Six contracts with the
Ultimate Fighting Championship in seven appearances on
Dana White’s Contender Series. Twenty victories in 24 fights.
Four bonuses in 2024.
Advertisement
Although
The Fighting Nerds debuted in the Octagon less than two years
ago, there is no doubt that the Brazilian team has made a
significant impact in the sport in a short period of time.
Captained by former boxer Pablo Sucupira, the team already has
seven athletes in the UFC: Caio
Borralho, Mauricio
Ruffy, Bruna
Brasil, Carlos
Prates, Thiago
Moises, Jean Silva
and Kaynan
Kruschewsky.
In an exclusive interview with Sherdog.com, Sucupira revealed that
the team emerged from his frustration as a fighter.
“I always say that a good coach is a frustrated fighter, as
frustration in the ring leads him to develop solutions for his
athletes,” he said. “And it was like that with me. I started boxing
when I was 29 years old. I achieved good results, but when I
realized that I wouldn’t be able to become world champion, I
decided to focus my talent on my development as a coach.”
Sucupira points to John Danaher as a source of inspiration as a
coach, while he credits Borralho as a key figure in the creation of
the Fighting Nerds.
“When he arrived as a new student, the team’s name was Combat Club,
and Fighting Nerds emerged from our union. Caio is systematic and I
am more intuitive,” Sucupira said.
The coach also strengthened the team with two other big names in
their respective areas: Vale-Tudo legend Flávio Álvaro and Demian
Maia’s ground coach, Wagner Mota.
“One complements the other. Everyone listens a lot to each other
when studying our opponents and devising strategy. This is one of
the differences of Fighting Nerds,” Sucupira said.
After cornering Silva to his second promotional victory at UFC
303, a second-round knockout against Charles
Jourdain, Sucupira is back in the U.S. to accompany Silva in
Denver on Saturday, when his fighter will face Drew Dober in
the UFC
on ESPN 59 co-main event.
“The UFC invited and Jean agreed to take on, two weeks after the
fight, an opponent in the upper division who holds the record for
knockouts in his division,” Sucupira said.
Sucupira is confident that Silva will secure his third UFC
triumph.
“Without underestimating Dober, it will be a fight between Jean and
his emotions,” he said. “If he controls himself and doesn’t get
into a brawl, timing himself and taking advantage of the fact that
Dober throws a lot of blows in the air, I think he’ll knock him out
in the second round. If he doesn’t control it, I’ll still bet on a
‘Fight of the Night’ bonus for a fight decided by the judges.”
The Fighting Nerds leader will remain busy in the coming weeks.
“One week I will have Bruna
Brasil, the next the debut of Kaynan Kruchevsky and then
Icaro
Brito debuting on [Dana White’s Contender Series] on Aug. 13.
In fact, remember this name. If everything goes as planned, he will
be the UFC’s 8th [athlete from] Fighting Nerds. Our goal is to have
10 fighters in the UFC by the end of 2024.”