TUF Brazil Finale 2 hit a last-minute low.

With a little more than a day from his clash against Derek Brunson, Ronny Markes was involved in a car accident and is unable to get into the UFC Octagon for his fight with Derek Brunson. As a result, the fight has been canceled.

GRACIEMAG heard from sources close to the fighter talking with Markes’ coach, Dede Pederneiras, minimizing the severity of the accident and noting that it went without serious injury.

UFC president Dana White said in an interview with  MMAJunkie  that the two athletes will receive the their fight night purses, regardless of the fight’s cancelation.

Rodrigo Minotauro, the truck driver Jubervaldo Vieira and Rogério Minotouro (Photo by Rafael Honório/Globoesporte.com)

Truck driver Jubervaldo Vieira shouldered some serious emotional weight for 25 years.

This month, thanks to efforts of the Brazilian television show “Esporte Espetacular,” the farmer from the Northeastern Brazilian town of Paramirim finally caught up with the kid whose misfortune it was to end up under the wheels of his truck after an ill-fated children’s party in the town of Vitória da Conquista, in the Brazilian state of Bahia.

“You didn’t come here to rough me up, did you?” Viera told Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira,

The accident, as reported by GRACIEMAG, occurred in August, 1987. It was meant to have been a festive weekend, but it didn’t end up that way.

“The kids were all playing in the trailer of a parked truck. When the motor turned on, the truck started to roll down the hill and I thought it would go forward, but he quickly put it in reverse. I was lucky to get my head out of the way before the wheel rolled over me,” Minotauro once told GRACIEMAG.

Nogueira ended up spending four days in a coma and over a year in hospital, in a discouraging state. The then-judoka recalled the support he had from his father, brother, family friends and the doctors at the hospital.

“It was worse than any fight I could be in. I remember it like it’s today. I was on my father’s lap in the back of the car going to the hospital, him giving me the strength I needed to live ‘You have to be strong, my son. You’re still young; you have to overcome this… You still have so much life ahead of you,’” Nogueira said on the the television program.

Martial arts rejoined Mino’s life to help him overcome a limp he had and strengthened the injured youth’s body.

Following the accident, Vieira remained an old friend of the Nogueira family. He’s now recovered from the shock of that day’s events.

“What happened was unfortunate, but it was a special victory for you,” Vieira told Nogueira. “Though it wasn’t my fault what happened, as you know, it was a victory for your family and especially for you, the one injured in the accident.”

If you haven’t seen it yet, click here to watch the program in Portuguese by journalists Rafael Honório, Régis Rösing and Daniel Andrade.

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visit GRACIEMAG.com’s Choke MMA section

Vitor Belfort in Rio de Janeiro UFC publicity photo

“In the UFC, there are guys who train more and others who train less. I dedicate myself 100% in training, so the result is 100%”

Anderson Silva

“In the arm-and-neck choke, once I get my elbow around—whether I’m in the mount, half-guard or sometimes in side-control—I’m really close to finishing. I try really focusing on not losing that elbow during the whole process. I use that entire part of my body to keep the pressure on. The most important thing, though, is to readjust the shoulder against the opponent’s neck, right after passing his arm over to the other side of his head”

Bráulio Estima, just after his MMA debut, against Chris Holland at Titan FC

“My father was my hero”

Wanderlei Silva, after his father’s tragic death in an accident on a Brazilian highway

“I know the betting lines have me as the underdog at UFC 152 [against Jon Jones]. But I make my own odds”

Vitor Belfort

Wanderlei Silva and father Holando in Curitiba earlier this year / Photo taken from internet

At around 5 pm last Sunday, Holando Silva, 63,  died in a powerful collision on a stretch of highway PR 090 in Castro, 156 km outside of Curitiba, Brazil. A few hours later his family telephoned his son Wanderlei in Las Vegas to inform him of the tragedy.

Holando was driving a Ford F-1000 and hit a Corsa head on. The two drivers died on impact, and the force of the collision was such that it totaled the pickup truck and sent it into a ravine. Three other people, including two children, were injured.

Holando was returning to his home in the Abapan District, where he had lived happily for the last nine years after retiring from running the bar at which Wand worked as a young man.

