The Standout Fighting Tournament returned to Sao Paulo, Brazil, this Friday night with an action-packed card, and featured another victory of UFC veteran Luiz Cane in the main event.
“Banha”, who scored a devastating knockout win over fellow UFC veteran Rodney Wallace at SFT 1 last September, faced the dangerous Chute Boxe veteran Fabio Silva in a three-round battle, and improved his MMA record to 14-5 and one no-contest with an unanimous decision win.
Cane came close to finishing the fight in the opening round, landing some vicious elbows from the clinch, but somehow Silva managed to survive. Cane increased the pressure in the second round, but Silva came back strong in the final round and rocked Cane, who was able to handle the pressure.
“Fabio is a tough fighter, but I was ready for a war,” Cane said after the fight. “I had other plans for this bout, but I couldn’t do it because I hurt my hand in the second round, so I have to go to the hospital now to check if it’s broken.”
After the three-round fight, SFT announced that Cane is invited to fight for the inaugural light heavyweight championship, but the Sao Paulo native has other plans.
“My goal is to return to the UFC,” Cane said after his second straight win since leaving the Octagon. “I don’t know what God has planned for me, but I’d return to fight again here in the future.”
In the co-main event, Joao Isidoro scored the upset of the night. Entering the cage with a 0-1 record, Isidoro stopped every takedown attempt from Edson Franca (18-8), who was coming off a 35-second stoppage win over Bob Sapp, and landed the better punches to earn the victory on the judges’ scorecards.
“This guy has almost 30 fights in his record and I was able to defeat him,” an emotional Isidoro said after the bout. “He deserves all the respect. Thank you for the opportunity.”
Franca is scheduled to return to the cage on Dev. 7, when he takes on Douglas Simoes at Jungle Fight 62 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, but there’s no word yet if he’ll still be able to compete after tonight’s 15-minute fight.
Diogo Cavalcanti (7-1) scored a quick submission victory over Paulo Silva (10-11), locking an standing guillotine in just 81 seconds, and used his post-fight speech to try to solve some personal issues.
“Mom, I love you, but I also love my fiancée,” Cavalcanti, a teammate of UFC’s Rani Yahya, said after his win. “You need to solve your differences now [laughs].”
Coming off a disappointing loss, Allan Nascimento (11-2) returned to the win column with a quick victory over Alex Silva (1-2). The Chute Boxe fighter, who trains with UFC’s Felipe Arantes, quickly took the fight to the mat, got the back and finished the bout at 2:11 of the opening round with a rear-naked choke.
In the biggest mismatch of the card, Carina Damm (21-10) easily beat Daiane Firmino (1-1) in the first bout of the main card. Damm worked for submissions from the full mount in the first couple rounds, but Firmino bravely defended. Damm gassed in the third, and manage to survive to Firmino’s attempts and pick up the decision win.
“It was a war,” Damm said after the fight, her second win in less than two weeks.
“I gassed in the third round, but I fought and won three times in two months and the weight cut was too much. And we don’t fight a brave newcomer very often. She defended all my submission attempts, some positions that use every day in trainings. No offense to her team, but I would like to have her training at my team now.”
Flavio Alvaro (45-10) vs. Udi Lima (23-13), planned for tonight’s co-main event, was cancelled this morning when Alvaro was hospitalized with kidney issues.
“The fight is off, but it’s going to happen sooner or later,” Lima said. “Flavio Alvaro talked too much and didn’t show up. If he wants to fight, we’re going to have a fight.”
Check below the full results:
Main card:
Luiz Cane def. Fabio Silva via unanimous decision
Joao Isidoro def. Edson Francavia unanimous decision
Diogo Cavalcanti def. Paulo Silva via first-round submission (standing guillotine choke)
Allan Nascimento def. Alex Silva via first-round submission (rear-naked choke)
Carina Damm def. Daiane Firmino via unanimous decision
Undercard:
Marcos Rodrigues dos Santos def. Neliton Furtado via unanimous decision
Claudio Godoy def. Marcio Teles via second-round submission (guillotine choke)
Cemir Alves def. Serginho Vieira via first-round TKO (knee and punches)
Allan Popeye def. Walter Bruce via first-round submission (rear-naked choke)