Meca 4: The Show That Took Anderson Silva out of McDonald’s

Seven months after a disappointing loss in his Meca World Vale Tudo debut, Anderson Silva finally showed in the ring a little of what he had been doing with his training colleagues at Chute Boxe. Meca 4, held on Dec. 16, 2000 at the Circulo Militar gymnasium in Chute Boxe’s home base of Curitiba, pitted the local powerhouse against representatives of luta-livre from around the country. Alongside future superstar Silva, the card featured Jose “Pele” Landi-Jons, Assuerio Silva, Pedro Otavio, Murilo “Ninja” Rua and Daniel Acacio on a night that Chute Boxe prevailed, 4 victories to 2.

Right after “Pele” defeated Jorge “Macaco” Patino for the second time at WVC 4 in March of 1997, he told me in a interview, “Take note. I’m starting the Chute Boxe era. In Curitiba we have one like me in every division.” From that year on I started to fly from Rio de Janeiro to Parana frequently, and it was covering the sparrings of Chute Boxe in the late 90s that I was introduced to new aces like Wanderlei Silva, Rafael Cordeiro, Murilo “Ninja,” and a skinny, smiling guy who split his time between hard Chute Boxe training and his day job as a McDonald’s cashier. Even though he was not yet able to train full-time, Anderson Silva already had the attention of his teammates.

“Anderson is one of the most technical guys we have here. The day he puts into practice in the rings what he does in the gym, everyone will be stunned,” a very disappointed Sergio Cunha told me after seeing his talented pupil lose a decision to Luiz Azeredo at Meca 1 in May 2000. In the following months, Silva would prove Cunha’s words with two impressive knockouts. First, Silva finished local fighter Jose Barreto with a head kick at Meca 2 in August, but it was at Meca 4 that he finally introduced himself as a local idol to the Curitiba audience, facing the experienced Claudionor da Silva Fontinelle. The luta-livre representative had dozens of fights, including an openweight tournament where he had made it to a semifinal against vale tudo legend Casemiro Nascimento “Rei Zulu” Martins, who outweighed him by over 60 pounds.

Fontinelle had no chance against Silva, however. After hitting beautiful sequences of kicks and punches, the Chute Boxer cornered Fontinelle on the ropes and ended the fight with a pinpoint knee at 4:35. Silva’s showing ended up earning him an invitation to fight in Japan three months later. After beating Tetsuyo Kato by unanimous decision in his Japanese debut, Cunha’s prospect would win the Shooto under-76 kg (167-pound) belt from champion Hayato Sakurai—just eight months after Meca 4.

It was only after winning the belt that Silva quit his job and started to dedicate himself fully to training. As a part-timer, Anderson had already excelled; when he started dedicating himself fully to MMA, he could finally start showing the world his genius. After his showings at Meca and Shooto, Silva was invited to fight in the biggest show in the world: Pride Fighting Championships. At Pride 21, in June of 2002, he made his debut in great style, facing Alex Stiebling, who had earned the nickname “The Brazilian Killer” for his string of consecutive wins over Milton Bahia, Leandro Ribeiro, Luiz Claudio das Dores, Allan Goes, Wallid Ismail and Angelo Araujo. Despite giving up 20 pounds to Stiebling, it took under two minutes for Silva to fell the American with a perfect shin to the forehead. Thus was one of the greatest geniuses in the history of MMA introduced to the world.

“Pele”: The Showman Returns Home

Back at Meca 4, the event where Silva’s bout was the third fight of the night, the big star was Landi-Jons. Considered by Chute Boxe head Rudimar Fedrigo himself to be the main person responsible for making the gym’s name nationally recognized, “Pele” always had idol status in Curitiba, but he hadn't fought in his city for a long time. Fedrigo had the idea of brightening up the Meca 4 card by bringing the pupil to face Waldir “Diamante Negro” dos Anjos from Bahia, a student of Ricardo Carvalho. The nearly 2,000 people present at the Circulo Militar gymnasium were on their feet to greet their biggest local idol.

The Bahian started by taking “Pele” down and trying to hit him from half guard, but soon Landi-Jons got up and, pushed by his crowd, started to dictate the rhythm of the fight. The brave Bahian even tried to exchange blows with the Cuban until, eight minutes into the fight, he received a kick that fractured his rib, leading him to ask the referee to interrupt the fight.

Acacio Wins and Receives Invitation to Represent Chute Boxe

The representatives of luta-livre did not return to Rio winless, however. Aritano Silva Barbosa, a student of Sergio “Formiga” Oliveira opened the card by completely canceling the muay thai of Gildo Lima. After taking him to the ground, Barbosa concluded the fight with a keylock at 4 minutes, 12 seconds of the first round. Aritano’s master, “Formiga,” was not so lucky. After completely dominating the first round against newcomer Daniel Lima, getting to mount on two occasions, Oliveira ended up being knocked out at 2:30 of the second round with an accurate knee. “Formiga” suffered an exposed fracture on his nose and left the ring on a stretcher.

Another luta-livre representative that disappointed the local audience was Daniel Acacio. After putting on a show of takedowns on Nilson de Castro at Meca 1, Acacio made another excellent display in Chute Boxe’s house, facing another top representative of the team, Silvio de Souza. After landing excellent takedowns on “Urutum,” Acacio submitted him with a keylock at 8:07 of the first round. Acacio’s dominance over two big names in Chute Boxe ended up earning him an invitation to come and live in Curitiba and join Chute Boxe. A few weeks after Meca 4, Acacio moved to Curitiba with his wife and two kids and became one of the most important members of the team, even fighting in Pride.

Assuerio Silva Defeats “The Pedro,” Scores 4- 2 for Chute Boxe

Making his debut as a Chute Boxe representative after two fine displays at Meca, the 6-foot, 220-pound Assuerio Silva was unable to put his muay thai into practice against the experienced, 6-foot-3 luta-livre representative Otavio. Always looking for a clinch, “The Pedro” abused the technique of turning his back to avoid falling into his opponent's guard. After cooking Silva throughout the first round, Otavio ended up falling into an uncomfortable position at the beginning of the second, with the opponent on his back hitting him with elbows. Otavio asked for a disqualification stoppage, claiming that Silva had hit his neck, but referee Miguel Repanas disagreed and declared Silva the winner. With that final victory, Chute Boxe ended the night celebrating a 4-2 victory.