“The Hulk” has Dagestan fever, and his only prescription is a knee
to the face.
The resurgent Brunno
Ferreira, fresh off a submission victory over Armen
Petrosyan at UFC 313, is keen on looking ahead in the
tumultuous middleweight division. His victory was the second in two
weeks inside of the Octagon, as teammate Brendson
Ribeiro tapped Diyar
Nurgozhay at UFC Fight Night 254 this past week. When speaking
to Sherdog on Tuesday about his recent success, he attributes part
of it to a special training camp set up by coach Andre “Dida”
Amado that he was able to enjoy for a few weeks.
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“Two weeks and two wins by submission for Brazilian TKO,” Ferreira
celebrated. “Cris
Cyborg mounted a kind of CT House for fight teams with all the
structure, ring, octagon, pool, sauna…and Master Dida inaugurated
it, renting it for us for two weeks. It couldn’t have been better,
we were locked in that bubble with all the necessary
infrastructure, and the results came.”
The triumph courtesy of an arm-triangle choke marked Ferreira’s
first submission since he wrangled Ewerton
Polaquini with the same maneuver in August 2021. Primarily
known as a brawler with extraordinarily heavy hands, Ferreira was
actually relieved he was able to display some of his grappling
prowess and partially shed the label assigned to him.
“My nature is grappling,” Ferreira explained. “I competed in Judo
for nine years in the 90kg [198 pound] category. When I started
training MMA with Dida, I added weapons to my striking game, so
much so that my four wins in the UFC were by KO or TKO, I needed to
show my grappling, now I don’t need to. They already knew about the
power of my hands, now they know about my ground skills.”
In a past interview with Sherdog, Ferreira stated that he wanted to
face a Russian-born competitor. That feeling has not changed.
“When I gave an interview to Sherdog saying that I wanted to fight
a Russian, Roman
Kopylov responded and our fight was scheduled for August 24th.
Unfortunately, he got injured and ended up coming back against
Chris
Curtis, which helped him climb the rankings. It’s only fair
that we make this fight happen now,” said the Brazilian.
After two Dagestani athletes claimed the belts of the two most
popular Brazilian fighters—Alex
Pereira and Charles
Oliveira—Ferreira has been cooking up a way to beat opponents
from the region. In doing so, he plans on creating a recipe to stop
the so-called “Dagestan Storm.”
“I think that, even if unintentionally, people create monsters out
of these Russians,” Ferreira remarked. “They certainly train a lot
and are cold in combat, but as Master Dida says, Khabib
[Nurmagomedov] got to where he is because he never took a knee
to the mouth. In MMA, judo works better against sambo than
wrestling. I believe that my judo, my jiu-jitsu and my combat
intelligence are what set me apart against these Russians.”
In addition to not kneeing Magomed
Ankalaev in the face, Ferreira suggests that Pereira lost his
light heavyweight throne due to distractions that took away from
his training.
“If ‘Poatan’ had been 100% focused on his camp, putting his
commitments aside for a while, the fight might have been
different,” Ferreira said flatly.”
With Rafael
Cordeiro and Fabricio
Werdum going to Curitiba, Brazil, to train at Brazilian TKO for
Werdum’s supposed GFL debut, Ferreira is having the unique
opportunity to train with three of his idols.
“I was talking to ‘Blindado’ [Bruno
Silva] today about the privilege we have of training with our
idols, Wanderlei
[Silva], Werdum, Rafael Cordeiro,” he revealed. “These guys
fought during the vale tudo era and helped build this sport so that
we all have a profession today. They have a different drive. Being
able to learn daily and receive their energy during the camp is
unthinkable. I already came back from Vegas training.”
With names like that in the room, “The Hulk” has yet to skip a
single day of training. The Brazilian is currently on the final
fight of his current UFC deal, and he is working hard—and a little
anxious—to prepare for the next challenge the promotion throws at
him.
“There is nothing better than starting the year fighting in the
first few months,” Ferreira expressed. “I am already back in
training, just waiting for the call from the UFC. I can’t wait to
get back in the Octagon putting up another exciting fight for the
fans.”