Tag: Nova Uniao

Video: Thales Leites Retires On High Note In Brazil

Longtime veterans Thales Leites and Hector Lombard met on the preliminary card of tonight’s (Sat., September 22, 2018) UFC Fight Night 137 at Ginásio do Ibirapuera in São Paulo, Brazil. Little did we know, it was Leites’ last fight in his long and decorated MMA career. It also wasn’t without some adversity, however. Leites’ knee was swollen quite gruesomely at […]

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Longtime veterans Thales Leites and Hector Lombard met on the preliminary card of tonight’s (Sat., September 22, 2018) UFC Fight Night 137 at Ginásio do Ibirapuera in São Paulo, Brazil.

Little did we know, it was Leites’ last fight in his long and decorated MMA career. It also wasn’t without some adversity, however. Leites’ knee was swollen quite gruesomely at one point.

Check it out:

It wasn’t the most eventful fight, yet Leites was able to get his hand raised by decision after three rounds:

Leites then did something that was perhaps unexpected. The middleweight mainstay dropped his gloves in the Octagon and retired in his home country of Brazil:

Leites leaves the sport behind with a quietly historic career. He is tied for the third-most wins in UFC middleweight history with 13. That’s an impressive feat to be sure.

“Milk” debuted in the Octagon all the way back in November 2006. He lost a decision to Martin Kampmann. He then ran up five straight wins afterward. That earned him a title shot against all-time great former champ Anderson Silva in April 2009. The fight is still largely considered one of the worst UFC title fights of all-time.

But he still fought “The Spider” in his prime.

Leites also probably could not have chosen a better moment to go out on top after a close victory in his Brazilian homeland. He beat Lombard yet had lost three of his previous five UFC bouts. He was a talented submission artist who tapped out 15 opponents in his nearly 15-year mixed martial arts career. Leites faced top names like Silva, Michael Bisping, Lombard, Jeremy Horn, and Tim Boetsch.

We wish Leites all the best in his post-fight life.

The post Video: Thales Leites Retires On High Note In Brazil appeared first on LowKickMMA.com.

Brazilian MMA Teams Nova Uniao, Kimura no Longer Working Together

Andre Pederneiras confirmed a split between Nova Uniao and Kimura, two Brazilian-based MMA teams who have worked together for 20 years. “There’s a restructuring in Nova Uniao today that doesn’t involve only the competition part,” Pederneiras told…

Andre Pederneiras confirmed a split between Nova Uniao and Kimura, two Brazilian-based MMA teams who have worked together for 20 years. “There’s a restructuring in Nova Uniao today that doesn’t involve only the competition part,” Pederneiras told reporters at Nova Uniao’s new training center. “Some rules were created and some teams, not only Kimura, couldn’t […]

Video: “Fighting To Win” Documentary On Nova Uniao Premieres On UFC Fight Pass Wednesday

nova-uniao-fighting-to-win

https://youtu.be/5-wmhB-XKI4

This coming Wednesday, a new UFC Fight Pass original documentary will air that will give fans an inside look at Team Nova Uniao.

Featured above is a preview for the special, “Fighting to Win,” which stars Andre Pederneiras and looks at the decorated Brazilian MMA fight team, which features such talent as Jose Aldo, Renan Barao and others.

Jose Aldo looks to regain gold in his next Octagon appearance, as he and Frankie Edgar will compete in a rematch for the interim UFC Featherweight Title in one of the co-main events of the upcoming landmark UFC 200 pay-per-view event.

“Go inside Nova União with coach André Pederneiras and discover his role of coach, mentor, father and social agent to promote a better life for his fighters and discover the background of those he’s brought to the top. The Fight Pass Exclusive debuts this Wednesday.”

UFC 200 is scheduled to take place on Saturday, July 9, 2016 from the brand new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

nova-uniao-fighting-to-win

https://youtu.be/5-wmhB-XKI4

This coming Wednesday, a new UFC Fight Pass original documentary will air that will give fans an inside look at Team Nova Uniao.

Featured above is a preview for the special, “Fighting to Win,” which stars Andre Pederneiras and looks at the decorated Brazilian MMA fight team, which features such talent as Jose Aldo, Renan Barao and others.

Jose Aldo looks to regain gold in his next Octagon appearance, as he and Frankie Edgar will compete in a rematch for the interim UFC Featherweight Title in one of the co-main events of the upcoming landmark UFC 200 pay-per-view event.

“Go inside Nova União with coach André Pederneiras and discover his role of coach, mentor, father and social agent to promote a better life for his fighters and discover the background of those he’s brought to the top. The Fight Pass Exclusive debuts this Wednesday.”

