Anderson Silva talks to reporters . UFC publicity photo.

This Saturday the UFC sets up shop at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro for the third time. And with the likes of Anderson Silva, Minotauro, Glover Teixeira, Erick Silva, Demian Maia and more all on the card, the venue is sure to rage at fever pitch.

And you get to watch the traditional pre-event press conference today, here on GRACIEMAG.com, starting at 5 PM GMT.

Click below to watch.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9BMP5JDB3Q

UFC Rio 3
HSBC Arena, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
October 13, 2012

Anderson Silva vs Stephan Bonnar
Rodrigo Minotauro vs Dave Herman
Glover Teixeira vs Fábio Maldonado
Jon Fitch vs Erick Silva
Wagner Caldeirão vs Phil Davis
Demian Maia vs Rick Story
Rony Jason vs Sam Sicilia
Gleison Tibau vs Francisco Massaranduba
Diego Brandão vs Joey Gambino
Serginho Moraes vs Renée Forte
Luiz Banha vs Chris Camozzi
Cristiano Marcello vs Reza Madadi

Demian Maia at 2010 seminar in São Paulo / Photo by Carlos Ozório/GRACIEMAG

This Saturday, fans who visit Rio de Janeiro’s HSBC Arena will get treated to the third UFC Rio show, and among the stars of the evening is Jiu-Jitsu champion Demian Maia, who takes on Rick Story in a welterweight pairing.

In the following video taken at a seminar of his in São Paulo, Maia teaches how to replace guard. Give it a watch and see if you can pull off one of the moves that helped springboard Demian to UFC stardom.

UFC Rio 3
HSBC Arena, Rio de Janeiro
October 13, 2012

Anderson Silva vs Stephan Bonnar
Rodrigo Minotauro vs Dave Herman
Glover Teixeira vs Fábio Maldonado
Jon Fitch vs Erick Silva
Wagner Caldeirão vs Phil Davis
Demian Maia vs Rick Story
Rony Jason vs Sam Sicilia
Gleison Tibau vs Francisco Massaranduba
Diego Brandão vs Joey Gambino
Serginho Moraes vs Renée Forte
Luiz Banha vs Chris Camozzi
Cristiano Marcello vs Reza Madadi

The terror room in Curitiba / Picture originally posted on Twitter

Having taken to Twitter to plead for a spot at UFC Rio, Jiu-Jitsu black belt Cristiano Marcello saw his request fulfilled in the form of a matchup against Sweden’s Reza Madadi at the HSBC Arena this October 13.

The Rio de Janeiro native was a participant on season 15 of the TUF reality show and ended up getting knocked out by Sam Sicilia on what was his octagon debut. Now, he’s seeking his first win in the UFC.

To do so, the former Chute Boxe rep is training balls to the wall in Curitiba, facing a daily rote he has dubbed “the room of terror”.

“I’m training with my physical conditioning coach, who’s turning out to be a great trainer. It truly is a room of terror. Truth is, we’ve been doing some precious work on improving my explosiveness and agility. I’m stoked. Functional training together with weights has been great,” said the Jiu-Jitsu professor.

“I’ve been practicing everything I can—lots of Thai boxing with Bruno Carvalho [an M-1 fighter], wrestling with Marcelo Zulu and grappling with my black belt Ocimar Costa,” added the brown belt bronze medalist at the 1999 and 2000 World Championships.

Always remembered for the triangle he used to subdue an enraged Charles “Krazy Horse” Bennet behind the scenes at Pride FC, Cristiano remains confident in his Jiu-Jitsu, which is useful in any danger situation he may find himself in.

“The truth is that in the dressing room at Pride I believed in my Jiu-Jitsu, and you have to believe you can do it. When you find yourself in an extreme situation, what works is what you trained; it’s your subconscious at work. My whole life I trained refined Jiu-Jitsu, and I managed to impose it in most of my fights; especially during that moment of danger,” he recalled, before explaining how he plans not to get caught off guard at the UFC event in Rio.

“You have to understand that in MMA the fight starts on the feet. Of course I plan to impose my game and take it to where I’m most confident, show my Jiu-Jitsu. Of course that’s what I want, but I’ll have to go through all kinds of turbulence to get there. I just hope I can put him through some turbulence first. He’s got sharp wrestling, doesn’t come from a striking background, but I know he’s going to want to keep it standing. Well I’m not going to avoid that. In the end, though, I want to impose my Jiu-Jitsu and welcome him with my triangle or armbar,” he revealed.

