Mike Rio arrocha o armlock em John Cofer. Foto: UFC/Divulgação.

O TUF 16 Finale presenteou o fã do bom Jiu-Jitsu com uma noite recheada de golpes da arte suave, além de nocautes no varejo.

TJ Waldburger ficou com o bônus de melhor finalização, após apagar Nick Catone num triângulo. Pat Barry faturou o prêmio de melhor nocaute. Já a surra de Tim Elliott no resistente Jared Papazian foi eleita pelo UFC como luta da noite.

Confira, abaixo, os principais movimentos que rolaram no octagon montado no Hard Rock Hotel, em Las Vegas.

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UFC – TUF Finale 16

Las Vegas, Nevada, EUA

15 de dezembro de 2012

Roy Nelson derrotou Matt Mitrione por nocaute técnico aos 2min58s do R1

Colton Smith derrotou Mike Ricci por decisão unânime dos jurados

Pat Barry derrotou Shane del Rosario por nocaute técnico aos 26s do R2

Dustin Poirier finalizou Jonathan Brookins no triângulo de mão aos 4min15s do R1

Card Preliminar (Fuel TV)

Mike Pyle derrotou James Head por nocaute técnico (joelhada e socos) a 1min55s

Johnny Bedford derrotou Marcos Vina por nocaute a 1min do R2

Rustam Khabilov derrotou Vinc Pichel por nocaute (suplê) a 2min15s

TJ Waldburger apagou Nick Catone no triângulo a 1min04s do R2

Card Preliminar (Facebook)

Hugo Wolverine nocauteou Reuben Duran aos 4min05s

Mike Rio finalizou John Cofer na chave de braço da guarda aos 4min11s do R3

Tim Elliott derrotou Jared Papazian na decisão unânime dos jurados

Urijah Faber e Renan Barão na conferência de imprensa do UFC 149. Foto: UFC/Divulgação

O Combate transmite o UFC 149 a partir das 19h45m de sábado, e o prato principal é a disputa entre o brasileiro Renan Barão (30v, 1d) e o americano Urijah Faber (26v, 5d), desafio que vale o título interino peso-galo. Se sair vitorioso, Barão será o quarto brasileiro campeão do UFC, já que Junior Cigano (pesado), Anderson Silva (médio) e José Aldo (pena) também guardam seus cinturões em casa. Para esquentar o público, o canal de lutas da Globosat exibe, a partir das 19h de sexta-feira, a pesagem oficial do evento.

“Faber tem pontos fortes, mas todos que estão no UFC também têm. Minha equipe estudou muito bem o jogo dele, mas admito que o meu foco foi aprimorar as minhas habilidades, evoluir no que deveria melhorar. Isso me faz sentir mais completo para o combate”, avisa Barão, atleta do Rio Grande do Norte, que não sabe o que é perder desde 2005.

“Quero que a galera saiba que estou aqui para representar o nosso país e todos os amantes do esporte no Brasil. Me esforcei ao máximo nos treinos e vou dar o meu melhor na luta. Se Deus quiser, vou voltar para casa com esse cinturão na bagagem!”, completa Renan.

Além da luta entre Barão e Faber, que é ex-campeão do WEC, outros desafios do card prometem. Na segunda luta principal, o cubano Hector Lombard (31v, 2d, 1e) encara o americano Tim Boetsch (15v, 4d). Apesar de ser estreante em UFCs, Lombard não perde há 25 lutas (desde 2006) e é apontado como possível desafiante de Anderson Silva pelo título de médios, caso saia vitorioso neste sábado. Mesmo após declarações de que quer lutar com Mark Muñoz depois dessa, o triunfo vale muito para o atleta, que já nocauteou 17 vezes e finalizou outras sete na carreira.

Confira a pesagem aqui também no GRACIEMAG.com, ao vivo a partir das 19h (16h em Calgary):

O UFC no Canadá terá 11 lutas, todas transmitidas pelo Combate. A equipe do canal será formada por Rhoodes Lima na narração e Luciano Andrade nos comentários. A partir das 21h, os desafios também entram ao vivo no Combate HD. Acompanhe os comentários do UFC sempre pelo nosso Twitter, o @graciemag_br.

