It appears as if Rodolfo Vieira’s first stroll to the cage this yr at UFC Struggle Night time 251 on February 15 is not in jeopardy. Initially scheduled to take care of Jacob Malkoun, the Aussie introduced final week that he needed to bow out from the bout attributable to choosing up an damage.
Fortuitously, Rodolfo Vieira will nonetheless stay on the cardboard, as The Final Fighter season 29 alum Andre Petroski has raised his hand to step in on brief discover to tackle the three-time IBJJF world champion.
Rodolfo Vieira Might Simply Be Most Harmful Submission Artist at Middleweight
Since making his means into the UFC again in 2019, Rodolfo Vieira has garnered a few very spectacular accomplishments contained in the world-famous Octagon. On the time of this writing, “The Black Belt Hunter” holds the report for many promotional arm triangle chokes with 4.
Together with a rear bare choke stoppage towards Dustin Stoltzfus at UFC on ESPN 26, all of Rodolfo Vieira’s wins have come inside the gap within the UFC, making him one of many extra prolific submission finishers within the 185-lb division. He additionally holds declare to a few Efficiency of the Night time bonuses, having collected two of these awards in simply his final two fights over Cody Brundage and Armen Petrosyan.
To date, his solely losses within the firm have been to a number of the extra established names within the weight class. In 2021, he was stripped of his undefeated report by at present streaking contender Anthony Hernandez, being choked out of all issues within the first spherical by guillotine.
Then, a yr later, Rodolfo Viera met his match and suffered his most up-to-date setback to the hard-hitting Chris Curtis, falling brief within the contest by unanimous determination to the as soon as regional two-weight champion.
Andre Petroski Trying to Preserve Win Streak Alive On Quest for Contendership vs. Rodolfo Vieira
On the twenty ninth season of the hit actuality tv present, The Final Fighter, Petroski a favourite to win all the competitors. Beneath the tutelage of high featherweight contender Brian Ortega, the Renzo Gracie Philly product bulldozed his first opponent on the present, Aaron Phillips, to achieve the quarterfinals of the match. There he finally misplaced to the season’s eventual winner, Bryan Battle, however not earlier than incomes an opportunity to struggle within the UFC.
Making his debut at UFC Struggle Night time: Barboza vs. Chikadze, Petroski battled fellow TUF 29 fighter Michaël Gillmore, whom he would defeat by third spherical TKO. Choosing up one other win two months later over Yaozong Hu, he then put himself on the map with a highlight-reel submission victory towards Californian prodigy Nick Maximov. Within the coming years, Petroski picked up two extra victories, beating each Wellington Turman and Gerald Meerschaert, cementing himself as a real prospect at middleweight.
Then, he got here face-to-fist with a budding juggernaut of the division, Michel Pereira, who was developing from 170, shedding through first spherical knockout. Issues didn’t get higher from there, because the Pennsylvania native was stopped once more after diving head first into the pelvis of Jacob Malkoun earlier than being completed with subsequent ground-and-pound.
Nevertheless, issues ultimately started to lookup for Petroski, as a result of in his subsequent two UFC appearances, he managed to get himself again into the win column and stayed there with two back-to-back wins over Josh Fremd and Dylan Budka.
Now using a two struggle win streak, he’ll try and springboard himself towards contender standing by brushing away the highest submission artist of the 185-lb panorama in Rodolfo Vieira.
