This weekend the UFC makes its second trip of 2023 to Brazil, this time to São Paulo, for UFC Fight Night: Almeida vs Lewis. It will be the ninth time the Octagon has touched down in São Paulo and this time the event features one of Brazil’s rising stars and the UFC knockout king.
Jailton Almeida passed his first main event test with flying colors, and he’ll get a step up in competition against former heavyweight title challenger Derrick Lewis, who accepted the fight after Curtis Blaydes was forced out with an injury.
Order UFC 295: Procházka vs Pereira
With a full slate of future contenders, exciting Brazilian talent, and plenty of veterans, UFC Fight Night: Almeida vs Lewis is bound to be one for the books.
Before the fighters make the walk at Ginásio do Ibirapuera, look back at some of the biggest UFC moments to take place in São Paulo.
In 1998, the UFC finally came to Brazil for the first time, and when it did, it was in São Paulo. At that time the UFC mainly consisted of events that featured a tournament format. At Ultimate Brazil they chose to just showcase fights as individual bouts which is the current way fans are used to watching the UFC today.
So not only was it the first time in Brazil, and not only was there no tournament, but this event featured the first ever UFC lightweight championship fight and the first ever middleweight championship fight.
Legendary names competed on the fight card, such as Pedro Rizzo, Tank Abbott, Vitor Belfort, Wanderlei Silva, Pat Miletich, and Frank Shamrock.
The fight fans of São Paulo were treated to an epic main event KO from Vitor Belfort when he faced Michael Bisping in their main event bout. It was the perfect way for the UFC to return to São Paulo and the success of the event helped inspire the UFC to come back to the city in future years.
First Time At Madison Square Garden | UFC 30th Anniversary
The event also featured superstar and future lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, who earned his first UFC knockout in the first round against Thiago Tavares.
The future heavyweight champion did not mess around when he headlined São Paulo opposite of Fábio Maldonado. Miocic knocked out Maldonado in 35 seconds and hushed the pro-Brazilian crowd in a hurry.
Vitor Belfort with an amazing head kick KO knockout, where have you seen that before? It was the Brazilian legend’s last fight in São Paulo, where he went 3-0 with three knockout wins, but this one was particularly special due to his rivalry with Dan Henderson.
Elsewhere on the card, flyweight contender Matheus Nicolau made a big impression in his UFC debut by winning via submission due to a Japanese Necktie. Also, Brazilian standouts Alex “Cowboy” Oliveira, Thomas Almeida, and future light heavyweight champion Glover Teixeira all won by knockout on the main card.
It was a pretty incredible night for Brazilian fight fans.
This was one of the most eventful cards to happen in São Paulo. There might not have been the most important fights or the biggest names, but when you look back at what happened it was clear that this card was stacked.
Future two-time flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo won a split decision in just his second fight with the promotion, Vicente Luque puts on a show en route to submitting Niko Price, Thiago Santos knocked out Jack Hermansson with an incredible body kick, Pedro Munhoz submitted Rob Font, and Derek Brunson knocked out Lyoto Machida in the main event.
And with all those fantastic things happening, the biggest moment of the event was Colby Covington’s post-fight Octagon interview after defeating Demian Maia.
Covington let Brazil have it – he said bad things about the country and the fans, and it was a turning point for Covington in his journey to his villain persona. It also helped put Covington on the map as a real contender and someone that people wanted to shut up or watch get shut up.
In 2018, middleweights turned short-notice light heavyweights made the most of their main event spotlight, as Thiago Santos and Eryk Anders put on a São Paulo slugfest. The fight ended in between rounds after Anders was deemed unfit to continue. It was a fantastic fight that entertained from start to finish.
Fight By Fight Preview | UFC São Paulo
Plenty other things happened, as well, with light heavyweight Ryan Spann getting a win in his debut, bantamweight contender Mayra Bueno Silva submitting Gillian Robertson in her UFC debut, and Antônio Rogério Nogueira aka “Lil’ Nog” earning the final win of his professional MMA career.
Most notable was Charles Oliveira’s submission win over Christos Giagos, which was his 11th win by submission and broke the record for the most submission wins in UFC history.
The most recent event in São Paulo was in 2019, and it was former lightweight champion Oliveira who stole the show.
The São Paulo native followed up his record-breaking performance with a 96-second knockout win over Jared Gordon. This was the fight that earned Oliveira his first shot against some topcontenders at lightweight on his way to one of the greatest runs we’ve ever seen.
Light heavyweights were featured in the main and co-main events, with UFC Hall of Famer Maurício “Shogun” Rua fighting now-middleweight contender Paul Craig to a split draw and Jan Błachowicz defeating Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza by split decision.
