The main event features one of Brazil’s biggest stars, Ronaldo „Jacare“ Souza making his light heavyweight debut against Poland’s Jan Blachowicz. It is an interesting match-up with Blachowicz coming off a devastating knockout of former UFC middleweight champion Luke Rockhold. It’s a fight that will certainly have ramifications in the 2020 light heavyweight title picture.

Elsewhere on the card is former light heavyweight champion Maurico „Shogun“ Rua, submission specialist Paul Craig, the streaking James Krause and UFC record holder Charles Oliveira.

Take a look at the whole UFC Sao Paulo collection on UFC Fight Pass right here: https://www.ufc.tv/category/ufc-sao-paulo-fights-to-watch

This Bout Coming Up Soon on ESPN+

This Bout Coming Up Soon on ESPN+

This Bout Coming Up Soon on ESPN+

This Bout Coming Up Soon on ESPN+

This Bout Coming Up Soon on ESPN+

This Bout Coming Up Soon on ESPN+

This Bout Coming Up Soon on ESPN+

This Bout Coming Up Soon on ESPN+

This Bout Coming Up Soon on ESPN+

This Bout Coming Up Soon on ESPN+

But it is pretty much what Jared Gordon asked for.

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“I pray to God, I ask him every day to make me the Rocky of UFC; the biggest underdog,” Gordon said. „Coming into this card, I might be one of the bigger underdogs on the card. I probably am.”
 

Gordon’s assumption is true. As of November 12, Bovada has the New Yorker as a +270 underdog to Charles Oliveira, but all Gordon can do is laugh.

“They say, ‘Be careful of what you wish for,’” Gordon said. “Now I’m fighting Charles Oliveira, so I got what I asked for. This is what I’ve been asking for. This is what I want. 

Always open about his recovery from drug addiction, part of Gordon’s Rocky-themed wish is so he can create the largest platform he can to help people, and it’s working. Gordon said he receives multiple messages every day from people asking for help or offering support.

While his motivation is never in question, Gordon did doubt his standing on the UFC roster after back-to-back losses in 2018 before securing a unanimous decision win over Dan Moret in June.

“I felt like when I had those two losses, like, ‘Oh, my career is over,’” Gordon said. “But I got a new contract, and then I won in June, and now I’m fighting Charles Oliveira, who is ranked No. 13 in the world, so I’m doing what I have to do to get to where I have to go. So for me, this is my opportunity, and this is my time.”

Gordon admitted he “played it a little safe” in his last fight, but it was enough to get a decisive win, and it was enough to get his mojo back. Although Gordon is well-aware of Oliveira’s record for most submissions in UFC history (13), he isn’t letting that impact how he is approaching the fight. 

MORE SAO PAULO: Main Event Preview | Blachowicz & Paul Craig on Unfiltered | Jacare Is Back | Paul Craig Enters The Lion’s Den

“Charles is a stud,” Gordon said. “He’s a monster, but this is what I’m here for. To prove that I’m just as good or better, so if I’m going to get to the top, I’m going to have to fight guys like Charles.”

“Is it enemy territory? I don’t know,” Brown said. “I I know Brazil can be kind of hostile sometimes, but I don’t know what to expect. I guess we’re going to go in there and find out.”

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That mentality tracks with the lessons Brown learned over the course of his UFC career thus far. More than anything, Brown likes to keep things grounded so he can stay flexible with whatever situation a fight might present.

“For me, I like to simplify things,” Brown said. “I kind of just focus on getting better. The surprises come with anything that can happen in there. That’s what’s maybe my biggest surprise, thinking that you’re one place, but then the fight happens. Like my coach always says, ‘It’s not what you expect it to be. It just is what it is.’ That’s just that. You’re not always in control as much as you think you are.”

Going with the flow helped Brown secure a TKO win over Bryan Barberena, which is no small feat. Barberena had never lost via knockout until Vicente Luque became the first to do it in their February bout. Brown became the second, bouncing back from a knockout loss to Niko Price to halt “Bam Bam” in the third round. 

Brown said that achievement didn’t do all too much for his confidence because, in his words, it is “always up.” If anything, it provided some reassurance that “everything is coming together” for the 29-year-old.

“I’m constantly learning, constantly growing,” Brown said. “My last fight, there’s always takeaways. There’s positives and negatives, but you learn a lot. On the technical end of things, you learn a lot, but more so I just go in, have fun and be myself and do what I do.”

MORE SAO PAULO: Main Event Preview | Blachowicz & Paul Craig on Unfiltered | Jacare Is Back | Paul Craig Enters The Lion’s Den | Jared Gordon Got His Mojo Back

Against Alves, Brown feels this bout is a critical one for him and believes this is an opportunity to springboard him into a “big opportunity” afterward. He admitted he has a name in mind, but wouldn’t go as far as to divulge whom he is thinking about.

That’s not to say he is looking past Alves, whom Brown calls a “solid up and comer.” 

The 37-year-old veteran has heard them all and addressed them time and again, offering the same collection of reasons most veteran fighters in his position point to whenever those curious about their continued desire to step inside the cage and trade punches with another human being inquire about their reasoning.

“I think motivations vary from person-to-person — there is no standard — but as long as I continue to train, I’ll continue to fight,” Rua said on Tuesday morning, just a few days before he makes his first appearance of 2019 opposite Paul Craig in the co-main event of the UFC’s return to Sao Paulo this weekend.

“I’m a guy that peaked very early in my career — I was super-young — but I think that as long as I train well, compete well and feel very good about it, I will continue to compete.”

