MECA 8 in the Works;
Barreto Ready to Debut K-1 style;
Anderson back in STORM!
The Brazilian Beat:
After a short hiatus, the Brazilian Beat is once again back in great fashion! January comes to an end with an avalanche of news about fighting events appearing everywhere in Brazil, giving hope that 2003 will be an even better year than 2002 for fight fans and professionals in Brazil. The eighth edition of MECA World Vale Tudo already has a date and is in the works, bringing some exciting action in the month of April! Bitetti Combat Nordeste is planning another edition of the event for March, and this time in bigger style. Submission wrestling continues to ride Abu Dhabi’s wave in the country and all the big names of the sport are about to compete once again in Campos. Stand-up fight fans will have their hands full with K-1 Brazil and the STORM Grand Prix coming up, bringing two great attractions to the ring with NHB fighters Carlos Barreto and Anderson Silva appearing in the respective events! Well, now that we’ve given you a taste of what’s in this edition of "The Beat" don’t hesitate and get into the rhythm for a long and lasting Brazilian Beat, courtesy of Full Contact Fighter!
- The 8th edition of Brazil’s premiere NHB event is already scheduled and in the works! MECA World Vale Tudo 8 will take place on April 26th, once again at the Palacio de Cristal in Curitiba, the same venue where all the previous editions of the show were held, and the event promises some intense battles! FCF found out some of the matches that will take place on the card, and they look very interesting on paper. The long awaited match between Ryan Gracie’s student Marcelo Giudice and Luta Livre legend Eugenio Tadeu is now confirmed by the promoters. Giudice challenged Eugenio inside the ring during MECA 7, and Tadeu promptly accepted the challenge, now the fight is on for MECA 8 as the main event!
- Tadeu vs. Giudice is not the only match scheduled so far for MECA 8 in April 26th, another very interesting fight will be the return of the Chute Boxe prodigy Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, brother of PRIDE fighter Murilo "Ninja" Rua, who will be facing MECA veteran and Brazilian Top Team member Roan "Jucao" Carneiro in another Chute Boxe vs. BTT classic. Another BTT member, who will also be returning to the MECA ring, after his win at MECA 7, is Haroldo Cabelinho Bunn, who will face MECA 5 winner Katel Kubis. MECA 6 winner Daniel Acacio will face off against Barra Gracie fighter Cristiano Lazarini. The card will also feature Chute Boxe fighter Israel facing MECA veteran Bicudo, and Chute Boxe master Cunha making his MECA debut! Jorge Macaco Patino will also appear on the card and Claudionor Fontinelli will perform as well to show everybody deserves a second chance in life. The promoters are planning a 9-fight card, and FCF will continue to keep a close eye on the developments.
- 3-time PRIDE winner Ricardo Arona is continuously training hard in the city of Niteroi, in the state of Rio de Janeiro, getting ready for the challenges that lie ahead in 2003. Arona is waiting for a possible appearance at PRIDE 25 in March, and continues to look for a shot at the PRIDE Middleweight belt. In the meantime, Ricardo told FCF that he is also preparing himself for his Superfight against Mark Kerr at the Abu Dhabi Submission Wrestling tournament in Sao Paulo in May, and he guarantees he won’t disappoint his fans.
- UFC Heavyweight contender Pedro "The Rock" Rizzo is also training very hard for his bout at the next UFC against Vladimir "The Janitor" Matyushenko. Rizzo has been training as hard as ever and could be seen at the Abu Dhabi Brazilian Trials in great shape. Pedro told FCF he is already weighing what he plans to weigh on the day of the fight and is taking this fight very seriously as a new beginning for him in the UFC.
- Speaking of Pedro Rizzo, his long time friend and K-1 superstar Peter Aerts is once again in Brazil training with the Ruas Vale Tudo team in Rio de Janeiro. Aerts told Full Contact Fighter he is taking the chance to once again practice some more ground fighting and NHB style, and he is looking to possibly sign a deal to make his NHB debut in 2003! However K-1 is still in his plans as well, and in the meantime, he guaranteed Rizzo’s hands will be sharp for his bout against Vladdy.
- After the success of the first Bitetti Combat Nordeste, promoters Conrado and Jiu-Jitsu black belt Amaury Bitetti are already working on the next edition of the event. Bitetti Combat 2 is likely to take place on March 20th or 21st of 2003, once again in the beautiful city of Natal, and some fights are already in the works. Bitetti Combat winner Silmar Rodrigo will face NHB veteran Johil de Oliveira, Capoeira [Not the same guy who fought at MECA 7] will fight against Paulo Guerreiro, and the card will also include some Brazilian Top Team members, NHB veteran Mario Sucata, and even the chance of Marcelo Tigre appearing on the card. FCF will stay tuned and bring you the latest about Bitetti Combat 2 in the next editions of "The Brazilian Beat".
