Jungle Fight has a new featherweight champion.
Rafael Miranda put his championship belt on the line for the first time as he faced off against Alexandre Campos in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in the main event of Jungle Fight 62, but he failed to defend his title.
Campos almost finished the bout in the first round, threatening Miranda with arm-locks and inverted anaconda chokes. Campos gassed a bit in the second round, and Miranda almost capitalized with good punches, but the challenger played smart and took the fight to the ground. Both fighters went for it in the final round, going toe-to-toe, but the fight went the distance.
“I was a warrior,” Campos said after being announced as the new featherweight champion. “It was the best fight of my life, three rounds of war. This is my title.”
With five wins over the last six bouts, Campos asked for a shot at the UFC.
“I want the UFC now,” he said. “This is my tenth fight in Jungle Fight and I hope this is the last one. I want the UFC now.”
After the event, Ismail announced a bantamweight clash between Larissa Pacheco (8-0) and Irene Aldana (3-0) for the first ever Jungle Fight female title on Dec. 21 in Belem, Brazil. Pacheco is coming off an impressive 36-second knockout under the Jungle Fight banner, while all of Aldana’s professional wins came via first-minute knockouts.
Seven days after suffering a unanimous decision loss at Standout Fighting Tournament 2, Edson Franca (19-8) entered in the co-main event to take on Douglas Simoes (3-1). Franca dominated Simoes in the first round and both fighters gassed after the first five minutes. In the last couple rounds of a slow-paced fight, neither one tried hard for the finish, and Franca won the bout via split decision.
Former Jungle Fight lightweight champion Lucio Curado (8-3) returned to the cage for the first time since losing his title to UFC’s Ivan Jorge and did enough to get back to the win column. After three rounds of action, Curado, protégé of former boxing world champion Acelino “Popo” Freitas, defeated Erick Barbosa (13-7) via unanimous decision.
In one of the best fights of the night, Rafael Nunes (4-0, 1 no-contest) showed an impressive ground game against Paulo Panthro (2-2), but referee Flavio Almendra ruined the fight. Panthro had already successfully defended four submission attempts and saw him trapped into another arm-lock. Panthro was punching Nunes while defending the submission, but Almendra decided to stop the bout to protect the fighter, despite the fact that Panthro hadn’t tapped or screamed. Panthro protested after the stoppage, but Nunes was awarded the victory.
“It’s better to stop the fight than having a broken arm on live television,” Jungle Fight president Wallid Ismail after the fight. “A warrior wouldn’t give up, they would give their lives to keep fighting.”
Check below the complete results of Jungle Fight 62:
Alexandre Campos def. Rafael Miranda via unanimous decision
Edson Franca def. Douglas Simoes via split decision
Lucio Curado def. Erick Parrudo via unanimous decision
Rafael Nunes def. Paulo Panthro via first-round technical submission (arm-lock)
José Alexandre def. Angelo Lopes via unanimous decision
Douglas Bertazini def. Jesus Sanchez via second-round submission (kimura)
Davi Silva def. Alberto Pantoja via second-round submission (guillotine choke)
Patrick Silva def. Elton Aquino via second-round submission (rear-naked choke)
Ismael Bonfim def. Denis Silva via third-round TKO (doctor stoppage)
Guilherme Matos def. Joao Picirillo via unanimous decision