The Brazilian icon also points to his close friend and training partner Demian Maia as an example of someone who has continued to have tremendous success at a time when most observers expect them to either struggle mightily or simply walk away.

“He certainly is a source of motivation,” he said of Maia, who entered 2019 on a three-fight slide, but has since won three straight, most recently submitting Ben Askren in Singapore to rocket back into the thick of the title chase in the welterweight division. “Demian turned 42 last week and, in my opinion, he’s at his peak and still performing at his peak and that’s a motivation.”

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The piece that seems lost on most onlookers as they wonder when these aging combat sports athletes will say “that’s enough” is that, for many, training and competing is a way of life, not simply a vocational pursuit, and those competitive fires can’t simply be turned off with the flip of a switch.

They can, however, diminish over time.

Rua made his professional debut two weeks prior to turning 22. A year later, he debuted in PRIDE, knocking out Akira Shoji in under four minutes. Eighteen months later, he kicked off his run to the Middleweight Grand Prix title by finishing Quinton “Rampage” Jackson via soccer kicks in a little under five minutes.

He’s also tremendously aware and appreciative of the legacy he’s crafted for himself and the respect his name carries with fans and fellow fighters alike.

“I notice that (and it means a lot to me),” said the soon-to-be 38-year-old former light heavyweight champion. “With the history that I was able to develop in this sport for so many years, I see that I get so much respect, not just from fans, but also my opponents. I think this is very cool.

“It’s something that is always going to be attached to my name and the legacy I’ll leave when it’s all said and done.”

But while fans and media members are pondering when Rua will opt to call it a career, the man himself has been readying to return to action this weekend in Sao Paulo and dealing with a last-minute curveball that prompted a major change to the final two weeks of his training camp.

Initially slated to face American Sam Alvey, Rua will instead square off with Scottish submission ace Paul Craig, who jumped at the chance to replace Alvey when the former Ultimate Fighter contestant was forced from Saturday’s matchup due to a broken hand.

RELATED: Paul Craig Enters The Lion’s Den

“This kind of change of opponent with drastically different styles is always bad,” Rua said of the shift, acknowledging the challenges of a late change in opponents where most would opt to label the last-minute shift as nothing too concerning. “I was going to fight a southpaw who is pretty much a striker and now I’m going to face a right-handed guy that’s a grappler, so it’s a big difference, a big change and that’s never good.

“Growing up I had a bigger brother and he put me in many a Sharpshooter, so to have the opportunity to meet the man that inspired him to haunt me every Saturday afternoon? It was amazing.”

Paul Craig is gleefully describing his recent meeting with WWF legend Bret “Hitman” Hart.

“Just listening to his stories and what he’s done in his life, I would love to do that. I would love to have the career that he’s had. It was amazing just to stand in front of this guy who you grew up watching. In the picture with him on social media, I’m like the happiest guy in the world. Amazing. This sport, it takes a lot from you, but it gives you so much back. I would never have got the opportunity to meet him or any of my icons. Getting to meet my heroes, it’s amazing.”

These expressions of gratitude pop up frequently when speaking to Craig, and almost belie his hulking frame and résumé as one of the most fearsome submission artists in the UFC light heavyweight field.

For example, fighters frequently embrace the narrative that they enjoy fighting in “enemy territory,” and Craig is no exception. But his reasons for enjoying it are different than most.

MORE SAO PAULO: Main Event Preview | Blachowicz Fighting For Poland | Watch on ESPN+ | Fight By Fight Preview

“Everywhere I’ve went, I’ve always been in enemy territory – apart from Glasgow. Apart from that, we always get to travel and that’s one of the perks of this job; getting to see the world. Last week I was in Scotland, and now I’m in Brazil. I really can’t complain man, this is beautiful.”

It’s a great mindset to have, particularly in this instance. Not only is Craig fighting in Brazil, he’s fighting one of its favorite sons in Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. It’s difficult to imagine less friendly confines than Ginasio do Ibirapuera this Saturday when Craig makes his walk. But even this challenge is one he approaches with reverence because he’s as much a fan as a fighter.

“Every fight you go into is important, but this one is special because getting to share the Octagon with a legend, an MMA icon, everybody knows who he is, and we’re in his hometown. To go into the lion’s den and face the lion himself? It’s a cool experience.”

A short-notice replacement for an injured Sam Alvey, “Bearjew” is less than two months removed from his last bout, and heading into his fifth fight in less than a year. But nothing about that pace seems to faze the soft-spoken Scotsman. In fact, he seems keen to ride the momentum following his most recent victory over Vinicius Moreira.

“That last fight was against a grappler, and it was a test in my submission defense as well as my submission offense, and I showed that it was one of the best in the division. I feel good. I left that last fight in Mexico City with no damage done at all. I’m riding on Cloud Nine. When an opportunity to fight a legend like Shogun Rua comes up, you’ve gotta take it.”

It was an opportunity, in fact, that almost felt to Craig like it was written in the stars.

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“It’s like something I knew,” he explains. “Something that’s been strange after the Mexico fight camp which never ever happens is: my weight stayed normal. Normally it would go up a wee bit, because obviously I eat a wee bit more and the training will be a bit more relaxed. But for some reason my weight just stayed the same.”

Whether staying fight-ready was destined or mere coincidence, Craig is now staring down the most consequential matchup of his career. Coupled with his success last September, it could be the beginning of his first UFC win streak, and propel him into the division recognition he has long sought.