UFC 297 challenger says Sean Strickland is not a star, can’t recall a good fight from the champion

Hello, boys and girls. It is Monday once again, which means it’s time for another edition of the . You know, the weekly roundup of all the news in the Brazilian fighting community (from the and beyond), all conveniently put together in place by yours truly. This week, we’ve got women’s bantamweight title challenger sharing her honest opinion about fellow 297 headliner , trying to secure ’s next opponent, PFL double champ on and much more.

So let’s jump right in. Mayra Bueno Silva is about to enter the biggest fight of her career as she makes the final preparations to take on Raquel Pennington for the vacant UFC women’s bantamweight title at UFC 297. In fact, their match is second only to that weekend’s main event, which features a middleweight match between champion Sean Strickland and challenger Dricus Du Plessis.

If you ask Bueno Silva, though, she might not agree that the main event is going to be the best fight of that evening. In an interview with (translated by Bloody Elbow), ‘Sheetara’ explained that she does not particularly feel like that neither Strickland’s or hew own fight are big draws for the company.

Nonetheless, what Bueno Silva does think is that she is a more exciting athlete than ‘Tarzan’. “On paper, my fight against Pennington is not a good fight, but Sean Strickland vs. Dricus Du Plessis is? No. Sean talks too much. He thinks he’s a big star, but he isn’t. I think my fight and Sean’s fight help each other.” “On paper, they’re both bad fights for the fans, but when I enter the Octagon, I put on good fights.

Du Plessis does too. I don’t see good Sean Strickland fights. I can’t remember any good ones.” Can’t really disagree with Bueno Silva here. Sean Strickland has his out of the Octagon antics that seem to entertain some, though not me, but in the cage he’s hardly what one can call exciting. Not even because of his lack of finishes, but more so for his style of fighting that errs more on the side of caution while not being that entertaining to watch at the same time.

Meanwhile, a former UFC light heavyweigth champion is trying to make a fight happen for the division’s current leader. While Magomed Ankalaev scored a knockout win over Johnny Walker last weekened, it did not take too long for Glover Teixeira to gon on Twitter and call out the Russian to face his teammate and current champion Alex Pereira in the Octagon.

On his official Twitter account, the Brazilian posted directly at Ankalaev, who promply replied by saying he was ready to take on ‘Poatan’ before long. Thank you Champ you don’t have to wait too long. I’m ready for your guy. Good matchup for both men. An actual nice challenge for Pereira on the ground and while Ankalaev has the striking, we all know Poatan is on a whole other level.

Still, a high level match for the champ. Staying on the subject of last weekend’s card, let’s take a closer look at some of the Brazilians who emerged victorious and what they had to say after their performances. One such athlete was middleweight Brunno Ferreira, who knocked out Phil Hawes in the first round and was eager to call out rising sensation Sharabutdin Magomedov.

In an interview with (translated by Bloody Elbow) the Brazilian explained he wishes to avenge his friend’s Bruno Silva’s loss to the Russian and hopes to make the match happen in Brazil, too. “I want to have four fights this year. It’s great to have a fight right at the beginning, then you still have the whole year ahead of you.

We’re a team, a tight team. Just like the Russian, the one with an eye missing, called out Blindado to fight in his turf and won, I don’t think there would be anything fairer than to welcome him to a fight in Brazil. That’s why I called him out and asked to come and discover Brazil a little bit.

Everything has a reaction, right? Blindado has shown that he can’t fight on the ground. Meawhile, I just need a little opening to take you down. That’s where the game begins for me.” I don’t think I can complain about this pairing. It’s got a good narrative, exciting fighters who are both still on the rising side and could bounce back even stronger after a loss this early in their careers.

Meanwhile, in the featherweight division, prospect Jean Silva did become infamous for his five minute walkout last Saturday, but at least the man balanced that out with first round TKO win over Westin Wilson. In an interview with , the Brazilian explained that all his intensity actually comes from a different entity living inside of him, whom Silva calls ‘Lord’, hence the athletes nickname.

According to him, wheneve he is fighting is actually Lord who’s in control of his body, not Jean Silva. “I think people will understand. I’m weird when I talk about Lord, because it’s not me fighting. Lord came after my brother passed away. My wife says there’s another person living inside of me and I started believing that.

He started to appear when things got tough. I’ve been through some stuff. I lost my brother, but my parents, my older brothers had a harder life. “When I looked at their story, Lord emerged and understood he was part of my life.” Silva said. “My wife and I work with the Lord mindset pretty well, because he’s really a problem.

Nowadays, we are able to channel his energy towards work, but in other occasions, he has caused us problems. He’s one of a kind.” This is all kind of concerning to me. Am I alone on this one? Last but not least, we’re taking a look at the merger between Bellator and the PFL once again. Last time we were here, we had Cris Cyborg discussing the end of her career and how she wanted to retire after fighting former PLF champ Kayla Harrison and not is current one, Larissa Pacheco.

In an interview with , Pacheco seemed very understanding about Cyborg’s reasoning and did not blame her fellow Brazilian for making that call. Although Pacheco would still welcome a match against Cyborg, she is not holding the former UFC champion’s decision against her. “I have the upmost respect for Cyborg.

I’ve always said that. I won’t lose that, no matter what. I can kind of see where she’s coming from, because that fight was being promoted before I became the champion. Cyborg and Kayla had been discussing that for a while, saying they’d fight each other. However, nobody expected I would become the champion, that I would appear like I did.

For the second year in a row, I won all my fights by finish. I became a PFL double champion in two different divisions. Cris is the Bellator champion, but here I am.” “I know this is not a champion vs. champion kind of thing. It’s about money, always has been. She has mentioned being close to retiring, that’s she picking the best fights that would bring the best compensation for after she retired.

No matter the outcome, it would have to be something that kept her comfortable for the rest of her life. I know she’s doing that out of safety for herself and her family. That’s obvious. And her safety as an athlete, too.” Can’t Cyborg just fight one and then the other and then retire? I feel like these are really the two women left that are worth fighting right now for her.

Both have enormous potential for memorable fights and would make her record look even more impressive once she hangs them up for good. Forfun is one of those bands that truly encapsulate the carioca (from Rio de Janeiro) lifestyle. Originally with punk and hardcore roots from the mid aughts, their sound quickly matured and into its own identity when they added elements of reggae, ska, dub and eletronic music to their distorted guitars and upbeat lyrics about enlightenment, nature and politicis which really paint a good picture of the values the band members hold to high regard.

Added to their surfer/skater style and it’s almost like a South American revival of the Californian hardcore scene from the 90’s, which really reminds me of acts such as Sublime or the Expendables, for example. Forfun was able really leave its mark during a brief period and were MTV regulars from that era.

Their 2008 release ‘Polisenso’ is a great synthesis of that mix of sounds and feelings I’ve described before. Which is why I’m leaving you guys today with one of my favorite tracks from that album ‘Sigo o Som’ (I Follow the Sound). Hope you enjoy it! That’s it for this week, folks. See you all next time.

Stay safe. Lucas out. You know you can count on us for quick, consistent quality UFC coverage. Bloody Elbow is an independent, reader supported publication. Please to keep up with our best work and learn how you can support the site. Our Substack is where we feature the work of writers like Zach Arnold, John Nash and Connor Reubusch.

We’re fighting for the sport, the fighters and the fans. Please help us by subscribing today. Lucas Rezende is a Brazilian journalist and writer from Belem, Para. He has been covering MMA since 2012 and contributing with Bloody Elbow since March 2015. When not writing, Lucas also teaches English. In his free time, he enjoys reading, slapping the bass guitar and traveling..