The meeting with former Corinthians soccer team idol Vampeta while exiting Hotel Tryp, in São Paulo, just foreshadowed how Bitetti Combat 8 would put on a great show for the hundred-year celebrations of the Corinthians this Saturday at São Jorge Park. Behind the scenes, fighters like Strikeforce champion Rafael “Feijão” and Pedro Rizzo were should a couple there to see the show boasting top-notch fights and world renowned fighters.
In the evening’s main event, Glover Teixeira resorted to takedowns and solid ground work to dominate Spain’s Daniel Tabera, winning via unanimous decision. But for the first time in his last nine fights, Glover was made to go all three rounds to be proclaimed the victor. Now Paulo Filho, another star on the card, rediscovered his winning ways. The Carlson Gracie black belt managed to take Japan’s Yuki Sasaki to the ground on a number of occasions, controlled the action on the ground but came up against his opponent’s solid defenses, and this fight too went the distance before Paulão would have his hand raised.
Without a doubt, the fight of the night was the USA’s Jordan Smith against Mario Soldado. Each landed strikes to the other in lively standup exchanges. Smith managed knockdowns in his favor but Soldado replied with damaging strikes of his own. At the end of the second round, Soldado nearly finished with a triangle, in a bloody fight. A hard nut to crack, the American charged in full steam in the final round. He landed numerous strikes, made it to back mount, and finished with a rear-naked choke, to the applauding crowd’s delight, his manager Jorge “Joinha” Guimarães grinning from ear to ear.
Jordan and Soldado had the fight of the night. Photo: Carlos Ozório.
Thiago Jambo had his work out for him against Eiji Ishikaua too. He ended up on bottom for a few moments, but successfully landed takedowns and took back mount, earning him the nod from the judges. In a fight supercharged with rivalry, Viscardi Andrade needed just 34 seconds to knock out Flavio Álvaro. After a straight punch right on the button, he followed up with strikes to his downed opponent before the referee separated him. Another quickie was Cristiano Marcello’s rear-naked choke-finish of Argentina’s Guido Caneti.
Another foreigner to score big on the night, Luciano Izzy was outpointing Enéas Gonçalves on takedowns. Still in the first round, he saw his opponent call it quits after breaking a rib. Standing, Matheus Serafin landed a series of strikes to Thomas Saldiva standing, but finished on the ground. In the second round, he got the takedown, mounted, and pounded away for the technical knockout. Now Toninho Fúria had been landing good takedowns on Eduardo Santos, but his opponent ended up injuring his shoulder and had to pull out of the first fight on the card.
Complete results:
Bitetti Combat 8 “100 years of the Corinthians”
December 4, 2010
São Paulo, Brazil
93 Kg – Glover Teixeira defeated Daniel Tabera via unanimous decision
90 kg – Paulo Filho defeated Yuki Sassaki via unanimous decision
80 kg – Thiago Gonçalves “Jambo” defeated Eiji Ishikaua (Japan) via unanimous decision
70 k – Cristiano Marcello submitted Guido Caneti (Argentina) via rear-naked choke in R1
77 kg – Toninho Fúria defeated Eduardo Santos via TKO (injury) in R2
77 Kg – Viscardi Andrade defeated Flávio Álvaro via TKO in R1
84 Kg – Jordan Smith submitted Mario Soldado via rear-naked choke in R3
84 kg – Mateus Serafin defeated Thomas Saldiva via TKO in R2
73 Kg – Luciano Izzy defeated Enéias Gonçalves via TKO (injury) in R1