The fighters are told that after mingling with the ring card girls, they will have to rate each one of them, and the eight card ring card girls that receive the highest ratings will remain in the show, while the others will be eliminated.
Once all the fighters submitted their ratings, the eight ring card girls were selected. The eight to make it were Patricia Andrade, Fernanda, Rafaela Machado, Tais, Camila, Ana Cecilia, Wendy, and Francine.
Up next, Wanderlei Silva made the first fight selection which pits Wagner Gomes, a member of his team, against Team Sonnen’s Joilton Santos in a middleweight bout.
Leading up to their fight, we learn that Wagner Gomes started off his martial arts career with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu as a kid, while Joilton Santos has been throwing up several teams in the lead-up to his fight due to nerves.
Both, Wagner Gomes and Joilton Santos, weigh in successfully for their middleweight bout. The fight took place next with Rafaela Machado as the ring card girl, and Wagner Gomes was able to win a close, split decision in a fight that went three rounds.
Joilton Santos was in control in the first round. Santos was able to be in dominant positions for a longer period of time in the frame and scored with the more effective striking output as well as work the clinch.
In the latter two periods, Wagner Gomes found his second wind and used takedowns, submission attempts, and pressure to edge out both rounds to win the fight on two of the three judges’ scorecards.
With the first quarterfinal fight in the books, Wagner Gomes is the first middleweight to advance to the semifinals.