Antônio Carlos. UFC.

The winner of the third season of TUF Brazil, Antônio Carlos Jr. is doing great in the UFC. Riding the momentum of two consecutive wins in the middleweight division, he will be looking to add to that against American Erik Spicely come June 3rd in Rio de Janeiro.

“The expectation is very good for this fight,” Antônio Carlos told Graciemag. “I think he has a very similar game to mine, a BJJ game, which is where I feel the most comfortable. All I want now is to achieve a good sequence of wins in the organization to really get where I want to go, which is the top of the division.”

The 26-year-old from the state of Bahia has been living in the U.S. for two years, sharpening his skills at American Top Team, and feels confident about extending his successful phase, kicking off 2017 in much the same way he wrapped up 2016. “I always try to evolve in the points where I think I still make mistakes, to improve with each fight and show people that I’m evolving as a fighter,” he said. “I think last year was one of a lot of growth, and certainly this year will be one of many wins.”

Antônio Carlos’s last fight in his home country took place in 2014, when he beat his heavyweight competition in TUF Brazil. “I’m super happy to go back to fight in Brazil,” he said. “I know I will have the whole crowd on my side, and many relatives and friends will be present. This gives me extra energy. Besides, I’m on a card featuring Anderson Silva and José Aldo, who was my training partner at the time I trained at Nova União — a great, very talented guy. Anderson is the biggest idol Brazil has ever had in MMA. He is the greatest of all time. I’ve never fought on the same card as him, so I’m very happy for that too. This is a promising card. UFC 212 will be, God willing, all wins for Brazil and joy for the Brazilian people.”

UFC 212
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
June 3, 2017

José Aldo vs. Max Holloway
Anderson Silva vs. Kelvin Gastelum
Cláudia Gadelha vs. Karolina Kowalkiewicz
Erick Silva vs. Yancy Medeiros
Léo Santos vs. Olivier Aubin-Mercier
Johnny Eduardo vs. Mathew Lopez
Marco Beltrán vs. Deiveson Alcântara
Antônio Carlos Jr. vs. Eric Spicely
Paulo Borrachinha vs. Oluwale Bamgbose

He faced Garry Tonon, who had been on a fantastic roll, at no-gi BJJ event Submission Underground 3.

After controlling the nape of Tonon’s neck, Carlos Jr. jumped and applied a nice flying triangle. With his opponent then on the ground, Carlos Jr. made all the adjustments and achieved the tap-out.

Check it out in the video.

AJ Agazarm and Dillon Danis. GRACIEMAG

The third edition of Submission Underground, held last night in Portland, Oregon, saw a main event between Dillon Danis and Aj Agazarm. Danis beat Agazarm in overtime. He had already performed better on regular time, attempting several takedowns and some leg attacks. Afterwards he challenged former UFC champion Jon Jones.

The co-main event saw Antônio Carlos “Cara de Sapato” Jr. achieve a nice submission on Garry Lee Tonon. The duel was a standup affair for a good while, until Carlos Jr. performed a flying triangle to force the tap-out.

Another great match saw UFC’s Chad Mendes defeat showman Jeff Glover. As usual, Glover got the crowd cheering with his acrobatics. But that was to no avail, as Glover sank a rear naked choke in overtime

The opening bout saw Gordon Ryan submit Joe Baize via armlock. To get to the submission, Ryan took Baize’s back and transitioned to the arm, ending the match before overtime could kick in.

Garry Tonon and Antônio Carlos Jr.

Submission Underground 3’s card has had another change. BJJ black-belt Garry Tonon, who was at first going to fight Hector Lombar and then Chael Sonnen, now has a brand new opponent lined up. He will face UFC athlete Antônio Carlos “Cara de Sapato” Jr.

Lombard bowed out after having his next UFC bout scheduled for February. Promoter Chael Sonnen then recruited himself for his place, but Bellator, with whom Sonnen is signed, removed him from the card. So Submission Underground invited Antônio Carlos Jr., a brown belt world BJJ champion who regularly spars with Rodolfo Vieira at American Top Team.

SUG 3 is slated for Jan. 29 at the Roseland Theater in Portland, Oregon, and will also feature Dillon Danis vs. AJ Agazarm and Chad Mendes vs. Jeff Glover.

Cara de Sapato e Serginho Moraes em fotos de Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Três dias repletos de MMA para os amantes de luta. Até sábado, três eventos do Ultimate serão realizados no MGM Arena, em Las Vegas, com o duelo entre José Aldo e McGregor sendo o ponto alto da semana repleta de combates.

Para abrir os trabalhos, hoje teremos o UFC encabeçado pelo duelo entre Rose Namajunas e Paige VanZant. Quatro brasileiros integram o card, dois deles antigos conhecidos das páginas de GRACIEMAG: Serginho Moraes, faixa-preta da Alliance e Antônio Carlos Cara de Sapato, faixa-preta da Checkmat.

Bicampeão mundial de Jiu-Jitsu, Serginho (9v, 2d) vem embalado por três vitórias seguidas no UFC, sendo duas delas por finalização, e tem pela frente o russo oriundo do sambô Omari Akhmedov (15v, 2d), que possui cinco finalizações em sua carreira.

Já Cara de Sapato (5v, 1d) acumula quatro vitórias por finalização em sua jovem carreira no MMA, e apenas uma derrota. Agora em novo peso, após estrear de pesado no TUF Brasil 4, lutar de meio-pesado e finalmente chegar aos médios, Cara de Sapato terá pela frente Kevin Casey (9v, 3d, 1nc), que é ex-campeão até 84kg do RFA e tem no cartel três nocautes, três finalizações e três vitórias por decisão.

Além dos atletas formados no Jiu-Jitsu, teremos ainda no card os brasileiros Thiago Marreta e Johnny Eduardo, além do argentino radicado no Brasil Santiago Ponzinibbio. Confira abaixo o card completo e dê seus palpites!

UFC: Namajunas x VanZant
10 de dezembro de 2015
MGM Grand Arena, Las Vegas, Nevada

Peso-palha: Rose Namajunas x Paige VanZant
Peso-leve: Jim Miller x Michael Chiesa
Peso-leve: Sage Northcutt x Cody Pfister
Peso-médio: Elias Theodorou x Thiago Marreta

Card preliminar

Peso meio-médio: Tim Means x John Howard
Peso meio-médio: Omari Akhmedov x Sérgio Moraes
Peso médio: Antônio Carlos Cara de Sapato x Kevin Casey
Peso-galo: Aljamain Sterling x Johnny Eduardo
Peso meio-médio: Santiago Ponzinibbio x Andreas Stahl
Peso meio-médio: Nathan Coy x Danny Roberts
Peso-pena: Zubaira Tukhugov x Phillipe Nover
Peso-palha: Kailin Curran x Emily Kagan

TUF Brasil 3 Final
Ginásio do Ibirapuera, São Paulo
31 de maio de 2014

Fabio Maldonado x Stipe Miocic
Antônio “Cara de Sapato” x Vitor Miranda
Warlley Alves x Marcio Lyoto
Demian Maia x Alexander Yakovlev
Rony Jason x Robbie Peralta

Card preliminar

Elias Silverio x Ernest Chavez
Rodrigo Damm x Rashid Magomedov
Paulo Thiago x Gasan Umalatov
Kevin Souza x Mark Eddiva
Marcos Rogério “Pezão” x Rick Monstro
Ricardo Demente x Wagner “Wagnão” Silva
Pedro Munhoz x Matt Hobar