For many years Leandro Vieira was responsible for sharpening the
jiu-jitsu of American Kickboxing Academy athletes, but last year,
that partnership came to an end.
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“No hard feelings, but basically they changed [plans] after years
of partnership,” explained Vieira, brother of the legendary
Leonardo Vieira, leader of the Checkmat team. “When they invited me
to take care of jiu-jitsu at AKA, there were no plans of having
their own jiu-jitsu school so I came with Checkmat. But suddenly
they decided to change the plans and built their own jiu-jitsu
team.”
Vieira is now working at his own Bay Area gym in Morgan Hill,
Calif.
“In the beginning it was very tough, but now I recognize it as the
best thing that could happen in my life,” he said. “The philosophy
of MMA is totally different from what we learn in martial arts.
Now I´m almost 100% focused on my jiu-jitsu school. The only
MMA fighter I´m working with is Marlon
Vera.”
According to Vieira, even with all trash talk involved in the
promotion of his fights, Khabib
Nurmagomedov has always recognized the importance of jiu-jitsu
in the evolution of his game.
“When I arrived at AKA, guys like Khabib, [Luke] Rockhold and
[Islam] Makhachev already had a very good level on the ground. But
our work together was very important to evolve their MMA game,” he
said.
Vieira points to one prominent example famously utilized by
Nurmagomedov in the UFC.
“Today it is known by many as Khabib Control, [but] the KC (knee
control) evolved from my brother Leozinho’s strongest position, the
leg drag,” Vieira said. “In fact, we had great teamwork here
throughout this period. Fortunately, I was able to keep a great
friendship with guys like Khabib and [Daniel
Cormier].”
If a lightweight title fight between Makhachev and Charles
Oliveira is confirmed, Vieira believes that the Dagestani would
not avoid the Brazilian’s guard.
“I’ve always said that if Khabib and Makhachev fought in ADCC they
would surprise a lot of people,” Vieira said. “They are very good
offensive and defensive [grapplers] and are even better in MMA
terms since they are very clever using KC while punishing
opponents. If Makhachev feels any danger on the ground, he would
just release the knee and stand up again. I just don’t see him
avoiding Oliveira´s ground game like his previous oponents.”
Vieira also agreed with Ali Abdelaziz, who said in a recent
interview that he believed Nurmagomedov could beat Israel
Adesanya in a middleweight fight.
“Definitely Khabib has the recipe,” Vieira said. “He is technically
and mentally superior to Adesanya. From what I´ve seen him doing in
the academy, I have to agree with Ali.”
Based on his only relationship with Nurmagomedov, Vieira also
believes the retired former champion would return to the UFC if
Oliveira were to defeat Makhachev.
“Definitely. If Charles beats Makhachev, I truly believe that
Khabib would return to avenge him,” Vieira said.