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Former Ultimate Fighter winner and UFC talent Diego Brandão has certainly earned a reputatation for volatility. He’s been in some very odd situations that include some social media spats and outbursts, and more serious incidents such as threatening to stab Dustin Poirier as well as another bizarre incident in which he threatened some Brazilian journalists.
But this week, he sees himself a different kind of situation. Some post-fight shenanigans threatened to overshadow his latest performance, and led to one of the most bizarre kinds of altercation we’ve seen in MMA. Yes, even for Mixed Martial Arts, this is a rarity.
Diego Brandao came into UFC packed with potential
For some newer fans, we should provide bit of backstory regarding Brandão. A fiery talent that kicked around the Brazilian circuit before picking up some fights in the United States, Brandão made his way to The Ultimate Fighter and stomped through the opposition to be the crowned the winner of the Team Bisping vs Team Miller season (season 14) back in 2011.
After winning all of his TUF bouts by finish, Brandão went 6-4 in the organization with some good wins and respectable losses. Unfortunately, Diego’s time with the UFC was cut short after an arrest hot off the heels of cannabis metabolites found in his system during a drug test. The arrest was for threats and aggravated assault at a strip club, which led to his release shortly thereafter.
And it was truly a shame, because Brandão had been a very promising talent that came in hot and could have been a staple for the UFC’s featherweight division at the time. But it was not to be, and he was then sent packing to engage in fisticuffs elsewhere.
Onward to Russia
After his release, Brandão was off into the wilderness of post-UFC life in that era. This led to some a stint in Fight Nights Global, followed by some time in RIZIN and then ACA. That ACA run was a particularly rough one for Brandão, having gone 1-7 during that time with six straight losses. That didn’t stop him from getting more bookings outside of the United States (mostly in Russia), where he’s continued to ply his trade.
The problem is that wherever Brandão goes, weird things always follow. Here’s Brandão leaving the cage during a fight after biting opponent Akhmed Aliev and exchanging illegal strikes. Yes, that was registered as a loss.
And so was a bout in which he kicked the head of a grounded opponent. Yup, that’s another loss.
Brandao wins “biggest gangster” title, but celebration gets cut short
Brandão took on Iranian Mohammad Heibati at HFC MMA in Moscow for something named (and no, we’re not making this up) the Biggest Gangster title. The fight saw some fun action, including this very slick spinning back kick (courtesy of Matysek88 on Twitter):
That led to a decision win for Brandão who began to celebrate and to his credit, give a show of respect to Heibati in the process. Heibati appeared to have not only disagreed with the decision loss, but clearly was more than simply frustrated with it.
Brandão climbed the cage fence to continue his celebration, and Heibati followed after him to do the same. But Brandão wasn’t having it, hogging up the real estate for himself and pushing Heibati back to prevent his ascent. Well, that led to punches being thrown right then and there.
After coming down from the fence, Brandão was still heated and Heibati hadn’t calmed down, either. They were kept separate from each other by officials to prevent any further conflict between the two.
It appears things ended there for both of them, which was ultimately for the best. Let’s hope these two don’t have to run into each other again. At least not with more security to keep things civil.
Mightiest Daddy 
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