Bitetti, Bando de Loucos and Brazilian MMA

The Suffering and Its Survivors

Brazil’s rivalry with Argentina is borne of soccer. It is so intense that it has transcended the sport; it is now a quiet war that engulfs many cultural avenues. MMA is one of them.

When Argentinian Guido Canetti steps into the cage to fight Marcello, the soundtrack to his walk to the cage will be an orchestra of boos. This has nothing to do with fact that he’s fighting a Brazilian, only that he is Argentinean.

This is not even an isolated phenomenon on the bill; Argentina’s Luciano “Izzy” Correa will face Marcelo Sandes on the card in another Argentina-Brazil bout. Other major Brazilian promotions such as Jungle Fight and Shooto Brazil have also staged a multitude of Brazil-versus-Argentina bouts. Culturally, these fights legitimize MMA in the eyes of the Brazilian public, because they understand what these stakes mean on the soccer field, and interpret them as such for other sports.

But, more specifically, the Corinthians connection is so appropriate for Bitetti because of the hardscrabble nature of the Corinthians and Brazilian MMA communities.

Having Flavio Alvaro, nicknamed “Sobrevivente,” on the card is apropos. “Sobrevivente” means “survivor” in Portuguese, an apt description of many of Brazil’s athletes who rise from the slums to prominence, whether they play on the field or in the cage.

It is part of Corinthians lore for poor Paulistas to grow up dreaming of putting on the team’s jersey, and to actualize that fantasy. Current Corinthians forward Bruno Ferreira Bonfim, nicknamed “Dentinho,” is a recent example. He has said many times that, growing up poor in Sao Paulo, he used to pretend that Ronaldo -- his idol and now his teammate -- was his dad.

The resolve it takes to rise from humble beginnings to greatness imparts a different kind of toughness. It’s one of the charms of MMA, and definitely one that a soccer fan can appreciate. It is worth noting that Brazil’s two greatest fighters at the moment, Anderson Silva and Jose Aldo, are both soccer fanatics, who rose from impoverished beginnings to become world champions.

Silva himself is an ardent Corinthians supporter. It might seem odd that “The Spider,” as a native of Parana, is a Corinthians fan, since the state has two traditional teams in Brazil’s First Divison, Atletico Paranaense and Coritiba. However, Corinthians is the most popular team in Parana. It’s fitting, as Parana is perhaps Brazil’s greatest fighting state, with its muay Thai prominence, its sheer volume of MMA shows, and playing home to some of Brazil’s greatest MMA legends, like Jose “Pele” Landi-Jons, Wanderlei Silva, Anderson Silva and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. Corinthians, right down to having a musketeer as its mascot, symbolizes battle, on all fronts.

Flavio Alvaro himself describes the inner connection between the soccer‘s working class heroes -- fans and players alike -- and the MMA community in stark terms.

“The suffering is a part of us,” he says plainly.

It’s a suffering Brazil knows how to relate to, embrace and lionize, because of what it has seen happen on the football field. It makes the potential for widespread MMA fandom that much greater.

Paulista Paper and Octagon Investment

Despite the hardcore fandom present in cities like Rio and Curitiba, MMA in Sao Paulo is on the periphery.

Without being embraced by Sao Paulo, Brazil’s financial capital and the nexus of its arts and entertainment industry, the future for MMA is limited. Rumors continue to swirl about a potential return to Brazil for the UFC in the next year or two. If that happens, it will likely take place at HSBC Arena in Rio. However, if a UFC in Brazil will be financially successful, it will likely be on Sao Paulo’s dime.

The nation’s major investors reside in Sao Paulo. If there is to be a solid promotional effort for the event nationwide, it will be influenced by Paulista companies.

MMA relies on an affluent population with expendable income to make its product successful, and Sao Paulo’s well-developed middle class fits that bill the best. If the Octagon hits the HSBC Arena, it is Paulista consumers that can spend whatever money necessary to buy up tickets and travel to Rio.

Sao Paulo’s indifference to MMA is a gentle one; it’s based on a lack of exposure and familiarity, not any kind of metropolitan snobbery about fighting. The understanding and passion is there to be had: the same things that turn Paulistas -- from the lawyers and doctors down to the poor laborers -- into Corinthians loucos are the same things that drive Brazil’s passion for MMA.

We won’t know the true impact of the Bitetti Combat-Corinthians tie-up any time soon. But the money that MMA in Brazil needs to flourish as a legitimate sport sits inside the banks of Sao Paulo. Corinthians and its Faithful might have the combination to those safes.