Team Nogueira Fighters Steal Show at Inaugural X-Fight MMA

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RIO DE JANEIRO -- Last Saturday, the Nogueira Training Center played host to the first X-Fight MMA, an event designed to promote Nogueira brothers’ new line of X-Fight dietary supplements while pitting their athletes against those from other gyms in Rio.

In addition to Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, the show was attended by a slew of MMA notables, including Anderson Silva, Junior dos Santos, Rafael “Feijao” Cavalcante, Murilo Bustamante, Pedro Rizzo and Amaury Bitetti.

In the evening’s main event, Wagner “Caldeirao” Prado took home one of five wins in what was a clean sweep for Team Nogueira. Prado showed superior striking skills against Cleber Tavares and, despite having his back taken by Tavares, earned a unanimous decision after three rounds.

“Campinas is really standing out in MMA,” said Prado, who hails from the city in Sao Paulo. “I know that we’ll have four events in Campinas [in 2011]. Thank God, I was invited to all of them. Nothing is confirmed yet, but I intend to fight in all of them.”

Team Nogueira welterweight Andre “Chatuba” Santos used his trademark anaconda choke to submit Alberto dos Santos of Pitbull Jiu-Jitsu Academy in the opening round of their match. The experienced Santos improved his record to 23-4 with the win, but has yet to receive any offers from abroad.

“I and my brother, Alan, train part of the week with Relma Team and another part here with Minotauro Team,” said Santos. “I still have no signed contract to fight abroad, but training here with the Nogueira brothers will help a lot with getting me there.”

However, dos Santos, who hails from the city of Teresopolis, had lost something much bigger than a fight earlier in the week.

“We were hit by heavy rains in the mountainous region,” said dos Santos, referencing the floods and landslides which have killed over 670 people in southeastern Brazil in the past week. “The academy was hit and I couldn’t train right. Worse was to see friends and family without homes, bodies of friends in the water... It’s impossible not to shake. But I came with a broken heart and did my duty.”

Paulo “Bananada” Goncalves Silva picked up another victory for Team Nogueira as a late replacement for teammate Patricio “Pitbull” Freire. In a relatively dull affair, Bananada listened carefully to cornerman Anderson Silva and snared Fabiano “Holyfield” da Silva, forcing him to submit one minute into the third frame.

“I came to replace Patricio, who cannot fight because he will fight abroad with Bellator,” said Bananada. “I was called on Monday, but weighed in and came to fight.”

Chatuba’s brother, Alan Chatubinha, faced Brazilian Top Team’s Mauricio Reis in an even three-round affair. Like his sibling, Chatubinha left with a win, earning the decision on all three judges’ scorecards.

Team Nogueira’s Henrique Oliveira opened the event in exciting fashion, knocking out Thiago Iron Hand of Senna Team. Oliveira mounted his opponent and punched away until referee Johnny Eduardo was forced to intervene at 3:25 of the first round.

After the event, the Nogueira brothers expressed their happiness with the show they helped organize and offered assessments of their pupils’ winning performances.

“The first X-Fight was a success. We showed that our team is here to stay,” said Rogerio Nogueira. “We had five fights and five wins. Chatuba fought very well. I was apprehensive about him, because he’s a guy we’re working on and who should already be fighting abroad. That victory was essential for negotiations in that regard.”

“Caldeirao fought very well. Everybody was waiting for a knockout, but he got a tough opponent. It’s good that he had a three-round fight, so he gets used to harder fights in his career,” Nogueira added. “Alan Chatubinha, Henrique Negao, Mauricio Reis and Paulo Bananada were very good... The team went 5-0 and it was pretty awesome. They were just great fights and everybody should be congratulated.”

Alan Oliveira contributed to this report.