Sao Paulo – From the UFC’s pinnacle to Madison Square Garden, combat nerds are shocked with incredible performances within the Octagon as Donald Trump and Elon Musk sit on the cageside from dozens of attendees.
And they don’t have a slowdown plan.
Caio Borralho, Mauricio Ruffy, Carlos Prates and Jean Silva are pairing up 18-0 records under the UFC banner. In UFC 314, Silva is about to add another victory to that list when he faces Bryce Mitchell. Later this month, Prates will find headlines for UFC Kansas City and Ian Machado Garry. Boraljo is waiting for his next mission to solidify his position as the No. 1 candidate in the middleweight division, and Raffy is taking the fast after knocking out King Green this March to knock out an annual level finish at UFC 313.
But who is the man wearing funny glasses that guides that pack?
The team’s founder and head coach Pablo Saspira is a veteran Muay Thai fighter and boxer who is unhappy with the business. Even if you succeed in the Brazilian local scene, sometimes even overseas, it’s difficult to make a living as a striker. The platform offered by mixed martial arts organizations, particularly the UFC, has opened cupira’s eyes for bigger projects.
He founded a combat club in Sao Paulo and began coaching fighter jets. Then everything changed when a young man from Malan Hao walked through those doors.
“Caio Borralho came to Sao Paulo in 2014. The moment we met together and started training, our team got stronger,” says Supupira. “We left boxing and Muay Thai and focused solely on MMA. It was a long journey, but at MMA we found a real path.”
Borralho was the first talent in a nerd fight that explodes into the MMA scene and signed to compete Dana WhiteCandidate Series for In 2021, the team felt the need to add another coach to prepare for such tasks. Raffy proposed the group an old-fashioned touch with 60 pro MMA fight veteran Flavio Alvaro.
Alvaro met with cuupira and shared his approach with regard to MMA’s Takedowns. Alvaro has gone through his 40s and has experienced a lot in the sport, but he asks the sucker for a salary that the team cannot pay in those early stages.
“Thank you, I’m a big fan, but the team is starting now and I don’t have the money,” Sucupira told Alvaro after the meeting. “What I have here is a great fighting concept that I think fits well with you. I think we can come together and create something invincible.”
They shook hands and Alvaro went home. The next day he called.
“Pablo, if that’s your confidence, I don’t know what you have, but that idea was a hit,” Alvaro told cupira over the phone. “I’m in. I don’t want to be paid anything, I want to bet on what you’re doing.”
From that day on, Combat Club became a combat nerd and Borralho won twice tack Win a UFC contract.
“I’m a brain, my mota is my heart, and Flavio is my ball (of fighting nerds),” Supira said with a laugh. “I graduated from marketing and quit that career when I started fighting, I didn’t like the name and really wanted something that represented us.
Alvaro retired as an MMA fighter in 2017, winning 49 out of 60 matches, and one day faced a young man in the UFC. He peaked in 2007, moving on to 11-1, winning four overnight tournaments over six months with a bloody, ultra-violent underground promotion known as the Rio Heroes.
When you think of yourself as a “geek”, it’s not an image that jumps into your head.
“Not all smart men are always good,” Alvaro said with a smile. “I want to say that I’m a new angle for combat nerds. I’m a dark nerd. I’m a more rex-loser. If this is a comic book, I’ll be a smart villain.”
“I’ve always given everything I have in this sport in a very realistic and intense way,” he continued. “I’ve always liked big challenges, bloody fights, aggression. It doesn’t make me a nerd or nerd more than anyone else, but it puts me in this position. I’ve always seen myself as a clever man. Violence.”
Not all combat nerds are the same. Take the boraljo as an example. The middleweight talent is 7-0 in the UFC, with all but two of these wins making decisions and Boraljo rarely spinning. For Alvaro, it is domination.
Silva and Prates bring violence. This is a 100% knockout rate for octagons. Rafi is the artist of the purest form of words.
“I want to bring their best to where they are good,” Alvaro said. “I’m not trying to force my views to do what they’re doing. I have to add a way to make them as great as they are.”
The success of the UFC of Fighting Geeks has led them to many awards as the best MMA team of 2024. Alvaro admits he struggles with the idea.
“We really think we deserve that honor, so it’s been going on for years, so we need a belt,” Alvaro said. “Many great teams had belts. Greg Jackson, Shootbox, aka the American Top Team, Brazil’s top team. Whether you like it or not, these teams are one step ahead of us.
“At the same time, fighting nerds has become the concept of today, and I think that concept is more important than victory. The fighting nerds have shown that smarter men can fight and win. They chase and have four belts at home.”
Sucupira dreams of the day he won the UFC title as a coach, but that’s not his ultimate goal. After having his first athlete in the company with Borralho, he constantly moves the goal post.
For Sucupira, he sees his project Blossom feel like a fever dream.
“I accept this pressure, this responsibility, and I am not embarrassed by it,” cupira said. “I’m still a little hard to understand the success of fighting nerds because I’m very focused on this process. I’m very focused on what I need to conquer and I’m focused on not being able to slow it down and appreciate it. We can now chase the UFC belt.