- And when you grow up down the street
from the legendary Dan Hodge
and you wrestle with his grandson...
- (laughs) - ...you're a wrestler!
Just loads down the street, right?
- Absolutely. Look at this.
Both guys, 1-0 record.
Both guys 30-something years of age.
This is, as you would say, Goldie, for the most part,
virtually identical. - Virtually identical.
- And look at you, no longer a rookie,
just transitioning into the Tale of the Tape.
That was spectacular. - (laughing) Thank you.
- Would you like to throw to Michael C. Williams?
- Oh, no, it's all yours, baby.
- Michael C. Williams.
- Ladies and gentlemen, tonight here at The Forum,
we now go to the bantamweight division
set for three five-minute rounds
and introduce the blue corner first.
At 5'6", weighing in 135 pounds even,
his professional record early on stands at 1-0.
Originally from Guatemala,
he fights out of Northridge, California.
Presenting Odan Chinchilla!
(crowd cheering)
And across the cage, his adversary.
Out of the red corner, at 5'7", weighing in 136.8 pounds.
His professional record the same at 1-0.
He fights out of Mato Grosso, Brazil.
Introducing Weber Almeida!
(crowd cheering) - Aah!
- And the referee in charge of the action, Frank Trigg.
- Frank Trigg, our referee for this bantamweight fight...
between the Guatemalan and the Brazilian.
Weber Almeida has not fought in three years,
four months, and 21 days. - Ready? Ready?
Fight! (bell dings)
- Been even longer for Odan Chinchilla.
at least professional fight.
Let's see if this one lasts very long.
Southpaw stance for Odan Chinchilla
in the blue gloves. Red gloves for Weber Almeida.
Both men going southpaw early.
- You can see Weber in his basic,
true martial arts karate stance,
standing sideways, moving freely,
looking very much like a much lighter Lyoto Machida.
- And that might be because he trains with.
- It could be because he trains with Lyoto Machida.
- There you go.
What a battle...
he and Carvalho had in Hawaii.
And speaking of Hawaiians,
we have a little Hawaiian surprise for you later tonight,
live on Paramount Network.
Good counter left to that low kick.
- Now, in this first minute, Mike, what you're really seeing,
Odan came out, he came out strong, going after him.
You know, you saw Weber go to the ground,
but you're seeing Weber starting to
control the distance of this fight.
Odan is making big charges trying to get at him,
and he's not touching Weber with his shots.
Weber is controlling that distance,
he's picking his shots. And this is what
we talk about, when you're in a rhythm
and able to control the speed and distance of that fight,
you're a very hard fighter to beat.
- Little bit of crossover here, Big John,
as Chinchilla spent some time in California
at Kings MMA with Rafael Cordeiro.
And then trained with Lyoto Machida, Almeida.
So the professor, great Brazilian teacher,
a fighter himself, Striker.
And, of course, the Dragon, one of the best of all time.
Should be a fun fight. So far, so good.
Going to the body.
- Big, heavy shots. He's throwing a lot of power.
He's settings his feet on those.
He's bringing a lot of power on those shots.
Chinchilla's trying to keep himself composed,
he's trying to march him down, but he needs to start
taking steps to cut off the angles
that Weber Almeida is utilizing himself, free.
You see right there, pulls him...
Nice job of getting him to the ground.
Little bit of a-- almost a neck tackle.
It wasn't really a takedown that we would normally utilize.
- No shorts! Let go of the shorts.
- Grabbing the shorts there. - No shorts.
- Good knee inside.
All of this good, smart fighting by Weber Almeida.
- Every time I see our good buddy, Trigger,
I just go right back to the brawl at Royal Albert Hall.
- (laughing) I don't know...
- And Frank probably would rather me not do that.
(laughing)
- Well, there's some things, yeah, you just...
- You're stuck with it.
Can't hide with that beard. - (chuckles)
- Just past the midway point of round one.
Over the top. - There's a big shot.
- Big kick, he's hurt right now.
Oh, my goodness. It is all over!
Michael C. Williams to make it official.
- Ladies and gentlemen, it ends officially
three minutes, four seconds into round number one.
The winner by TKO,
Weber Almeida!
(bell dinging, crowd cheering) - Aah!
- Nice job done by Weber Almeida,
who will talk to my partner, Big John McCarthy.
- Weber, that was an outstanding performance.
It was everything that you were doing,
controlling distance,
controlling the pace and location
and when the attacks came.
How did you feel coming off of a long layoff,
coming in here and performing like that.
- (translating)
- Okay, first of all, (shouting) what's up, L.A.?
(crowd cheering) Whoa!
I feel fantastic, man. I feel very good.
Thank you for everyone for coming to see the show.
Thank you so much.
I appreciate it for my sensei, Chinzo,
Vinny Sezantos, Lyoto, and Gregory Rodrigues
for helping me, for supporting me.
Thank you, everyone, for supporting me in this fight.
You are awesome, guys!
You are awesome. Thank you so much.
(crowd cheering)
- It's been a while since you fought.
Are we gonna see you now
coming back much sooner to fight again?
- (translating)
- Wow, I'm ready.
I'm ready for the next war! Yes!
- Well, congratulations on a beautiful performance.
Ladies and gentlemen, your winner, Weber Almeida!