Brazilian Radar: Aieza Bertolso choke-out tops action-heavy MMA weekend

The Memorial Day weekend was a slow couple of days for MMA fans in the United States with no UFC and PFL events, but fight fans were offered plenty of action in MMA brasileiro.

LFA’s latest trip to Brazil took place at a high-end resort in Cuiaba, and where highly-touted strawweight prospect—and two-time IMMAF world champion—Aieza Bertolso improved her winning streak to 20 with a third-round submission of ONE veteran Samara Santos. The 23-year-old talent is now 6-0 as a pro with four finishes.

Later that night, Fighting Nerds welterweight Reginaldo Junior improved to 10-1 with an 88-second knockout of Gilberto Sousa. He’s now won four in a row, three of those via first-round finish. In the lightweight division, Juan Pablo Vieira improved to 4-0 under the LFA banner and 9-0 overall with a slick first-round armbar of Carlos Cavalcante.

In the co-main event of LFA 209, Joseilton Santos folded previously unbeaten Carlos Petruzzella with a monster right hand late in Round 1. The 28-year-old welterweight, who’s made a career in the regional scene in his home state of Bahia, has definitely caught the attention of the promotion in his debut.

On the early prelims, Cuiaba’s own Neto Lopes left Lucas Farias unconscious with a perfect spinning wheel kick a minute into the fight. Lopes is now 4-0 as a pro with a 100 percent finishing rate. Matheus Severino, Chute Boxe talent and brother of UFC veteran Igor Severino, scored his 14th pro victory with a first-round ground-and-pound knockout of Jose Carlos Lima.

While LFA relied on rising prospects, Thunder Fight called a veteran of the ring to headline its Saturday show in Sao Paulo as 71-fight veteran Jorge Patino “Macaco” made short work of overmatched 1-3 fighter Clayton Monteiro in Round 1.

In the co-main event, Caio Machado knocked out Everton Vasconcelos in his first fight back from an 0-3 run under the UFC banner. Israeli fighter Sean Pero, who moved to Brazil to train with the Fighting Nerds in Sao Paulo, floored Renan Gama with a head kick to go 6-1 as a pro.

Earlier that night, Chute Boxe’s Ryan Butantan made cornerman Charles Oliveira with a slick kneebar.

Over at Jungle Fight 136 in Sao Paulo, Laura Vasconcelos blasted through Laura Fontoura to defend her strawweight championship, while Vanderlei Gonçalves stopped Anderson Nascimento to unify the welterweight titles.

A flyweight bout between Guilherme Alves and Douglas Silva ended in controversy after Alves scored the knockout in 31 seconds, but replay showed the strike that left Silva out was an illegal knee. Alves was declared the winner by knockout, but the promotion overturned it to a no-contest on Monday.

Manuela Vitoria won her pro debut when a kick to the body has Lara Gouterres hurt in the first.

Chingis Idrissov, a Pitbull Brothers’ protégé from Kazakhstan, successfully debuted as a professional at Brasil Grand Champion 5 in Paraiba, finishing Valdeno Brito via first-round TKO.

The event also saw violent finishes for Rodrigo Araujo, Kleybson Costa and Everson Souza.

Also on Saturday night, SFT held its 56th card in Brasilia topped by two title fights. In the headliner, Irwing Machado successfully defended his belt in violent fashion, knocking Rafael Celestino out cold in the first.

Bianca Sattelmayer won a five-round decision over ONE Championship veteran Dayane Cardoso to claim the vacant strawweight belt in the co-main event and the undercard was action-packed one with several nasty finishes.

Elismar Lima entered the cage for his 51st professional fight and stopped Alan Silverio in 77 seconds, while Wildemar Santos forced Marcos Atila to tap with a rear-naked choke in under three minutes.

Raul Soares and Altamiro Neto also secured nice knockouts, dismantling Leonardo Ribeiro and Diego Costa for TKO victories.