Never in mixed martial arts history have so many Brazilian fighters
trained as part of American MMA teams.
In addition to the growth of the sport and the increasing number of
events in the U.S., one of the main reasons for that exodus is the
UFC’s outfitting sponsorship contract with Reebok, which has since
changed to Venum. Once that deal was implemented, many brands that
supported athletes, teams and Brazilian events for decades left
MMA, making it impossible for most event promoters and gym owners
to keep their businesses afloat.
Among those who have continued to fight against the current are
teams such as Nova Uniao, Team Nogueira, CM System, Evolucao Thai,
PRVT, Rizzo RVT, TFT and Chute Boxe. Diego Lima, the leader of
Chute Boxe Sao Paulo and the head coach of UFC lightweight champion
Charles
Oliveira, revealed that he is actually expanding his gym.
“Today Chute Boxe São Paulo has the biggest MMA structure in
Brazil. We moved to a four-floor building where we have two
Octagons and a 23,500 square foot dojo,” Lima said. “In addition to
dorms, we have a class where fighters will be obligated to study
three areas: English, financial education and sex education.”
The result of Lima’s investment can be seen in the growth of the
number of professionals on the team.
“Today we have fighters from Argentina, Uruguay, Peru and we also
have [Alan
Patrick] and Adriano
Martins, who came from American teams to train with us,” Lima
said. “In October I´ll have a total of 20 guys fighting in
international and national events.”
Lima believes part of Oliveira’s success comes from being in a
familiar place.
“Charles needs to be close to his friends and family,” Lima
explained. “I know people who trained the United States for a year
and never met most of the training partners out of the gym, not
even for a coffee. The Latin people are different. And that´s an
important part of the process to make a champion.”
Lima also once again confirmed that the promotion has yet to
contact them regarding Oliveira’s rumored matchup against Dustin
Poirier at UFC 269.
“The first time I´ve heard something official about that was when
Dana [White] said at a press conference of the last UFC that he was
planning to put Charles on the Dec. 11 card,” Lima said. “We are
already in October, but that´s not a problem since Charles never
stopped training. If Poirier is confirmed as opponent it will be a
hell of a fight.”