Murilo Bustamante (left) faces Dave Menne (right) at AFC. Photo: Susumu Nagao
With a card full of big stars, the city of Manaus will host, this Saturday night (31), the second edition of Amazon Forest Combat. The main attraction of the night will be the duel between Murilo Bustamante and the American Dave Menne, repeating the fight that took place in 2002, when the Brazilian won the UFC belt. In addition to the duel, the fight program also features well-known names on the world stage such as: Thales leites, Ronys Torres, the Canadian Patrick Cotê, the Cameroonian Rameau Sokoudjou and the Japanese Satoshi Ishii, Olympic judo champion in 2008.
Despite the big stars and the expected large audience – the 12 thousand tickets put on sale were sold – some problems occurred right at the weigh-in. The Japanese Satoshi Ishii he was unable to arrive in Brazil in time, due to a delay in his flight, and did not participate in the weigh-in. Brazilian Gustavo Ximú was late at the weigh-in and checked his weight after everyone else. Frenchman Ferrid Kheder, who will face Ronys Torres, weighed 76 kg., six above the limit for the lightweight category, even so, the Brazilian accepted the duel.
Murilo Bustamante vs. Dave Menne
Ten years after the duel between Murilo and Menne, the veteran fighters will meet again. In the first duel, which took place at UFC 35, Bustamante submitted the North American and was the first Brazilian to win the Ultimate belt. Now, in the final phase of his career, the leader of the BTT team is already planning a farewell at home.
“This will be the last year of my career. I still want to say goodbye to Rio de Janeiro and I'm ready. I train with younger athletes and I know I prepared very well. That's why I'm confident,” said Bustamante, who at 45 years old is the coach of UFC athletes like Toquinho.
Another duel highly anticipated by fans does not involve Brazilians. The current Olympic heavyweight champion in judo, Satoshi Ishii, will fight again in Manaus after the controversial draw against Paulo Filho last year. His opponent will be Cameroonian veteran Rameau Sokoudjou, who has already fought in the UFC, Pride and has important victories over Rogério Minotouro e Ricardo arona.
Check out the complete AFC 2 card below, which will be broadcast live on RedeTV! from 21pm.
Murilo Bustamante vs. Dave Menne;
Satoshi Ishii vs. Rameau Sokoudjou;
Thales leites vs. Matt Horwich;
Gustavo Ximú vs. Patrick Coté;
Ronnie Torres vs. Ferrid Kheder;
Daniel Acácio vs. Pete Spratt:
Dileno Lopes vs. Javier Ocampo;
Fabiano Capoane faces vs. Emiliano Sordi;
Rivaldo Jr. vs. Marcelo red;
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