Coming into UFC Vegas 38 on Saturday night, the Brazilian had been trading wins and losses since 2016. He’d only fought six times since then, fighting just once a year with the lone exception of 2018, where he fought twice, and 2020, which he missed entirely.

The good news for Andrade, who returned to the octagon at UFC Vegas 38 against Gaetano Pirrello, was that he was competing for the second time in 2021. Pirrello was also competing for the second time this year — and was also looking to bounce back from a loss in his promotional debut.

A touch of gloves and they were off, in a fight that didn’t even make it to the midway mark of the opening round. Gaetano Pirrello circled then fired off a leg kick. Silva de Andrade pressed forward, and Pirrello landed a second leg kick. But Silva de Andrade moved forward in the wake of it, and landed a hard left hand. Pirrello fired another leg kick but Silva de Andrade absolutely devastated Pirrello with a left hook that took Pirrello off his feet and sent him crashing to the mat. This was a done deal, and Douglas Silva de Andrade celebrated with a flip off the cage.

MY GOODNESS 😱

🇧🇷 @DSilva_MMA just DID THAT. #UFCVegas38 pic.twitter.com/iO4Zyurl8U

— UFC (@ufc) October 2, 2021

Then another — nearly wiping out everyone attending to the fallen Pirrello in the process. No harm, no foul as he managed to stop just short of the various officials in the octagon. And for “D-Silva,” he’s got a brand new highlight reel moment to show off.

Official Result: Douglas Silva de Andrade def. Gaetano Pirrello by knockout, Round 1, 2:04

The post UFC Vegas 38 Results: Douglas Silva de Andrade Flattens Gaetano Pirrello appeared first on Cageside Press.

Pirrello, with strong support from Italy as well as Belgium thanks to his background, met Simon in the middle early. Simon was closing the distance with his right hand, and soon shot in for a takedown. The American wound up in half-guard, but before long, Pirrello had scrambled out. A big slam takedown followed with roughly two minutes remaining in the opening frame. Simon achieved some impressive elevation with that one, but again, he couldn’t keep Pirrello there long. Regardless, however, his control was winning him the round, and he would later take Pirrello’s back briefly along the fence. Transitioning to a takedown attempt, Simon landed a spinning back fist before re-initiating and landing the takedown.

Simon opened round two with a front kick then went back to the well and grounded Pirrello. The newcomer was slower to get up this time, and when he did regain his feet Simon was right back on him. The story of the fight was just that intense pressure from Ricky Simon. He controlled the pace, controlled the action entirely, and late in the second, get Pirrello down and moved to mount. Soon enough, he had an arm-triangle choke in place, forcing the tap.

Tapped!@RickySimonUFC gets the job done in RD 2️⃣

[ #UFCFightIsland8 | #InAbuDhabi | @VisitAbuDhabi ] pic.twitter.com/lqHZbiGzuQ

— UFC (@ufc) January 20, 2021

Simon had a neat little callout post-fight. “I’m on a quest to send Boom Boom Baggins back to the Shire. Brian Kelleher, Simon says business is booming!”

Official Result: Ricky Simon def. Gaetano Pirrello by submission (arm-triangle choke), Round 2, 4:00

The post UFC Fight Island 8 Results: Ricky Simon Submits Debuting Gaetano Pirrello appeared first on Cageside Press.

Gaetano “El Tigre” Pirrello
5’7″
Bantamweight
28-years-old
Mons, Belgium
Osman Gym
15-5-1
11 KO/TKOs
3 Submissions

How will Pirrello fare in the UFC:

Pirrello reminds me in style-wise of former UFC fighter Daniel Teymur. Pirrello is a brawler but with a lot of flaws. Pirrello struggles badly with takedown defense having little balance or defense against the cage. Where he shines the most is in the clinch with his Muay Thai plum, where he has relentless knees. He even throws knees in combos really well.

Pirrello is explosive and that’s from throwing with his body, in pretty much everything he throws. He is really sloppy however and he throws himself off balance quite a bit. Pirrello is a buzzsaw with his output but he won’t go far just throwing wild. On the defensive side, his head movement and footwork need improvement. His takedown defense will hold him back, and defensive grappling he needs a lot of work.

• Striking: C-
• Kickboxing: C-
• Clinch: B-
• Wrestling: C-
• Grappling: D
• Striking Defense: C-
• Takedown Defense: D-
• Cardio: B-
• Biggest Strength: Muay Thai
• Biggest Weakness: TDD

How Pirrello matches up with Simon:

This is a mismatch if I’ve ever seen one, at least on paper. Ricky Simon has wins over Merab Dvalishvili and Ray Borg, and has shared the cage with Rob Font and Urijah Faber. The only shot Pirrello has is to knock Simon out, and he just doesn’t have that in his arsenal. Simon is the more equipped fighter on the feet but he could easily just ground Pirrello and win the fight from there.

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