UFC 153 – ALDO VS EDGAR
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2012
HSBC ARENA, RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL

José Aldo vs Frankie Edgar
Quinton Rampage vs Glover Teixeira
Jon Fitch vs Erick Silva
Phil Davis vs Wagner Caldeirão
Demian Maia vs Rick Story
Rony Jason vs Sam Sicilia
Gabriel Napão vs Geronimo Mondragon
Diego Brandão vs Joey Gambino
Gleison Tibau vs Francisco Massaranduba
Sergio Moraes vs Renee Forte
Luiz Banha vs Chris Camozzi
Cristiano Marcello vs Reza Madadi

Glover Teixeira em luta contra o eventual campeão Dean Lister, no ADCC 2011 na Inglaterra. Foto: Arquivo GRACIEMAG

Undefeated in six years, Glover Teixeira will be looking to extend that streak even further next month, when he takes on Quinton “Rampage” Jackson at the October 13 UFC Rio 3 show; but he already has some pretty lofty plans for the medium term.

In an interview by Deb Blyth printed in last month’s GRACIEMAG, the Luigi Mondelli black belt addressed his goals, the ADCC and an obstacle called Quinton Jackson.

Check out the highlights of the interview below. And to make sure you don’t miss out on the best of what’s going on in the Jiu-Jitsu world and the UFC, click here to subscribe to GRACIEMAG and get interviews like this one delivered to your doorstep every month.

GRACIEMAG.com: How is training for your fight with Quinton “Rampage”Jackson going?

GLOVER TEIXEIRA: John Hackleman has been my main MMA coach since 2005. Before him I was straight Jiu-Jitsu. John taught me my striking. I owe everything to him. I have his style. He trains Chuck Liddell. It’s great to train with Chuck. He’s going to help me more closer to my fight against Rampage. He helps me with my sparring. Chuck knows my style more than anybody. He shows me wrestling, striking… He’s very experienced in MMA, so anything he says I believe him. He follows the sport. He’s not stuck back in the old school MMA game. He’s part of the new generation. He comes in with new and different things all the time—things I’ve never seen before. It’s great to have him here. He knows A LOT.

How do you think you match up against Rampage?

Great! We both like to strike, and we both like to control the octagon. It’s a great fight for the fans. People were asking me five years ago to fight him. It’s gonna be a great fight because of our styles. I’m very excited about this fight!

Would you say that you’ve become more of a striker than a grappler now?

No, I consider myself a mixed martial artist. I’ve never trained Jiu-Jitsu for straight competition. I do have my black belt, but when I started Jiu-Jitsu I already had MMA on my mind. I started training because of Royce Gracie. I watched him and wanted to do Jiu-Jitsu. Then, right after, I started wrestling and boxing. But I love No-Gi Jiu-Jitsu. I love ADCC rules and doing the Abu Dhabis. It’s like the UFC of Jiu-Jitsu. You have the best grapplers in the world there, and it’s a great place to test yourself. I would love to do it again.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Pissy0GHn0

Was your UFC debut, against Kyle Kingsbury, everything you expected?

When I was in the locker room, I was so happy. I said to my trainers, “This is it guys! This is what we train for. This is the day we’ve been waiting for… the big pay off!” I have fun fighting, no matter what. Yes, it’s the UFC. It’s a big show, with a big crowd. It’s a little more motivational with the crowd getting crazy, but I’m like an old school fighter; I just go and fight. I get in the cage, and if there are two people watching me, I don’t care. I’m excited for the fight, and I’m gonna get the knock out or the submission. I’m only focused on the fight 100%. Fighting in the UFC was different from what I was used to, though. It was so organized. But it doesn’t matter where or when I fight. I just want to fight.

Do you normally have to cut much weight for your fights?

Not too much, but that’s the worst part of any fight. I love to eat. I only had to cut 17 lbs last time. I usually walk around at about 230 lbs. I get down to about 220 lbs about two to three weeks before a fight and then cut the rest the week of. I know exactly the best way to cut weight for me. I’ve been doing this for a long time.

