The third season of The Ultimate Fighter Brazil, which pits Wanderlei Silva against Chael Sonnen, kicked off with some information about the season.
There are 32 fighters, 16 heavyweights and 16 middleweights, contending to win the show.
Also, both teams will have a female coach that will serve as an advisor of sorts. Team Sonnen’s coach is Hortencia Marcari, a former Olympic basketball player, while Team Silva’s coach is Isabel Salgado, a volleyball star in Brazil. And lastly, alongside the fighting competition will be a ring card girl contest that will find a new ring card girl.
Dana White then began hyping up the rivalry between Sonnen and Silva, saying that it was the greatest feud in Ultimate Fighter history.
After both coaches talked to the 32 fighters, the elimination round, where the cast is weened down to 16, began.
The first fight was in the heavyweight division, and it pitted Goncalo Salgado (7-2), a Portuguese fighter that is friends with soccer superstar Cristiano Ronaldo, against Job Kleber (3-1), a Brazilian cop. Salgado controlled the early goings of the fight, taking Kleber down and being the aggressor on the feet, but Kleber dropped Salgado with a right and teed him off with a head kick to elicit a first round stoppage from the referee.
That bout was followed up by 22-year-old middleweight Paulo Costa (3-0), and his bleached hair, submitting Jose Roberto (5-0, 1 NC) in the second round with a guillotine choke that came after a failed takedown takedown attempt by Roberto.
Next, Jollyson Francisco (2-0, 2 NC) won a heavyweight tilt when forced Ewerton Rocha (3-1) to tap out to an arm-triangle choke in the first frame. Francisco dominated the entire fight after a successful takedown early on in the bout.
That was followed by a middleweight fight between 21-year-old Joilton Santos (9-2, 1 NC) and Douglas Moura (3-1), who is married to a female boxer named Duda Yankovich that was lost a boxing bout to Holly Holm in 2009. After two back-and-forth rounds, the contest went to an extra round that played out just as close as the first two, but Santos was given the split decision.
The heavyweights returned to the forefront with Edgard Castaldelli (12-4) finishing Felipe Dantas (5-0) in the second round with a barrage of ground and pound. Castaldelli was able to take down Dantas in both periods and use his jiu-jitsu to maintain top position. He also didn’t look to shabby on the feet, defending the powerful combinations that came from Dantas.
Wagner Silva (3-0) would then advance to the next round of the middleweight tournament by submitting Cristiano Pontes (4-1) in the first round with a rear-naked choke. Silva scored with a single-leg on Pontes against the cage, transitioned to from dominant position to dominant position and eventually latched on the fight-concluding choke.
The final middleweight bout in this episode saw Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu world champion Ricardo Abreu (4-0) finish William Steindorf (3-0) with a ground and pound in the second round. Abreu showcased his jiu-jitsu in the first round, nearly earning a tap from Steindorf thanks to a tight arm-bar.
Lastly, Antonio Carlos Jr. (3-0) topped Guilherme Viana (4-1) in the first round of their heavyweight affair with big overhand right and then a pair of finishing punches.
After one episode, the heavyweights that advanced to the next round of the The Ultimate Fighter Brazil were Job Kleber, Jollyson Francisco, Edgard Castaldelli and Antonio Carlos Jr., and the middleweights that got past the elimination round were Paulo Costa, Joilton Santos, Wagner Silva and Ricardo Abreu.