Matheus Araujo advanced to the semifinals of the Jungle Fight welterweight grand prix with a first-round submission over Anderson Nascimento in the main event of Saturday’s card in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and chaos erupted after he refused to let go of the rear-naked choke.
Araujo dominated the former champion and got the finish in under three minutes, but held the choke despite multiple taps and the referee’s attempt to separate the fighters. Once Araujo finally released the choke, he pushed Nascimento
away with his feet.
Chaos erupted after that. Nascimento got back up and landed two punches to Araujo’s head while he was being held down by the referee. Members of both teams managed to get inside the cage to brawl, but officials quickly controlled the situation.
Watch the scenes below.
Araujo told the broadcast he took offense from comments made by his opponent before the event.
“Things got a bit heated in the end and we stepped away from professionalism there,” Araujo said. “He talked about my mother at the weigh-ins and that’s something I held onto with resentment in my heart. It’s been four years since she passed away, nobody knows anyone else’s story. I know he has two children; I’ve never brought up his family, never said anything, because that’s something sacred. This was supposed to be ‘The Monster’ against the ‘Astro da Maldade,’ there was no need to bring anyone else into it.”
Araujo advances in the $100,000 tournament to face Fabricio Bakai in the semifinal bout after Bakai won a decision over Martin Farley. The other spot in the final will be contested between Ernane Pimenta and Guilherme Silva, who won by knockout Saturday night against Glebson Santos and Henerson Duarte, respectively.