Are you strict about following a game plan or are you more of an intuitive, organic, go-with-the-flow kind of fighter?

You train a little for each fighter, but you’re not going to change your style too much for each guy. It’s the character you possess that’s going to dictate how you fight. So, you set a game plan, but you have to have a different plan for each fighter. You also have to be able to see opportunities as they arise, and that’s why you train so much and spar with so many different guys… good guys—so you learn to see opportunity. Then it’s easy to fill in the gaps. You start believing and you keep going. Experience has helped me develop confidence in my fighting.

What are your strengths compared to Rampage’s

My speed is going to control the pace. I’ll keep pushing him. He’s a tough guy, a great striker with great power. But I’m confident I’m gonna beat him.

If you win, where do you put yourself in line for a title shot?

It’s another step to see what’s going to happen with my manager and Dana White and Joe Silva. Whatever they give me I’ll be happy. The main thing is being the champ. And [Jon Jones] has the title right now, so yeah, I think about it. And I think I match up well against him.

What about you, do you agree with Glover?

UFC 153 – ALDO VS EDGAR
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2012
HSBC ARENA, RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL

José Aldo vs Frankie Edgar
Quinton Rampage vs Glover Teixeira
Jon Fitch vs Erick Silva
Phil Davis vs Wagner Caldeirão
Demian Maia vs Rick Story
Rony Jason vs Sam Sicilia
Gabriel Napão vs Geronimo Mondragon
Diego Brandão vs Joey Gambino
Gleison Tibau vs Francisco Massaranduba
Sergio Moraes vs Renee Forte
Luiz Banha vs Chris Camozzi
Cristiano Marcello vs Reza Madadi

José Aldo at UFC Rio 2 / UFC publicity photo

UFC Rio 3 promised to be an honest show, but a new, Jiu-Jitsu brown belt, call-up has elevated UFC 153 to super-event status. José Aldo will take on former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar, who stepped in for an injured Erick Koch.

André Pederneiras, the featherweight champion’s coach, took the news in stride. “I got a call from Sean Shelby, the UFC matchmaker, at around midnight. He said Erick Koch had gotten injured and that Frankie Edgar would take his place. I was surprised, if just because of the late hour, but seeing as there’s still enough time to change the strategy, even with his game being completely different from Koch’s, I feel we’ll be successful once again,” Dedé is quoted as saying on sportv.com.

“Now I’m going to sit down and rethink my plans regarding the athletes I imported—they’re southpaws and the old opponent’s height. What I’ll have to do is hire some wrestlers who’re as tall as Edgar is. Gray Maynard coming will be more important than ever. I feel Edgar will be just as fast at featherweight as he was at his old weight,” adds the coach.

This will be Edgar’s first fight at featherweight, having decided to drop a weight class following his second loss to Ben Henderson.

UFC Rio 3 is set to go down October 13 at the HSBC in Rio de Janeiro.

Check out how the card looks now:

UFC 153 – ALDO VS EDGAR
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 13, 2012
HSBC ARENA, BARRA DA TIJUCA, RIO DE JANEIRO

José Aldo vs Frankie Edgar
Quinton Rampage vs Glover Teixeira
Jon Fitch vs Erick Silva
Phil Davis vs Wagner Caldeirão
Demian Maia vs Rick Story
Rony Jason vs Sam Sicilia
Gabriel Napão vs Geronimo Mondragon
Diego Brandão vs Joey Gambino
Gleison Tibau vs Francisco Massaranduba
Sergio Moraes vs Renee Forte
Luiz Banha vs Chris Camozzi
Cristiano Marcello vs Reza Madadi

Quinton “Rampage” Jackson is in Brazil training to face Glover Teixeira. UFC publicity photo.

Jiu-Jitsu black belt and trainer Mario Sukata (12w, 5l) has some interesting ideas about MMA tactics. For example: “Everyone has a good strategy in the UFC, until taking the first punch to the face.”

The onetime UFC fighter will host former Pride FC star Quinton “Rampage” Jackson for a training camp in Recife, the capital of the Brazilian state of Pernambuco.

Quinton is already in the city, and Sukata explained what he’ll be doing to get ready to take on Glover Teixeira—already favored to win by Brazilian fans and journalists—at the October 13 UFC Rio event.

