E. Lula will face F. Bodão at UFC Rio 4. Photo: Dudu Maroja/MMA Brasil
the baiano Ednaldo Lula he would make his debut as a light heavyweight in the UFC against the American Robert Drysdale, who would debut in the organization in the next edition of Ultimate on national territory. As Drysdale's health problem, Lula has a new opponent for the UFC Rio 4 fight. It is Francimar Bodão from Acre, WOCS category champion and holder of the South American Shooto title.
The replacement was revealed by the Arena MMA blog and later confirmed by Luiz Dórea, the Bahian's coach, on Twitter. Asked if his job could be made easier by facing a newcomer, Lula denied. “A fight is a fight. I can’t get there thinking that I’ll have an advantage because I’ve already debuted in the UFC,” he told the Bahian blog. “I will arrive in the same way as him. But I'll be hungrier. I need this victory. I went through the most difficult phase of my life.”
Lula is referring to the death of his father, which occurred amid repeated injuries the fighter suffered in 2012. Now recovered, the light heavyweight says he will not change his fight plan due to the change in opponent. “It doesn’t change much because he will also want to put me down, but he doesn’t have that alone, so he might still change things a little with me.”
The duel between Bodão and Lula will be part of the card preliminary round of UFC Rio 4, or UFC 163, which takes place on August 3rd. The event will be led by a featherweight title fight between the champion José Aldo and the challenger Chan sung jung: Korean zombie.
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