It has been over eight years since Melvin Manhoef (27-11-1-1) KO’d Evangelista ‘Cyborg’ Santos (19-15) at Cage Rage 15. That fight was highly publicised and had a lot of MMA fans and media talking about it. It was a clash between two of MMA’s most exciting fighters outside of Pride and the UFC.
Manhoef came out the victory in what turned out to be one of the most exciting fights of the year and now they are set to do it all over again! This time they will fight in Gsf (Gringo Super Fight) in Brazil on April 13th.
Both fighters are on a bit of a slump in recent years with 37-year-old Manhoef going 5-7(1 NC) in his past thirteen bouts while 36-year-old ‘Cyborg’ hasn’t faired much better posting a very similar 5-7 record in his past twelve fights.
For old times sake here is their first fight in all its brawling glory;
Alan’s Angle: Both fighters are coming towards the twilight of their respective careers but this is an interesting fight nonetheless. Fights like this is what I love about the smaller “indie” type promotions, sometimes they put together some dream fights between two vets that are not wanted by the Bellator’s or the UFC’s or the WSOF’s. Manhoef, of the two, has been fighting at a higher level with recent fights in KSW, Dream, and ONE FC and he has been the more active in recent years. ‘Cyborg’ has fought just once since a 2011 exit from Strikeforce.