Who is Milton Vieira, you ask? Well, other than a second degree black belt under Murilo Bustamante and a 13-7 veteran of such promotions as Deep, Strikeforce, and PRIDE, Vieira is also widely considered to be the inventor of the anaconda choke. A Brazilian Top Team standout who trains with the likes of Rousimar Palhares, “Miltinho” is credited as the creator of the submission popularized by Antonio Rodrigo Nogueria in his early PRIDE days, specifically in his back-to-back victories over Hirotaka Yokoi and Heath Herring. Big Nog claims that he was taught the maneuver by Vieira back when he used to train at BTT in the early 2000′s.
Coming off a successful first round Brabo choke victory over Sterling Ford at Strikeforce Challengers 18, Vieira will be making his featherweight debut for his first UFC contest, though a date and opponent has yet to be named.
In other fight booking news, the UFC has also signed middleweight prospects Sean “The Destroyer” Loeffler and Buddy Roberts to face one another at the UFC’s FuelTV debut in February. Since dropping a first round TKO to Brian Baker in his Bellator debut back in April of 2010, Loeffler has collected six straight victories, all by stoppage, including a seven second KO of Marcus McKnight in his last appearance. In fact, in 30 MMA appearances, “The Destroyer” has only seen the judges’ scorecards twice, going 1-1 in those contests.
Sean Loeffler Highlight
A fellow fight finisher, Buddy Roberts has also gone the distance just twice in his career, the last being a victory over tough veteran Tony Lopez in July. Roberts has collected seven of his eleven victories inside the first round, with four of those victories coming within the first two minutes. We weren’t able to find a highlight video for Mr. Roberts, but have added a video of a recent first round victory over B.J. Lacy below, so check it out.
-Danga