The Brazilian Beat
Bustamante still uncertain for the next Pride, Ronaldo Jacare still absolute in BJJ, Royce Gracie keeps negotiating, and Brazilian Challenger coming this Thursday in Brazil!

The Brazilian Beat:
      Cold still reigns in the South of Brazil, meanwhile sun continues to shine up in the Northeast of the country, as the very end of the month of July will see a new show debuting, giving chance to new talents of our sport to show their work as Brazilian Challenger will guarantee MMA excitement to the fans here, even in the last moments of July. The international scene also continues to shake things around the major Brazilian academies, as Brazilian Top Team has been training hard preparing Rodrigo Minotauro Nogueira for his tough task in the finals of the Pride Heavyweight Grand Prix next month, and his teammate Murilo Bustamante continues to train and negotiate for a possible fight in the same fighting card, without anything certain at this very moment. Among a lot of other happenings MMA related, Jiu-Jitsu also gathered most of the attention of the past days, as CBJJ promoted their 9th BJJ world championship where Ronaldo Jacare and Roger Gracie fought one of the most exciting matches of the year in the "smooth art". With all that and a bit more, Full Contact Fighter doesn't hide from the cold and leads straight for the heat as the Brazilian Beat is back, enjoy!
  • Although it was considered highly likely that former UFC Middleweight champion Murilo Bustamante would rematch Team Quest's star Dan Henderson at the August Pride show, negotiations have been tough and now it looks like this match may not unfold. Murilo keeps training hard at the BTT headquarters and is willing to face another opponent if a re-match against Hendo isn't possible at this point.

  • Speaking of Brazilian Top Team, Paulo Filho's performance against Akira Shoji at Pride Bushido 4 left a lot of people surprised, due to the lack of aggressiveness in the fight. What most doesn't know though, is that Filho, who broke his hand in his fight against Matsui in Korea, suffered a serious car accident a few days before his departure to Japan, where he aggravated his hand injury. This made it almost impossible for the BTT fighter to perform his usual game, as he fought anyway and managed to sneak out a judges' decision in his favor.

  • MMA legend Royce Gracie just recently finished another European seminar tour, where he did seminars in Italy and Spain, among other countries, and now is back to L.A. for a quick period before traveling to Japan next week for more seminars. Although rumors are flying high regarding Royce's next fight, likely at the New Year's eve Pride show, there's nothing sure right now regarding Genki Sudo as an opponent. Gracie is negotiating right now, and will likely be fighting, but the opponent at this point is anyone's guess.

  • The newest BJJ phenom around continues to dominate, as Ronaldo Jacare battled his way into winning the absolute black belt division on the BJJ World Championship, the most traditional of the two world championships of the "smooth art", known as the "Mundial". Being promoted by CBJJ, the 9th edition of the tournament brought the Alliance and Gracie Barra fighters to action, while Nova Uniao members were absent as usual. Ronaldo Jacare showed once again his amazing shape, as his became the absolute division champion after he defeated names such as Alexandre Ribeiro, Erik Wanderlei before defeating Roger Gracie on the finals, in a true effort as reports have that Roger broke Jacare's arm in their final match, but Ronaldo survived and won by a score of 4 to 2. The injury caused Jacare to drop out during his run in the light heavyweight division, but didn't prevent the young fighter to be the biggest stand out in the competition.

  • Other black belt stand outs of this year's BJJ world championship were once again the amazing Fabio Gurgel pupil Marcelo Garcia, who worked his techniques to conquer the middleweight division. Gracie Humaita's own Daniel Moraes also added another title to his already large collection, as he became the lightweight champion, in an impressive effort. Roger Gracie represent well the traditional family, not only becoming a game runner-up to Jacare in the absolute, but also winning the super heavyweight division. At last, but not least, another stand out was MMA veteran Fabricio Werdum, who became the "Pesadissimo" [This reporter didn't find a translation for this, since amazingly the tournament has already light heavyweight, heavyweight and super-heavyweight before this division, that means something like very heavy in Portuguese] champion after a final against the always surprising and technical Fernando Terere, who competed in a much heavier weight than his natural division, just to test his skills and try to fight Marcio "Pe de Pano" Cruz, who unfortunately didn't compete this year.