UFC 200 is scheduled to take place on Saturday, July 9, 2016 from the brand new T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Jose Aldo’s Coach: Conor McGregor Should Be Stripped Of Featherweight Title

Jose Aldo unfortunately put forth what was by far the worst performance of his legendary mixed martial arts (MMA) career when Irish megastar Conor McGregor knocked him out with one fateful left hand in the main event of December 12s UFC 194 from Las Vegas.   However, apart from the surprisingly swift nature of his

The post Jose Aldo’s Coach: Conor McGregor Should Be Stripped Of Featherweight Title appeared first on LowKick MMA.

Jose Aldo unfortunately put forth what was by far the worst performance of his legendary mixed martial arts (MMA) career when Irish megastar Conor McGregor knocked him out with one fateful left hand in the main event of December 12s UFC 194 from Las Vegas.

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However, apart from the surprisingly swift nature of his loss, Aldo simply won’t accept any other fight except for a rematch or some form of championship bout. The decorated former champion was undefeated for an unprecedented 10 years, and based on those merits, he told Irish site Independent.ie that the plan was for him to rematch McGregor, so he won’t take another bout unless it’s for the belt:

“That was the idea [re-match] when the fight was over. If someone asks me what I want, it’s the rematch, of course. I don’t see another fight for me besides a title fight or a rematch.”

While it could be quite some time before McGregor defends his featherweight belt given that he’s moved up to lightweight to take on champion Rafael dos Anjos in the main event of March 5’s UFC 197, Aldo could also be slated for a rematch for the title with Frankie Edgar if the ‘Notorious’ decides to stay put at 155.

In pics: Conor McGregor and UFC champion Jose Aldo in Dublin ...

The whole situation of allowing McGregor to hold onto the featherweight belt and fight for another title a weight class up has never been allowed in the UFC up until now, and Aldo’s head coach and longtime trainer Andre Pederneiras is understandably upset by it.

Jump to the next page to find out how Nova Uniao’s headman blasted the UFC….

The post Jose Aldo’s Coach: Conor McGregor Should Be Stripped Of Featherweight Title appeared first on LowKick MMA.

Jungle Fight Lightweight Guilherme Rodrigues Murdered in Brazil, Just One Day After Nova Uniao Fighter Meets the Same Fate


(Photo via Alan Oliveira/Sherdog.)

Two MMA fighters. Two murders. Two days.

That’s the startling reality facing the Brazilian city of Natal, which is set to host Fight Night 38 on March 23rd. On Tuesday, it was reported that Luiz de Franca, a 3-0 welterweight training out of Kimura Nova Uniao, was shot to death inside a gym on Monday morning. The main suspect? A police lieutenant, of all people, who used to train at the Alta Performance gym until he was thrown for being “too violent” some 15 days before Franca’s murder. Said Franca’s teammate and UFC middleweight Rafael Natal:

It was a cowardly act. Really sad to see a guy full of life, that always helped everybody, die like that. I want justice.

Wanderlei Silva, who had trained with Franca in early 2012, also shared his condolences, stating via his Facebook, “I’m really sad. Luiz de Franca, who trained with us in Las Vegas for almost a year, was brutally murdered this Monday morning in Natal. He was only 25 and never got himself in trouble. He was a good kid.”

Police colonel Lenildo Sena told reporters that the crime was caught on tape, but they have yet to determine if it was the cop, who had a history of depression (also according to Sena), who killed the 25-year-old Franca.

As if the horrific and inexplicable murder of one human being wasn’t enough, word broke earlier today that Jungle Fight lightweight Guilherme Matos Rodrigues had died on the operating table shortly after being shot in Natal last night as well. Details on his case are after the jump.


(Photo via Alan Oliveira/Sherdog.)

Two MMA fighters. Two murders. Two days.

That’s the startling reality facing the Brazilian city of Natal, which is set to host Fight Night 38 on March 23rd. On Tuesday, it was reported that Luiz de Franca, a 3-0 welterweight training out of Kimura Nova Uniao, was shot to death inside a gym on Monday morning. The main suspect? A police lieutenant, of all people, who used to train at the Alta Performance gym until he was thrown for being “too violent” some 15 days before Franca’s murder. Said Franca’s teammate and UFC middleweight Rafael Natal:

It was a cowardly act. Really sad to see a guy full of life, that always helped everybody, die like that. I want justice.

Wanderlei Silva, who had trained with Franca in early 2012, also shared his condolences, stating via his Facebook, “I’m really sad. Luiz de Franca, who trained with us in Las Vegas for almost a year, was brutally murdered this Monday morning in Natal. He was only 25 and never got himself in trouble. He was a good kid.”

