The UFC’s first PPV of the year, UFC 283, took place this past weekend with Jamahal Hill defeating Glover Teixeira in the main event to become the new UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. In the co-main event, Brandon Moreno became a 2-time UFC Flyweight Champion after finishing Deiveson Figueiredo.

Read our thoughts from the UFC 283 main and co-main event here.

Brazilian Legends Celebrated

Glover Teixeira announced his retirement in his post-fight interview. While the scorecards were lopsided, Teixeira displayed his usual toughness with multiple moments in the fight where Teixeira seemed like he still had a chance of winning. Most notably in the fifth round when he finally took Hill down and was landing ground and pound from the top position.

The fight reflected Teixeira’s career, a real-life Rocky story. The notion is thrown around a lot, but Teixeira’s life story deserves a movie. Growing up in rural Brazil, moving to Danbury, Connecticut, to work as a landscaper, training at The Pit with Chuck Liddell, and becoming the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion at 42 years old.

Like many others, Teixeira exits the sport with a loss. But without a doubt, Teixeira is a bona fide UFC legend and will likely be a UFC Hall of Famer.

On the same night, a fellow Brazilian legend and future UFC Hall of Famer, Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua had his retirement bout as the prelim headliner. Shogun lost via TKO in the first round to largely unknown debutant Ihor Potieria.

Shogun retires as an MMA pioneer being one of the first big stars of the sport having won the 2005 Pride Middleweight Grand Prix before making his way to the UFC and becoming a UFC Light Heavyweight Champion. While his career following the Championship win was mixed with wins and losses, Shogun’s legacy is undeniable.

Shogun and Teixeira will enter the UFC Hall of Fame in due time and join fellow Brazilian Jose Aldo, who was announced as a Hall of Fame inductee at UFC 283. The UFC played a beautiful video package honouring Aldo, who was seated in the crowd.

Aldo had one of the greatest undefeated runs of all time, going 8 years undefeated across the WEC and UFC as a Champion of both organisations. His only UFC Featherweight losses came against fellow legends Conor McGregor, Max Holloway and Alexander Volkanovski.

Aldo then reinvented himself, going down a weight class to Bantamweight, where he competed for a title in a losing effort. While many will only remember Aldo for the 13-second KO loss to McGregor, his career before and after that fight cements him among the all-time greats.

New Wave of Brazilian MMA Rises

UFC 283 saw Brazil’s current UFC stars continue to be successful in the UFC, with Gilbert Burns, Jessica Andrade, Johnny Walker and Thiago Moises all winning dominantly. However, the debuting Bonfim brothers, Brunno Ferreira and rising prospect Jailton Almeida, stole the show.

The Bonfim brothers earned their UFC contracts with wins on the same night in Dana White’s Contender Series. At UFC 283, they both scored highlight-reel first-round finishes.

In the Lightweight division, Ismael Bonfim finished Terrence McKinney with a devastating flying knee to extend his winning streak to 13. While younger brother Gabriel Bonfim submitted Mounir Lazzez to bring his record to 13-0-0. The Bonfim brothers established themselves among the UFC’s brightest prospects at UFC 283.

Fellow debutant Brunno Ferreira scored a huge upset KO of fellow Brazilian KO artist Gregory ‘Robocop’ Rodrigues. Ferreira improved to 10-0-0 with a 100% finish rate and established himself as one of the UFC’s most exciting fighters.

Jailton Almeida, one of many expert’s fighters to watch in 2023, continued his rapid rise with a dominant finish of Shamil Abdurakhimov. Almeida has dominantly finished all his UFC fights, utlising his superior grappling. Almeida deserves a massive jump in competition, and should he continue in his winning ways, he may earn a UFC title shot towards the back end of 2023.

Read Part 1 of our thoughts from UFC 283 here.