  • The next edition of Storm Samurai is already scheduled for August 7th, once again in the city of Curitiba, home of the Chute Boxe team. As of now the show is going to feature five Muay Thai bouts and five MMA matches, once again showcasing some of the Chute Boxe newcomers in the card. Among the most interesting MMA bouts the event will have Fabio Tigrao, who did well in his MMA debut, facing Fabio Silva, K-1 veteran Julio Cesar Jamanta doing his MMA debut against Donald Pato, and Andre Dida, brother of Chute Boxe black belt Mauricio Veio, fighting Leandro.

  • Due to his injury at the absolute division final match, in the BJJ world championship, Ronaldo Jacare will be forced to miss PRO JJ, an event that will take place in Sao Paulo this Thursday, July 29th, focusing on single grappling matches, both in Jiu-Jitsu and Submission Wrestling, and counting with plenty of international fighters. Replacing Jacare will be Meca veteran Delson "Pe de Chumbo", who will be taking Jorge Macaco Patino in the main event of the evening. The Jiu-Jitsu match will be sort of a rematch from their MMA fight at Meca 11 last month, which saw Delson as the winner on a judges' decision. Another interesting match up on the event will see Vitor Belfort trainer and ADCC Champion Leonardo Vieira facing Japanese fighter Fukuzumi Shizuke.

  • Brazilian Top Team member, Pride, UFC and Heat veteran Carlos Barreto is in the USA right now teaching a series of seminars, in both Jiu-Jitsu and MMA in several American cities. Barreto visited the state of California before going to Kansas City, where he also ministered seminars, and will return to California to teach more seminars in very early August. After his seminar tour, Carlão will meet his old friend Vitor Belfort to check his training for his third fight against Randy Couture, and plans to stay in the USA until the fight so he can attend the show, to then finally return to Brazil and prepare to fight in Jungle Fight 3, in October.

  • Ruas Vale Tudo icon Pedro Rizzo continues to train hard in Brazil awaiting his next fight. Ever since his UFC contract was over, "The Rock" has been negotiating with several organizations, and rumors have that he may be on verge of going to K-1 MMA very soon. At this point nothing is sure regarding his next fight, the only certain thing is that Rizzo is in shape and ready to perform! His teammate Antoine Jaoude is training hard preparing to compete in the Olympic games, as the only Brazilian taking part in wrestling competitions in Athens, Greece, next month. Antoine has been doing well in his last tournaments leading to the Olympics, and he is expected to achieve this country's best result ever in this sport.

  • This Thursday the city of Natal in Brazil will once again host another interesting MMA show, this time with the debut event of Brazilian Challenger, a new promotion that plans to emphasize on the fighters that comes from the Brazilian Northeast region, and usually have less chances to appear in the big shows. Due to its partnership with Heat FC, the show will also work as a talent developer, and give another chance to veterans of Heat who aren't famous yet, serving as a feeder to the big show. The first edition of Brazilian Challenger, this Thursday July 29th, will feature a tournament for fighters up until 80 kg, with eight fighters battling in the main brackets plus four alternate fighters competing for a spot if one of the fighters is hurt, and all fights being fought in the same night like in the old UFC days. The show promises to be interesting for local fans, as some proven fighters will compete inside the event's cage, such as Heat FC veterans Sergio Junior and Carlos Indio, and Bitetti Combat veteran Rivanio Aranha.

  • The weigh-ins for the first edition of Brazilian Challenger took place this Wednesday at the Imira Plaza Hotel, one of Natal's finest hotels, and only three fighters couldn't make weight at the first attempt, however, all men managed to make weight under 80 kg in their second try, and the show is set to go this Thursday at the Palacio dos Esportes arena, at 8 pm Brazilian time. With Heat FC veteran Sergio Junior being the biggest favorite of the tournament, the attention is also set on Junior Nolasco, from Nova Uniao. Nolasco is having the tough tasks of replacing Deep veteran Gleison Tibau, who was scheduled to represent Nova Uniao in the tournament, but injured himself during training sessions a week before the show. Here is the card and the brackets for Brazilian Challenger:

    Main Bracket:
    Junior Nolasco (Nova Uniao/Kimura) vs. Rodrigo Jacome (Gesse)
    Carlos Indio (Dragon Fight) vs. Josenildo Loquinha (Key Sukata)
    Rivanio Aranha (Gracie Barra) vs. Iranildo Gigante (Guerreiro Vale Tudo)
    Sergio Junior (Combate Real) vs. Evilazio Puma (Nova Geracao)

    Alternate Fights:
    Araceli Indio (Gracie Barra) vs. Anderson "Bad Boy" (Key Sukata)
    Ari Macel (Dragon Fight) vs. Cristiano "Cro Cop" (Guerreiro Vale Tudo)