The question of who was the better man on The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil is answered once and for all. Cezar “Mutante” Ferreira won the season when fellow finalist Daniel Sarafian fell injured before they could meet, and Ferreira symbolically sealed it at UFC Fight Night: Belfort vs. Henderson, scraping past him in the night’s co-main event.
The fight went the distance, with the judges scoring it for him in a split-decision, 30-27, 30-28, 28-29.
The matchup had been hotly anticipated here for a year, but didn’t deliver the fireworks most hoped for after the buildup, with Ferreira taking the heat out of the otherwise-electric Arena Goiania crowd with a series of takedowns and inability to do anything with them.
“He’s a very tough guy, strong guy,” he said afterward. “I tried to do some moves and couldn’t do it.”
The pair fought a close first, with Sarafian spending time trying to get inside Ferreira’s considerable reach advantage. That led to several clinches and few cleanly landed strikes. According to FightMetric, Ferreira ended the round with a slim 12-11 advantage in strikes.
Ferreira was able to seize control for a large chunk of the second, driving forward early for a takedown that allowed him to take top position for half the round. Sarafian landed a pair of hard strikes on the feet, but Ferreira soon scored a second takedown to stop him.
Ferreira sealed it in the third with two more takedowns that had Sarafian in quicksand trying to return to his feet.
Ferreira is now 3-0 in the UFC and 7-2 overall, while Sarafian dropped to 8-4.
