One of the most respected grapplers in the fight game today, UFC light heavyweight Vinny Magalhaes plans on finishing his upcoming opponent Anthony Perosh on the ground.
The fact that “The Hippo” is a third-degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (Magalhaes is a second-degree black belt) means absolutely nothing to The Ultimate Fighter season 8 runner-up.
“He’s a third-degree black belt because he’s as old as my grandfather. Next year I’ll be a third degree black belt myself and I’m half his age,” Magalhaes said in an exclusive interview with Bleacher Report. “I do expect to finish him on the ground. There’s nothing on my resume that says that I can’t finish Anthony Perosh or another black belt, especially considering the fact that I’ve gone against some of the best grapplers in the world. (I’m) way more accomplished than him…what other world-class grappler has he faced? Jeff Monson? Check the result of that fight.”
Magalhaes, 28, is a three-time medal winner (one gold, two bronze) at the Abu Dhabi Submission Wrestling World Championships, regarded as the highest-level no-gi jiu-jitsu tournament that exists today.
In the grappling world, Magalhaes has defeated the likes of UFC heavyweight contender Fabricio Werdum, upcoming middleweight title challenger Chris Weidman and respected full-time jiu-jitsu practitioners like Dean Lister and Marcus “Buchecha” Almeida, among many others.
For the sake of comparison, Perosh, 41 (not quite old enough to be Magalhaes’ grandfather), has qualified for the ADCC World Championship five times but has never placed at the tournament.
Additionally, Perosh did indeed lose to Monson all the back at UFC 61 in July 2006, though it is worth noting he lost by TKO, not submission, and the bout was contested at heavyweight.
Magalhaes and Perosh face off at UFC 163, which is set to take place at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on August 3.
“Pezao” got some backlash from his countrymen for training Chael Sonnen for his UFC 148 middleweight title bout with Anderson Silva; however, he says this will not ruin the experience of competing in his home country for the first time ever in his in 17-fight MMA career.
I’m not really worried about that. I have a lot of my friends and family members going to the fight to support me and that’s what really matters. Plus, most of the new MMA fans in Brazil don’t even care about (the situation). Some of them don’t even know anything about it. They just go to the fights because the UFC is the new “cool (thing)” going on right now.
Magalhaes has trained with Sonnen, a three-time UFC title challenger, on multiple occasions now, so the submission wizard stated he would not accept a fight with “The American Gangster” if offered.
Speaking of Sonnen, Vinny also got a fair share of criticism after he picked “Uncle Chael” to defeat Jon Jones at UFC 159 (via BJPenn.com), a bout where the challenger was soundly defeated in the first round.
He argues that he has all the tools to be successful in the matchup and could still present Jones a challenge in the future, despite what happened in the recent championship bout:
When I give my opinion, I’m not necessarily saying that things will go exactly the way I’m saying; I’m usually talking about capability…I thought, and still think, he has some skills that would allow him to win a fight against Jones, but apparently, things didn’t really go the way I thought that they could’ve gone.
While Magalhaes is best known by UFC fans for his time on TUF, he compiled a 7-1 record after being cut by the company in April 2009, which included winning the M-1 Global light heavyweight strap.
Despite a 5-0 record (all stoppages) and being a champion, Magalhaes ran into problems with M-1 Global directors behind the scenes and actually ended up putting his belt for sale on eBay.
Here’s what he had to say about the whole ordeal:
I had a problem with one of their directors right after my last fight for them and the same guy was still trying to screw me over by not letting me fight and by making me sit out for the rest of my contract. So I just decided to put my belt up for sale; after all, there was nothing (in) my contract saying that I couldn’t sell my belt. I ended up not selling the belt, though. I decided to keep (it) so I can give it to my son once he’s older.
Magalhaes has a 10-6(1) record overall, though just a 1-3 record inside the Octagon, most recently dropping a decision to top-10 light heavyweight Phil Davis at UFC 159.
One of the BJJ instructors at Syndicate MMA in Las Vegas, Magalhaes also said he personally “underperformed” in that matchup, while Davis looked “better than I expected.”
Nevertheless, these are two factors he considers non-issues in his upcoming summer scrap with Perosh.
All quotes obtained firsthand by Bleacher Report unless otherwise noted.
John Heinis is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. He is also the MMA Editor for eDraft.com and contributes MMA videos to The Young Turks Sports Show.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com