Paulão Filho at WEC / Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa publicity
Back in April of 2006, at Pride Bushido 10 in Tokyo, Paulão Filho took two rounds in overcoming Murilo Ninja by unanimous judges’ decision. This Thursday in Belém, Brazil, the triumph came a lot quicker, and amid more controversy.
The Carlson Gracie black belt went on the attack with a flurry of strikes that left his Southern Brazilian counterpart groggy in the first round. Ninja was then kneeling at Paulo’s knees when Mario Yamasaki called an end to the rematch. “So long as God Almighty lets me be here and I still have strength, I’ll keep fighting,” asserted Paulão just after dedicating the win to his father, Paulinho, who passed away this August 6. “Ninja was really groggy, and I could have continued to beat on him there, but if he wants another rematch we’ll do it no problem. He’s a great fighter. He’s done a lot for the sport too.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NQaqeIm5A1U
In the other fights on the card, Bruno Cro Cop took a page out of his Croatian namesake’s book and three two knees at Marcio Parazinho that ended the outing in the second round, and Lincoln Sá relied on his takedowns to go to town with the ground and pound and take a unanimous decision over Joriedson Fein.
BEST OF THE BEST
BELÉM, PARÁ, BRAZIL
SEPTEMBER 6, 2012
Paulão Filho defeated Murilo Ninja via TKO in R1;
Bruno Cro Cop defeated Marcio Parazinho via TKO in R1;
André Mikito defeated André Lobato via unanimous decision;
Silmar Sombra tapped out Fabricio Strike via guillotine in R1;
Lincon Sá defeated Joriedson Fein via unanimous decision;
Alberto Pantoja defeated Mauricio Rosário via unanimous decision;
Samuel Paiva defeated Bruno Miranda via unanimous decision;
Jacob Quintana subbed Alexandre Leão via guillotine in R2.