TUF Brasil - Episode 12 Recap

The Ultimate Fighter Brazil is coming to an end, and on this week’s episode, the second athlete to compete in the featherweight final will emerge from the fight between Hugo Wolverine (Team Vitor) and Rony Jason (Team Wanderlei).

The coaches’ expectations were different from the ones showed by Hugo Wolverine and Rony Jason heading into the bout. While the coaches see the usual battle of will, Jason makes it clear that despite knowing his opponent won’t fight on the ground, he doesn’t intend to avoid the fight standing up. On the other side, Wolverine says he will use his strong hands and his taekwondo background to score the victory.

Cloistered during the TUF Brazil season, the semifinalists and the other cast members are showing signs of missing their friends and family outside the house. They can’t wait to decide the last finalists of the featherweight and middleweight divisions and meet those outside.

The visit of the twin Brazilian brothers of the UFC, Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira and Rogério Nogueira lifts up the atmosphere thanks to all the charisma these two stars of the Octagon have. Using the green shirt of Team Vitor, Minotauro started joking that he was angry that they took his coach, Luiz Dórea, to participate in the reality show. Jason, Team Nogueira’s pupil, teased the brothers, saying they can’t only use the green shirt (Team Vitor). Fabricio Werdum entered the situation and put the blue shirt on Rogerio, all in good spirits.

In the house, while a soccer match goes on in the living room, Jason and Wolverine are in a different mindset. The fighter from Team Wanderlei was making the final adjustments on his cardio, and Vitor’s pupil was trying to find a suitable fight strategy with Daniel Sarafian.

A second visit motivated the fighters as well in the form of the former PRIDE GP and UFC light heavyweight champion, Shogun Rua. And he quickly found out how many fighters in the house appreciated his work. Anistávio Gasparzinho was the one who celebrated the most about the visit from his idol, who was also in the training center to watch the fight between Jason and Wolverine.
 
After 40 seconds of studying each other, Wolverine took the initiative with punches that were blocked by Rony, who applied a low kick while his adversary tried to counter strike with more punches. Soon, Wolverine had a nose bleed, and accidentally poked Jason in the eye. The fight was stopped for the referee to check on it, and as the fight resumed, the trading of punches remained unchanged.

The second round started almost just as the same, only this time, they took more than 40 seconds to strike a blow that hits the opponent. A front kick by Jason was felt by Wolverine and the fighter from Team Wanderlei went towards him with a mix of excitement and will to finish the fight, and he made Wolverine lose balance once again. Wolverine responded with a superman punch that opened a cut on Jason’s eye. But the duel was even, with Jason getting the takedown at the end of the round.

The pace of the last round was slower, and the punches weren’t hitting their target as in the previous 10 minutes. Jason got a takedown in the end, after throwing some punches before the bell indicated the end of the fight. It was all Rony Jason needed to earn the unanimous decision win.

“Everybody was talking about Hugo’s excellent boxing, so I made sure I would fight standing up as well, to show that I’m good at it too,” says the winner Jason. “I’ll make sure my fights last, to make it exciting. I celebrated a lot, and I had fun in there.”

Jason also showed his will to get his brother off drugs, and he was very emotional in dedicating the victory to him.

The first final of The Ultimate Fighter Brazil is set for UFC 147 on June 23rd: Rony Jason vs Godofredo Pepey.

Next week, it’s the last semifinal with Thiago Bodão facing Cezar Mutante. Who will win this war?