Wanderlei warms up his fists with Rafa Cordeiro at the pre-UFC open training session, where around a thousand spectators gathered, according to the promoters. Photos: Josh Hedges/UFC
Any intern worth his salt shows up 15 minutes after lunch with his T-shirt caked in sauce. The GRACIEMAG.com rookie repeated the routine today, and he looked to be a powder keg of excitement. The reason: There are two UFCs going on this weekend: one in New Jersey on Friday, and another on Saturday in Minas Gerais.
The two days are indeed rich with fistic promise. There’s the barbarous Clay Guida against Gray Maynard in New Jersey; the milestone of 2,000 fights under the UFC banner, to be celebrated when Yuri Marajó and Hacran Dias square off at UFC 147 in Belo Horizonte City; the return of Wanderlei Silva’s own brand of hyperviolence to Brazil for the first time since August 2000, for the 47th fight of his career; the appearance of a Jiu-Jitsu world champion on the card in Sérgio Moraes, the 11th black belt world champion to step into the octagon.
With so much information swirling around his mind, the pipsqueak looks set to blow, and a gem seems sure to spout from his mouth. “Boss, did you catch the scene where Sérgio Moraes grabs a mop to help the UFC cleaning ladies out at the open training session yesterday in Belo Horizonte?” he said with a gleeful grin.
The whole newsroom stopped in its tracks. Could the upstart journalist finally be onto something worth writing? An article on Jiu-Jitsu and humility, on good cheer, on the appreciation of effort and sacrifice? A chat with Sérgio Moraes about his origins and where he wants to go at this new stage of his career, as a professional fighter working for the UFC?
No. No, he wasn’t. “Imagine the headline! Sérgio mops the floor with Mutante! How about it?”
Sérgio grabs a mop and helps the cleaning lady dry the dojo floor in BH. The Alliance champ has his work cut out for him against Mutante at UFC 147, to be broadcast live on Brazil's biggest TV network, TV Globo. The station will also be showing the fight between Wand and Rich Franklin, as well as Rony Jason versus Pepey.
Patient as a monk, the newsroom chief called the intern over for a gentle lecture on focusing on facts and details, but never the commonplace. That Sérgio went to work with a mop, everyone saw; but what did the cleaning lady think about it? What was her name? Did she recognize the Alliance team representative from TV, or did she not have a clue who he was? Did Sérgio remember the hard times of his past as he rubbed down the mat? Etc.
“Good one, boss. I got it. How about: Sérgio looking to rub out Mutante?!”
So as not to have to hear anything else of the sort, we sat the seal-like creature down in a corner and asked him to, analytically and without bias, list his picks for the winners of the two weekend UFC events.
So here you go: the always eagerly anticipated Intern’s Picks.
UFC on FX 4
Atlantic City, New Jersey
June 22, 2012
Gray Maynard vs Clay Guida
Prediction: Gray Maynard
Sam Stout vs Spencer Fisher
Prediction: Spencer Fisher
Brian Ebersole vs TJ Waldburger
Prediction: Brian Ebersole
Ross Pearson vs Cub Swanson
Prediction: Ross Pearson
Under card (Fuel TV)
Hatsu Hioki vs Ricardo Lamas
Prediction: Hatsu Hioki
Ramsey Nijem vs CJ Keith
Prediction: CJ Keith
Steven Siler vs Joey Gambino
Prediction: Steven Siler
Rick Story vs Brock Jardine
Palpite: Rick Story
Nick Catone vs Chris Camozzi
Prediction: Nick Catone
Matt Brown vs Luis “Beição” Ramos
Palpite: Luis Ramos
Under card (Facebook)
Dan Miller vs Ricardo Funch
Palpite: Dan Miller
Ken Stone vs Dustin Pague
Prediction: Ken Stone
UFC 147
Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais
June 23, 2012
Wanderlei Silva vs Rich Franklin
Prediction: Wanderlei Silva
Cezar Mutante vs Sergio Moraes
Prediction: Cezar Mutante
Godofredo Pepey vs Rony Mariano “Jason”
Prediction: Rony Jason
Fabricio Werdum vs Mike Russow
Prediction: Fabricio Werdum
Yuri Alcantara vs Hacran Dias
Prediction: Hacran Dias
Under card (FX and Canal Combate)
Anistavio Medeiros vs Rodrigo Damm
Prediction: Anistávio Gasparzinho
Delson Heleno vs Francisco Massaranduba
Prediction: Delson Pé de Chumbo
John Teixeira vs Hugo Viana
Prediction: Hugo Wolverine
Thiago Perpétuo vs Leonardo Mafra
Prediction: Thiago Bodão
Under card (Facebook)
Marcos “Vina” Borges vs Wagner Galeto
Prediction: Wagner Galeto
Felipe Arantes vs Milton Vieira
Prediction: Miltinho Vieira