Taura
MMA has a definite plan going forward to become the biggest
promotion in Brazil as well as one that can rival top organizations
stateside.
After being severely hampered by the COVID-19 pandemic, it looks
like Brazilian MMA events are restarting again. Thunder
Fight, Respect
MMA, Arena
Global and
Future Fighting Championships all put on recent shows in
Brazil, with several championship affairs spread among their
organizations. Taura MMA will promote its 10th edition on Friday,
while Shooto
Brazil will promote its 102nd edition on Sunday. Both events
will take place in Rio de Janeiro in the Upper Arena, broadcasting
live on the Combate channel.
While Shooto 102 will have a bantamweight title dispute between
Wellington Nenem and Luan
Lacerda, Taura 10
will put two belts on the line. For the flyweight title, Felipe
Gheno will face Bruno
Rodrigues Mesquita, while Ary Farias
will face American Johnny
Campbell for the interim 135-pound strap.
Initially booked with 12 fights, Taura 10 lost three due to
positive COVID-19 tests. Rousimar
Palhares, who was going to fight Antonio
Gordillo – who was unable to attend due to a travel lockdown in
Argentina – also tested positive. Ex-Bellator MMA fighter Bruna
Vargas and current Taura featherweight champ Isaac Moura
were also pulled from the card due to positive tests.
The losses on this card didn’t take the motivation of TAURA
promoter Djonatan
Leao. The head was resolute by not only adding more cards, but
also proudly announcing many high-profile signings.
“All those athletes will be brought to our last event of 2020, on
Dec. 6 in Rio de Janeiro,” Leao explained to Sherdog about his
plans for the next three events this year. “But the event keeps
being very interesting. Besides two belt disputes, we have UFC
veterans Sergio
Moraes and
Wendell Oliveira returning to Brazil. Actually, we hired a
total of 108 fighters, 50 percent are former UFC fighters. We just
opened our main office in Orlando and our plan is to make 15 events
in 2021 in four different countries.”
Leao continued, “After Taura 10, we will promote our first
international edition in Silver Spurs Arena in Kissimee, Florida,
on Oct. 30. And right after that we will make Taura 12 on December
6 also in Rio de Janeiro.”
When asked to point some former UFC fighters who must be the stars
of the next editions, Djonatan announced a surprisingly long list
of athletes already hired by Taura. Besides Renan Barao,
Rousimar
Palhares, Antonio
Silva and Sergio
Moraes, the list included names like: William
Macario, Paulo
Thiago, Daniel
Sarafian, Richardson
Moreira, Efrain
Escudero, Kalindra
Faria, Juliana
Lima, Eric
Spicely, Marcelo
Golm, Bobby
Moffett, Elizabeth
Phillips, Kyle
Bochniak, Joachim
Christensen, Gleison
Tibau, Godofredo
Castro, Vitor
Miranda, Glaico
Franca, Chris
Cisneros, Danny
Martinez, Carlos
Huachin, Jeremy
Kennedy and Daron
Cruickshank. According to Leao, many more names will be
announced soon.
A local from Rio Grande do Sul, which is also the home of ex-UFC
heavyweight champion Fabricio
Werdum, Leao earned both his muay Thai black belt and jiu-jitsu
brown belt. Leao started an MMA business after franchising one gym
of Nogueira Team Academy in 2016. The partnership with Nogueira
brothers culminated into an MMA event named Team Nogueira Circuit
in 2017.
Broadcasted live by Combate channel, the organization has launched
many new talents in southern Brazil. In 2018, the Nogueira brothers
left the partnership, so Leao decided to change the name of the
event to Taura – local slang which means someone that is a
specialist or expert in any subject. According to Leao, his main
goal is to be recognized as one of the biggest promotions in the
world, like Bellator, Professional Fighters League and One Championship by the end of 2021.
Taura MMA 10, Oct. 23 Card Lineup:
Felipe
Gheno (9-1) vs. Bruno
Rodrigues Mesquita (11-3-1) – flyweight title
Ary
Farias (9-2) vs. Johnny
Campbell (20-12) – interim bantamweight title
Sergio
Moraes (14-6-1) vs. Jared Revel
(10-2) – middleweight
Wendell
de Oliveira Marques (31-14) vs. Rene Pessoa
(21-6) – middleweight
Thiago
Oliveira (16-5) vs. Andrey
Augusto (9-2-1) – lightweight
Nilton
Gaviao (16-5) vs.
Manoel Moreira dos Santos Jr. (9-3) – bantamweight
Thaiane
Souza (6-6) vs. Simone
Santos (1-0) – women’s strawweight
Denis
Silva (15-4) vs. Kaue
Rodrigues (8-3) – lightweight
Pedro
Henrique Finger (6-7) vs. Tiago Souza
(4-2) – featherweight
Luan
Lacerda vs. Wellington
Lopes – bantamweight title
Diego
Dias vs. Carlos
Silva – welterweight
Guilherme
Doin vs. Paulo
Henrique Laia – lightweight
Luiz Felipe Quieroz Herculano vs. Antonio da
Silva – flyweight
Wallace
Lopes vs. Jonatan
Feitosa Pinto – featherweight
Thierry
Lucas vs. Jorge
Nascimento – welterweight
Claudiene
Ferreira Alves vs.
Michele dos Santos Oliveira – women’s strawweight
Erilene
Rayla Nascimento vs. Priscila
Ferreira – women’s flyweight
Matheus
Felipe vs. Rodrigo
Sezinando – middleweight
Vitor
Moreira vs. Sirnande
Junior – 150-pound catchweight