A week after UFC 142, where José Aldo will be looking to bring joy to the denizens of his adoptive city of Rio, the MMA show will continue in Rio de Janeiro.
On January 21, Jungle Fight will head up the hill to the Rocinha favela, with a card meant to launch up-and-coming local talent. In 2011, Wallid Ismail held a ballyhooed event at the favelas Cidade de Deus [setting for movie “City of God”] and Mangueira, communities that were pacified by the Rio de Janeiro city government. Ancelmo Góis broke the news in his column in “O Globo” newspaper.
“We’re going to kick butt in 2012. The news for this event is that there will be an inter-favela competition. Fighters can already start signing up for it on the Jungle website. The winner in Rocinha will be back to face fighters from other Rio de Janeiro communities, and the champion will go on to become a new MMA star. It will be historic. The aim of this joint effort with the UPPs (Police pacification units) is to make the fighters into the kids’ heroes, not the wrongdoers,” Wallid told GRACIEMAG.com, adding that it is his dream to get Jungle Fight on to network TV.