Police colonel Lenildo Sena told reporters that the crime was caught on tape, but they have yet to determine if it was the cop, who had a history of depression (also according to Sena), who killed the 25-year-old Franca.

As if the horrific and inexplicable murder of one human being wasn’t enough, word broke earlier today that Jungle Fight lightweight Guilherme Matos Rodrigues had died on the operating table shortly after being shot in Natal last night as well. No suspect has yet been named in his case.

Although there has been no connection made between the two murders, Rodrigues’ training partner and Bellator featherweight Patricio Freire suggested something sinister to MMAFighting, stating that

Guilherme was in the best time of his life now. He just majored in Physical Education and kept fighting. Everything he did was work and train.I have no idea who would do a brutality like that to him. He was a handsome guy, everybody knew who he was, so maybe someone was jealous of him.

There’s not much I can say, really, other than that it has truly been an unbelievable couple of days for the city of Natal and the MMA community in general. Our hearts go out to the families of Franca and Rodrigues, and we will keep you updated on their cases as information is made available.

–J. Jones

Nova Uniao Head Trainer Confirms Renan Barao Is Totally Being Screwed by That Whole “Interim” Title


(And to think, if the guy on the left had won, we’d have a new outright champion by now. Photo via Getty.)

October 1st will mark the two year anniversary (?) of the last time we saw bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz defend his title in the octagon. Multiple ACL tears and a rejected cadaver ligament transplant have seen the once dominant champion sidelined ever since his 2011 battle with now flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson. As such, the bantamweight division has been stuck in a perpetual state of limbo, frustrating fans, fighters and most importantly, Dominick Cruz.

But perhaps the only person more frustrated by Cruz’s arduous road to recovery than the champ himself is interim title holder Renan Barao, who recently became the first fighter in UFC history to defend said title twice (via a second round KO of Eddie Wineland at UFC 165). Actually, Barao is the first fighter in UFC history to ever defend an interim belt. Unfortunately, the Brazilian isn’t seeing many benefits of being the closest thing to a champion his division has seen in a dog’s age.

That’s at least, according to Nova Uniao head trainer Andre Pederneiras, who recently appeared on MMAJunkie radio to discuss Barao’s current predicament:

He’s very frustrated because he needs to make money. So many sponsors here in Brazil are not sponsoring him because he’s not the real champion from the UFC. He’s the interim champion. He’s losing money every day.

The sponsors here want a real champion. A linear champion. 


(And to think, if the guy on the left had won, we’d have a new outright champion by now. Photo via Getty.)

October 1st will mark the two year anniversary (?) of the last time we saw bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz defend his title in the octagon. Multiple ACL tears and a rejected cadaver ligament transplant have seen the once dominant champion sidelined ever since his 2011 battle with now flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson. As such, the bantamweight division has been stuck in a perpetual state of limbo, frustrating fans, fighters and most importantly, Dominick Cruz.

But perhaps the only person more frustrated by Cruz’s arduous road to recovery than the champ himself is interim title holder Renan Barao, who recently became the first fighter in UFC history to defend said title twice (via a second round KO of Eddie Wineland at UFC 165). Actually, Barao is the first fighter in UFC history to ever defend an interim belt. Unfortunately, the Brazilian isn’t seeing many benefits of being the closest thing to a champion his division has seen in a dog’s age.

That’s at least, according to Nova Uniao head trainer Andre Pederneiras, who recently appeared on MMAJunkie radio to discuss Barao’s current predicament:

He’s very frustrated because he needs to make money. So many sponsors here in Brazil are not sponsoring him because he’s not the real champion from the UFC. He’s the interim champion. He’s losing money every day.

The sponsors here want a real champion. A linear champion. 

We’ve seen several message boards around the MMA blogosphere making the case that, had Urijah Faber defeated Barao at UFC 149, he would have arguably been promoted to outright champion by now. Why? Because although Barao being champion would clearly be more profitable for Barao, a well known, *American* star like Faber being champion would be far more profitable for the UFC. It would fuel the already heated rivalry between Cruz and Faber, it would give the UFC an opportunity to promote a champion, etc. Cruz would have been able to cash in that lottery ticket he missed out on at UFC 148, so to speak.

Just an observation.

But there is hope, as “The Dominator” is currently eyeing a February 2014 return. It’s a timetable that Pederneiras and company are eager to see come to fruition. Otherwise, well…

I don’t want another opponent. I want to make the fight happen by February, or I need to talk to Dana to take his belt, because more than two-and-a-half years, I don’t understand. But he said he was probably going to be fighting in February. 

I’ve been waiting for that and praying every day for it to happen. Renan wants to fight Dominick. 

Fingers crossed.

–J. Jones