Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, 11 December, 2007- After RH13, RioHeroes ends their inaugural year with an electrifying showcase of pure vale tudo fighting, leaving Flavio Alvaro a two-time RioHeroes Champion. There was an incredible line up of qualifying matches, including two grudge match-ups, Cafu vs. Leiarte in the first qualifier, and Bananada vs. Udi Lima in the in the third.
In the first qualifier, after a controversial eye gouge from Leiarte in RH9, Cafu came in with a strong and aggressive series of punches on his archrival. Cafu, who was out for revenge, seemed quite out of character as he is normally more of a floor tactician then a blow-for-blow striker. Even though he was victorious, Cafu broke a few ribs along the way, which ultimately led to a fifth qualifying match.
RH5 reigning champion, Flavio Alvaro, took on the blood thirsty Ivan "The Pit Bull" Celis in the second qualifier. Flavio, going into the event with a broken right hand, insisted that he compete in the tournament and not be taken off of the fight card even though the RioHeroes team wanted him to rest. He promised the President, Jason Atkins, that not only would he compete, but that he would win. Flavio constantly took the fight to the ground in order to avoid using his hand, and the two fighters went back and forth to maintain control. Flavio ended up gaining control in the end and tapped out the "Pit Bull" over 16 minutes into the fight.
Udi Lima took critical blows from Paulo "Bananada" Silva in the third qualifier and which almost finished him. Udi remained persistent and managed to lock Bananada in a triangle which ended the fight, but not before seriously injuring his left eye.
In the fourth qualifier, Andre Luis De Olivera went up against Miguel "Espanhol" Avad. Espanhol came out with intense energy and charged Olivera hard, throwing brutal right hands accompanied by damaging head butts. He quickly subdued Olivera and forced him to submit. Espanhol followed this by screaming into the camera and proclaiming to the crowd that he wanted more, continuously mocking his defeated opponent.
The fifth and standby qualifying round pitted Anderson Deus against Edval Pedroso. A few minutes into the fight, Deus obtained top position on the ground and threw a series of right hands that caused referee Jorge Pereira to end the fight. Even though Deus won the battle, he suffered severe traumatic blows to his eye swelling it shut.
After five impressive qualifying matches, the heavily anticipated semi-finals started out with a bang. The first semi-final between Lima and Espanhol almost ended early when Espanhol found himself in a dangerous triangle. He managed to escape by throwing hard heels to Lima’s back from the ground. Eventually, Lima got behind Espanhol and choked him out while maintaining a firm body lock.
Flavio entered the second semi-final in control of Deus by obtaining top position and raining down with knee strikes to the head. Deus, who was already in trouble with a bleeding eye, finally got choked out by Flavio.
The final match was between returning champion Flavio Alvaro and the well-known grappler, Udi Lima. The two highly respected Jiu Jitsu masters displayed a variety of technical maneuvers that ended with Flavio submitting Udi and claiming his second RioHeroes championship belt.