The UFC and Pride FC star arrived in Brazil early morning on Tuesday for the wake and burial at Abapan Cemetery, near the site of the accident. Wand was welcomed by hordes of fans and onlookers, thanked them and spoke in tribute to his father: “He was my hero,” he is reported as saying on the Portal Ponta Grossa website.

In the GRACIEMAG.com comments section, one reader provided a synthesis of the sentiments of his fans: “Wand, again it is time for you to show that you’re stronger than life!”

The GRACIEMAG team sends its heartfelt condolences to the black belt and his family.

Wanderlei Silva at UFC 147, in Belo Horizonte, Brazil / Photo by Victor Gruzman/GRACIEMAG

UFC star Wanderlei Silva, 36, took the worst blow to the gut there is last Sunday, when his father, Holando Pinheiro da Silva, died in a car accident in the Brazilian state of Paraná.

According to BandNews, the first television network to report the tragedy, Holando was in a car accident this Sunday on the road from the town of Castro to Abapã, where he owned a ranch. The car he was in collided head on with another car, the driver of which also died on impact. A child was severely injured and taken to the nearest hospital.

Wanderlei was informed of his father’s passing by family members who called him in Las Vegas, where he had been having a happy time expecting to take part on the October UFC Rio card, and where he recently had an encounter with another fighting legend, Mike Tyson. Wanderlei will arrive in Brazil today for the burial.

Five days ago, Wand posted a video on his blog, revealing a meeting with his father and thanking his “boss” for all he had done for him. Watch the footage of the father and son together:

“I haven’t the words to thank you all for your support. We end up not knowing what to do, but it’s at times like this that we know who is on our side. Thank you very much,” Wand posted in Portuguese over Twitter.

A wave of solidarity poured over the microblog following the news, with dozens of Jiu-Jitsu and UFC fighters sending their condolences to the former Pride middleweight champion throughout the night.

The tragedy that befell the Silva family is something cruelly recurrent in Brazil. Recent statistics show that 65 people die on Brazilian highways per day. Forty thousand people die in traffic accidents in the country each year.

The GRACIEMAG team sends its deepest condolences to Wanderlei and his team.

Friendship, health, surpassing limits – synonyms for the Jiu-Jitsu lifestyle, as proven by the promotion via Twitter. Photo: Ally Almeida.

How has Jiu-Jitsu changed your life? That’s what the champ @PabloPopovitch asked via Twitter, offering a year’s subscription to GRACIEMAG and a limited edition T-shirt for the two best answers and a six-month subscription to the best Jiu-Jitsu magazine on the planet to the third-, fourth- and fifth-place responses.

The big winner was Branden Hussey, otherwise known as @El_Bandido.

He tweeted: “3-limb amputee with muscular dystrophy. No longer in therapy due to BJJ. Flexibility great now. Got green belt Saturday.”

Second place went to João Souza, @JoaoStil:

“I always practiced sports, but after a car accident I lost the use of my foot, Jiu-Jitsu brought me back to life!”

In third, Leoni Munslow, @She_ra_leoni:

“JJ has given me the belief that I can achieve, learn, laugh, love and succeed with a team of friends by my side”.

In fourth, @dimebag4510:

“BJJ has taught me to believe in myself! Stand up for myself, and to walk through life with my head held high!”,

In fifth, Master Adilson Higa, who often features here on GRACIEMAG.com. @AdilsonHigaDorv:

“JJ changed my life in 2009 when I sufferered a motorcycle accident and had my arm amputated. Now I have 11 titles in 11 tournaments.”

“The main idea of the promotion was to, in a creative way, make known how Jiu-Jitsu can truly change a person’s life,” remarked Popovitch, our GMA in Florida. “There were many emotion-filled messages. It was a lot of work but was worth it!”

Pablo will contact the winners via Twitter to award them. Congratulations to all who participated.

Bruno (second from left) at the recent 2010 Pan

Our GMA member Bruno Paulista, black belt and head instructor at Ralph Gracie OC, in California, suffered a car accident last Thursday.

Paulista was in Florianopolis, his hometown in Southern Brazil, when his car slipped off a curve at Morro da Lagoa.

More info at the GMA Blog.