A battle of Contender Series veterans at UFC Sao Paulo came to a close with Andre Muniz coming out on top.
A two-time veteran of Dana White’s Contender Series, middleweight Andre Muniz made his promotional debut at UFC Sao Paulo on Saturday. On a four-fight win streak, Muniz was up against fellow Brazilian Antonio Arroyo, who also made a pair of appearances on White’s prospect-hunting show.
Arroyo opened the fight with a beautiful body kick, and then a flurry that might’ve hurt Muniz. Muniz then quickly took the fight to the ground, and Muniz went for an armbar almost immediately. It looked like it was in deep, and Muniz wasn’t letting it go while Arroyo attempted to battle out of it. Eventually, Arroyo got out of the armbar, but Muniz got the double leg takedown. Arroyo was working his way to the feet when Muniz ate an illegal knee and stand the fight up after a long break for Arroyo. Arroyo looked good on the feet, however, Muniz landed a combination after a head kick landed that saw Arroyo back up. The end of the round saw Arroyo hurting Muniz with a combination, but time ran out.
Muniz started the round marching forward and landing a combination, and he worked his way into a takedown. He immediately got the back and worked for a rear-naked choke. He got the neck crank first, then transitioned into getting the body-triangle as well. Muniz moved into the mount, but Arroyo worked out of it and got the fight back to the feet briefly. He then jumped into Muniz guard, and after nothing happened for a minute, they got stood up. However, it was seconds before the end of the round, and nothing happened.
Muniz shot for the takedown right to start round three. Muniz peppered Arroyo with strikes while the latter made no attempt to move. Eventually, Arroyo tried to get up, and Muniz hopped on his back and looked to stay there. However, Arroyo shrugged him off, and got the fight back to the feet. Muniz tried to get the fight back to the ground again, but Arroyo just stood over him and threw a couple of strikes but not many. Similar to round two, the referee would stand them up, but it was too close to the end of the round for anything to happen again.
Andre Muniz def. Antonio Arroyo by Unanimous Decision (30-27 x3)
