleased the crowd and was an excellent promotion early in 2006. The return of Boxe Thai team representatives in Eduardo and Sergio was huge point of the event. Sergio proved that even he is a 39 years old fighter, his career deserves again opportunities outside Brazil against some of the amazing fighters who are in the game nowadays. Matches such as Chris Lebben (UFC fighter) or Sol Gilbert versus Sergio would please the crowd in all aspects that a fight can does. FULL RESULTS: -Female Submission- Vanessa Porto (Pedro Iglesias) def. Fernanda Mazzelli(Fight Society) -MMA- Alexandre Lopes (Top Brothers) def. Tiago Oliveira(Fight Society) by guillotine-choke at 1:17 – R1 Andre Luiz (Rio Fight) def. Roni Souza (Alliance) bydecision(unanimous) Johnny Eduardo (Boxe Thai) def. Jose Adriano (NovaUniao-ES) by heel-hook in 1:08 – R1 Erick Silva (Nova Uniao-ES) def. Julian Soares (RFT)in 2:30 by KO – R1 Fabio Abreu (Rio Fight) def. Luciano Moreira (UFT) bydecision(unanimous) Gilvan Jr. (Gracie Barra-ES) def. Fabricio Batista(Rio Fight) by rear-naked-choke in 3:30 – R1 Aritano Barbosa (RFT) def. Albino Mendes (NovaUniao-ES) by decision(unanimous) Rodrigo Vieira (Rio Fight) def. Cleiton Johnny (NovaUniao-ES) by TKO(injury) in 4:47 – R1 Arthur Cesar (Gama Filho) def. Fabio Issa (Nova Uniao)by decision(unanimous) Gilmar de Andrade (Leitai Sanshou Freestyle Team) def.Henrique Lango (Rio Fight) by decisionAngelo Sergio (Boxe Thai) def. Joao Neguinho (NovaUniao-ES) by KO in ’57 – R1