(According to legend, the million-dollar-bill-pitbull is a symbol representing the eternal struggle between Brazil’s elitist class and the unappreciated proletariat. Or it’s just something you get done when you’re really, really, high on shrooms.)
Paulo Filho is kind of like the Lindsay Lohan of MMA. Sure, there was a time back in the early-to-mid 2000′s when he showed the potential for greatness (or at least mediocrity), but since then, it’s been a steady mixture of cocaine, terrible tattoos, and a series of cancelled fights punctuated by depressing performances in the ones he actually managed to show up for. Substitute “fights” with “films” and you’ve got yourself one surprisingly accurate comparison.
But just as Lohan continues to get acting gigs (this is acting, right?), Filho continues to convince fight promoters that he is a reliable human being in the loosest sense of the word. So despite the many, many warning signs, Filho has recently been booked against UFC veteran Dave Branch on the main card of the second World Series of Fighting event set to transpire March 23rd. As much as we’d like to believe Filho truly does have his shit together this time around, we simply can’t be burned by this flake again. This…this will not end well.
Featuring a headlining heavyweight matchup between Andrei Arlovski and Anthony Johnson, WSOF 2 has also recently booked a pair of familiar faces against a couple unknown, undefeated prospects. Starting off in the welterweight division, newly revived UFC veteran Josh Burkman will be looking to improve on his WSOF 1 victory over Gerald Harris when he squares off against Ryan LaFlare, a 7-0 up-and-comer who has secured all of his victories under the Ring of Combat banner and via stoppage.
At lightweight, Strikeforce vet Gesias “JZ” Cavalcante has been booked to take on Justin Gaethje, also 7-0, who is perhaps best known for needing just twelve seconds to dispose of whatever was left of Drew Fickett last October. We’ve placed a video of that fight below, because there’s something sickly entertaining about watching a ring announcer put more effort into his job than one of the fighters he is being paid to hype up.
Oh, and Igor Gracie has been booked against a yet-to-be-named opponent. Who is Igor Gracie, you dare ask? Well, you fools, he’s the Gracie who kind of looks like Michael Phelps. Glad we could clear that up for you.
(The fight starts around the 4:40 mark.)