Confira o card de lutas:

UFC 149
Calgary, Canadá
21 de julho de 2012

CARD PRINCIPAL

Urijah Faber vs Renan Barão
Hector Lombard vs Tim Boetsch
Cheick Kongo vs Shawn Jordan
James Head vs Brian Ebersole
Chris Clements vs Matt Riddle

CARD PRELIMINAR
Court McGee vs Nick Ring
Roland Delorme vs Francisco Rivera
Ryan Jimmo vs Anthony Perosh
Bryan Caraway vs Mitch Gagnon
Daniel Pineda vs Antonio Carvalho
Mitch Clarke vs Anton Kuivanen

Lovato sinking a guillotine at Abu Dhabi World Pro / Photos: personal archives

Lovato says it was a good match. The matches were only six minutes long and he started behind on points, but that didn’t sway him. “He took me down with a big takedown,” he says, “That was a little difficult for me because my plan was to take him down first. So I had to battle back from that. I caught him in two guillotine sweeps and won 4-2.”

Lovato says it was a great feeling. Interestingly, he says he trains very little No-Gi and is not focused on his no Gi Jiu-Jitsu game. He says he just competed in it as a warm up for the gi competition the following weekend. Unfortunately, the next weekend didn’t go so well. “I had a few issues with referee calls,” he says, “I managed to take third place in the Gi division, but felt like I should have been in finals.”

Disappointed, Lovato returned to Oklahoma but didn’t stop training in preparation for the Worlds. “I went right back to work,” he says, “I’ve been training with my students and a good friend of mine, Johannes Wieth, who came to Oklahoma from Germany to train with me for the Worlds. He’s really good. He’s a brown belt European Champion.” Lovato says he’s getting good training, doing a lot of drilling, Judo, grip training, and conditioning.

Although Lovato wishes he could have had a better performance at the Abu Dhabis, he says it was good preparation for the Worlds. “It was good to win next to Xande (Ribeiro). He won his No-Gi division as well, but unfortunately he got injured in the gi. He’s out of the Worlds now.”

Rewatch Lovato against Rodolfo Vieira at the Abu Dhabi World Pro:

Although Ribeiro is out of the Worlds, he and Matt Jubera are flying out to Oklahoma to lead Lovato’s last week of training camp in an effort to perfect his and his students’ games for the big event. “He’s going to lead the camp, analyze my performance, and help me with any last minute details that need work,” Lovato says, “That will finish up our training.”

Lovato's team after Dallas Open, laden with medals

Lovato’s team, on the whole, has been doing quite well. “My team took third at the Dallas Open. With 34 competitors, we won 31 medals.” Lovato himself just received his ADCC invitation. “I will be in London in September,” he says, “But my main concern is the Worlds.”

Lovato wants to become world champion again. “I’ve done it once and I know what a great feeling it is,” he says, “It’s all I’m thinking about every day. When you dream about it and work so hard to achieve it, there’s no greater feeling. I want to have the best performance possible. The last twelve years of my life have been about winning the Gi Jiu-Jitsu Worlds.”

Besides his Worlds training, Lovato has some other exciting news to share. “One of my purple belts is making his UFC debut after the Worlds. His name is James Head.”

Head was recently signed by the UFC to fight on the undercard on June 11 in Vancouver. “I’m going up there to corner him,” Lovato says, “I’m really excited about that. He just beat Gerald Harris and now he’s going to face Nick Ring.”

Head started boxing when he was a teenager and has good experience. He had a few fights before he started training with Lovato. “I got him focused on Jiu-Jitsu,” Lovato says, “He’d never formally trained in it before. He got really good really fast. He took second at the Worlds as a blue belt after a year and a half of training. I gave him his purple belt and then he took second at the No-Gi Worlds. Then he defeated Gerald Harris and now he’s ready to go to the big show.”

Lovato’s good friend Mauricio “Veio” Amado, a Chute Box muay thai black belt (along with his brother Dida), has been helping Lovato get Head ready for his fight. “He’s a natural,” Lovato says about Head, “Nick Ring is undefeated. He’s Canadian and the fight will be in his hometown, but I know what James is capable of and I think this is going to be a great matchup.”

Lovato is also happy about the opening of another new academy, this time in Salem, Oregon. “The teachers who run it are very high-level competitors: Ben Baxter and James Puopolo,” he says. Puopolo has been visible on the competition scene recently, having won the ADCC trials in San Diego and his division at the Pan. He came in second in the open.

(from left) Ben Baxter, Rafael and James Puopolo

Lovato says he’s known Baxter and Puopolo for a few years. “We are really close,” he says, “They are great guys. They just opened their academy in March. I went there to officially recognize them as a Lovato Jiu Jitsu Association school. The name of their school is Salem-Keizer Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.”

Things are going well for Lovato. “My academy in Oklahoma is expanding,” he says, “I bought the building next to us and we are doing some remodeling. I will have a total of 6500 sq. feet.” Lovato now has over 200 students at his school and offers Jiu-Jitsu classes to kids and adults, including Gi and No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu, and muay thai and MMA training. For further information, check out www.okbjj.com and  www.facebook.com/lovatojr.