- Still on the Bitetti Combat subject, promoter Conrado is also putting on a sort of circuit, with small shows going around the Northeast of Brazil to develop talent and give young local fighters a chance to appear. The best fighters will perform in Bitetti Combat in the future and the first event following this project is happening on the 31st of January, in a small city called Caico. The show is called RN Vale Tudo, with the main event being a fight between two winners of the first Bitetti Combat Nordeste. Aranha, who has a similar style to Wanderlei Silva, facing Carlos Indio, who scored the quickest knockout in the Bitetti Combat show. FCF will bring you the results in the next "Brazilian Beat".
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Carlos Barreto
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Promoter Sergio Batarelli is also working hard with his effort to bring K-1 to Brazil. In fact, the K-1 Brazil event is scheduled for February 23rd in Sao Paulo, at the gorgeous Maksud Plaza Hotel, with an eight-man tournament, including MECA veteran Carlinhos and more importantly IVC, PRIDE, UFC and MECA veteran Carlos Barreto will be in the brackets! Barreto will fight against a boxer named Luis Aparecido dos Santos in the first fight. This will be Barreto’s Pro Muay Thai debut. In addition, the event will also have an alternate fight between Pantera Negra and Michael Bulla and a special fight for the Brazilian WKN Muay Thai championship between Marfio Junior and Alexander da Silva. FCF will be there covering all the action.
- Already training hard for his K-1 debut, Brazilian Top Team member Carlos Barreto spoke with FCF during the Brazilian Abu Dhabi trials and told us he is feeling very confident about his Muay Thai skills. His training with professor Paulo Nikolai has been sharpening up his stand-up abilities a lot, and he will enter the tournament looking for knockouts and thinking about taking the trophy home! Barreto is also preparing for a submission wrestling bout against Alexandre Cacareco in early February and wants to fight a lot of NHB in 2003, since he told FCF he now understands the need to be aggressive and put a show for the fans, because according to him everybody wants to see an exciting fighter, and that’s what he became. Let’s keep following his steps!
- After the Abu Dhabi Brazilian Trials, all of the submission wrestling fans in Brazil are now focused on the Second Submission Wrestling competition in Campos, Rio de Janeiro, scheduled to happen on February 7th and 8th of 2003. Besides the superfight Between Carlos Barreto and Alexandre Cacareco, and all the big names entering the main brackets in each weight division such as De La Riva, Johil de Oliveira, Gustavo Ximu, Vinicius Draculino, Eduardo Jamelao, among others, the Absolute division is looking great with competitors such as Alex Negao Paz from the BTT, ADCC Brazilian trials champion Marcio "Pe de Pano" Cruz, Roan Carneiro, Alexandre Cacareco Ferreira, Mario Sucata, Eduardo Jamelao and more names to be announced! FCF will continue to bring you the submission wrestling action happening in Brazil.
- Chute Boxe fighter and NHB veteran Fabio Piemonte has been training hard in Curitiba and is preparing for his comeback. According to the Chute Boxe team coach Rudimar Fedrigo, Fabio has been training as hard as ever both standing up and on the ground, and is polishing his skills and improving his cardio to make a comeback in the heavyweight division and appear in NHB events still this year. Fabio, who already fought against PRIDE fighter Gilbert Yvel in the past, is reported to now have way better ground skills than before, and we will continue to follow his development.
- Early April will bring a great stand-up event in Brazil with the first ever STORM Muay Thai Grand Prix! The Beautiful Opera de Arame in Curitiba will once again hold some fierce Muay Thai action on April 5th of 2003, but this time in a way bigger fashion. The STORM Grand Prix will feature two tournaments, one for fighters up to 85 kg and another for fighters above 85kg, plus three single fights. Chute Boxe master and Promoter Rafael Cordeiro is already working on a open TV deal to be announced soon, and there’s a chance that SPORTV will also broadcast the event, which will have K-1 veteran Jamanta representing the Chute Boxe academy in the above-85kg class, and none other than PRIDE fighter Anderson Silva representing the team in the up-to-85 kg class! Anderson, in spite of all his NHB success, loves Muay Thai and still has a K-1 dream on his mind, therefore he insisted on being part of the STORM Grand Prix, which will bring the very best Muay Thai fighters Brazil has to offer to Curitiba and FCF will surely be there as well!
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