“The training camp will be held at my academy, and Quinton is bringing a big team down. His Thai boxing, wrestling, boxing, Jiu-Jitsu and conditioning coaches and others will be coming down to do all his preparations here. After that he’ll head to Rio de Janeiro to fight,” recounted the black belt, who has coached the American fighter in Jiu-Jitsu in the past.

“We’ll be doing the usual Jiu-Jitsu for MMA work, nothing special. He’s already been doing his specific training, and just because I’m here doesn’t mean the bulk of our training will be Jiu-Jitsu. I’ve known Quinton since 2009, but I’ve been in England since 2009. As the fight will be in Brazil, I felt it was a good idea that he train here. It’ll be good for him to get in tune with the country, with the climate, and he has plenty of fans all over Brazil. There’s never been as high level a fighter as Rampage training in Recife, so it’ll also be good in that it will publicize MMA in the region,” added the Jiu-Jitsu professor, who went on to explain how they’ll be looking to overcome Glover.

“Truth is, we aren’t putting together a strategy. Rampage’s fights speak for themselves, don’t they? Quinton’s a guy who doesn’t shy away from a fight. He likes to fight, to throw down, and if it goes to the ground he knows how to handle himself. He knows his way around on the ground, and he brings it on,” Sukata guaranteed. “On the game plan, I think something Cro Cop used to say sums it up tidily: “Everyone has a game plan until they take the first punch to the face.” So, he likes putting on a show for the public, and there’s only one strategy: to win,” he said in closing.

Besides Rampage and Glover Teixeira, UFC Rio 3 will also feature José Aldo’s featherweight title defense against Erik Koch, Vitor Belfort squaring off with Alan Belcher, and TUF Brazil winner Rony Jason taking on Sam Sicilia. Tickets are already on sale.

Check out the complete card:

UFC RIO 3
HSBC ARENA, RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL
OCTOBER 13, 2012

José Aldo vs Erik Koch;
Vitor Belfort vs Alan Belcher
Glover Teixeira vs Quinton “Rampage” Jackson
Rony Jason vs Sam Sicilia
Serginho Moraes vs Renée Forte
Cristiano Marcello vs Reza Madadi
Erick Silva vs Jon Fitch
Demian Maia vs Rick Story
Gabriel Napão vs Gerônimo Mondragon
Diego Brandão vs Joey Gambino
Luiz Banha vs Chris Camozzi
Francisco Massaranduba vs Gleison Tibau

Banha is one of the latest additions to the card. / Photo by Josh Hedges.

Set for October 13 in Rio de Janeiro, UFC 153 is bulking up with stars. And as one would expect, the card has its fair share of Brazilians on it.

Not having stepped in the octagon since August of last year, when he lost to Stanislav Nedkov at UFC 134, Luiz Banha will finally see action again when he squares off with the USA’s Chris Camozzi.

Further Brazilians whose opponents have now been confirmed are: Erick Silva, facing Jon Fitch; Demian Maia, taking on Rick Story; and Diego Brandão, who will toe the line with Joey Gambino.

Check out the provisional UFC 153 card, and stay tuned to GRACIEMAG.com for more breaking news.

José Aldo vs. Erik Koch – featherweight title
Alan Belcher vs. Vitor Belfort
Quinton “Rampage” Jackson vs. Glover Teixeira
Jon Fitch vs. Erick Silva
Demian Maia vs. Rick Story
Diego Brandao vs. Joey Gambino
Rony “Jason” vs. Sam Sicilia
Serginho Moraes vs. Renee Forte
Reza Madadi vs. Cristiano Marcello

The Bulgarian threat: 12 career fights, just two decision wins, and not one loss / Photo: UFC

The people of Brazil and UFC fans alike were introduced to light heavyweight Stanislav Nedkov at UFC Rio, where the Bulgarian knocked out Luiz Banha. But Professor Bruno Bastos (Nova União), called on at the last minute to be Nedkov’s corner, has known about the fighter and his style since way back.

“I trained with Nedkov when he fought at Sengoku in Japan,” recalls Bruno. “Since signing with the UFC he’s run into some bad luck with a spate of injuries – his and his opponents’, too –, so he only got to make his debut now. For this fight he unfortunately couldn’t make it to Bulgaria because he didn’t manage sponsorship, so we agreed that I’d help him with the final adjustments to his game here in Rio on the week of the fight, and it all worked out fine.”

Nedkov, who has knockouts and submissions (especially rear-naked chokes) on his ledger, is a well rounded fighter, asserts Bruno:

“His wrestling really is awesome, and he’s obviously got heavy hands, as everyone could see. Now his Jiu-Jitsu lacks polish but is fine for MMA,” he says in praise. “We’re working on getting him to spend some time with me in Dallas before his next fight.”

Could another fighter have arrive on the scene to challenge for the belt that once belonged to Lyoto Machida, Maurício Shogun, and now sits with Jon Jones? What do you think, dear reader? And who would you like to see the hard-hitting Bulgarian fighting next? Let us know in the comments field below.

Banha absorbs a blow from Bulgaria's Nedkov, who is undefeated in 12 fights. Photo: UFC.

“Yeah, people from São Paulo never make it in Rio de Janeiro,” said one joker when Luiz “Banha” Cané, who was dominating the first round of his fight against Bulgaria’s Stanislav Nedkov, let his undefeated opponent find his feet and knock him out in the main card at the UFC on Saturday.

However, the beast from Butantã’s stock is still up, if just because of the exciting style he displays in the octagon, never disappointing his fans nor bosses, so he should be making his return shortly, even hungrier for victory. At 30 years of age, the Jiu-Jitsu black belt and Gibi muay Thai student has racked up 11 wins, of which nine came by knockout, and four losses, three of which were knockouts.

His unrestrained strategy is the fruit of the impressive training regime at team Armory in the USA. In these training sessions, which sometimes are better to watch than a UFC fight, Banha throws down with other fighters and Dutch kickboxing teachers with enviable marksmanship.

It was at one of these, about a month ago, that the light heavyweight from São Paulo suffered a classic knockout. He got to his feet, brushed off the dust, and one month later was sharper and fearless in facing Nedkov and his cast iron chin in one of the best fights of the event. Be back soon, Banha.

A reader remembered, asked, and GRACIEMAG.com set about finding the answer.

In doubt – and it seemed the organizers were too – as to whether current champion Pablo Popovitch will be competing at ADCC 2011 in his original under-77kg division or one up, at under 88kg, we put the question to the teacher at team Avengers.

Pablo was quick to reply. “I’m going at 88kg,” he reported, now set to face off with other favorites, like Claudio Calasans, Rafael Lovato, Rousimar Toquinho, Rômulo Barral, Sérgio Moraes and Paulão Filho, not to mention training partner André Galvão, current runner-up in the division.

On how his training is going, the black belt residing in Florida assured us he’s pleased with the human resources at his disposal to help him win his second title in the event, this time set to take place September in England.

“I’ve got a good gang training No-Gi with me: Roberto Cyborg, Vagner Rocha, Fred Moncaio, Raphael Chavez, Junior, Dustin Dennis, Luiz Banha. All of them are slick on the ground and getting ready to compete at ADCC 2011 or in the UFC,” he said in closing. If there were any doubts the event will be a war…

[flickr set=72157626507379079]

Edson Barboza celebrates victory over Anthony Njokuani in New Jersey. Photo:Al Bello/Zuffa.

While the specialized media is off doing guesswork about what’s to come, the UFC Rio is seeing its official card coming together.

After starring in the fight of the night at UFC 128 – Shogun vs. Jones, in March, it came to reason that Edson Barboza, 25, would be called on to fight at UFC Rio. It’s just that his opponent won’t be Japanese superstar Takanori Gomi, as was being speculated.

The opponent of the lightweight fighter from Rio de Janeiro’s mountain region will be Englan’s Ross Pearson, who has won five of his last six fights. The lightweight signed a contract with the organization after winning TUF 9, in 2009. Check out the official card for UFC Rio as it stands so far:

UFC Rio
HSBC Arena, Rio de Janeiro
August 27, 2010

Anderson Silva vs. Yushin Okami
Mauricio Rua vs. Forrest Griffin
Luiz Cane vs. Stanislav Nedkov
Edson Barboza vs. Ross Pearson
Thiago Tavares vs. Spencer Fisher