Athletes
The Fighting Nerds Are Aiming Even Higher
After A Breakout 2024 Campaign, Brazil's Fighting Nerds Are Hoping To Add UFC Gold To Their Accomplishments
Everyone loves The Fighting Nerds. According to the Brazilian team’s leader, head coach Pablo Sucupira, the reason is simple.
“I think we just represent more people,” he said. “Because when you're talking about Fighting Nerds, you think, ‘Man, even if a nerd can be an MMA champion, I can do it, also.’ It's more human. I think a lot of people relate with the concept and it's something different. We always see the same thing; it’s always the bullies. So I think this time we are showing that the guys who were bullied can be the champions also. It's a different narrative.”
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It's a brilliant concept, complete with the tape holding their glasses together, and in a sport where toughness is king and weakness is not spoken of, Sucupira’s team has truly changed the narrative, proving that toughness isn’t something you talk about, but that you display in the gym and on fight night.
And after that work is done in the gym in Sao Paulo, the squad has proven how good they are in the Octagon. In 2024 alone, the team saw Caio Borralho, Carlos Prates, Jean Silva and Mauricio Ruffy win, win and win some more. This week, Sucupira is in Sydney with surging Bruna Brasil, eager to prove that the good times are just starting. In short, it’s a good time to be a nerd, and all the success proves that this isn’t a gimmick. It’s the real deal, something Sucupira knew the moment he proposed the name to the team.
“I think the first reaction of a lot of people was, ‘What is that? They’re real fighters.’ But the first guy who said that's a good idea was Caio Borralho. That gave me strength because our top guy really liked the name, and he was a nerd. (Laughs) He was a chemistry teacher in the school, and he was really a nerd. And he fights like a nerd. So we are not telling a story that is not true. We really live this. We are truly nerds of the sport. We study more than the other guys, we are more calm, we are relaxed, and we are polite. So I think we are telling a story that we really live this. I think when people realized that we are really nerds and everybody is winning their fights, people started to like the name.”
At this point, Sucupira estimates that there are 50 to 60 fighters on the team, making time a valuable and scarce commodity. As mentioned, he’s in Australia this week after visiting Saudi Arabia last week for Mayra Bueno Silva’s bout against Jasmine Jasudavicius. Then it’s back home until the next fight, and when you add in that the 45-year-old and his wife are expecting a baby boy, that’s a lot. But he’s not about to take his foot off the gas because what he conceived is working.
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“I think we're supposed to be here,” he said. “We're supposed to be in the battle and in the war. When we realized that your best version that you could be is what you are, this makes you happy, makes you present. I was talking with my wife at lunch, and I think we are the best tool ever to change a specific kind of people. I see some guys in the gym that I think nothing else could do better for them than the fight game. So that's what makes us happy. We're getting the best version of ourselves. That's the main point.”
But the big question is, what does it take to become a Fighting Nerd?
“It takes two things,” said Sucupira. “Dedication and results. We are working at the highest level and for high performance. So it's not just dedication. I think we are at a level that someone must have dedication and must have the results.”
The results from 2024 speak for themselves, but it took a lot of hard work over the years to become “an overnight success.” And to keep the ball rolling, they can’t rest on their laurels. Everything has to keep progressing, in and out of the Octagon. It’s a philosophy Sucupira has had for years, and he’s not changing it.
“I think it all started because I'm getting old,” he laughs. “I'm married with a beautiful wife, she's pregnant, and MMA is a really hard business to gain money. So I started to realize that the most important thing with my team is to make sure the athletes there can provide for their families. So I have to look at my team as a company because we have to make a lot of money. And since my team started to grow so much now, it doesn’t matter if I'm competent or not; it's how the team works. So every company, usually you have three important things: people, structure and process. People, we were like 10 guys and now we are 60 fighters. The whole team with the staff is like 80 people. So it's a lot. The structure is getting big. We just rented a new gym, so it’s getting bigger. And the most important part is the process. I have to create a really, really good process and people need to understand and obey those processes because I won't be there too much. I'll be traveling all over the world. So when my team gets that big, the boss needs to be the process, not me.”
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It's a fascinating look into the operation of one of the sport’s most innovative minds, and if Sucupira has his way, The Fighting Nerds won’t just be representing Sao Paulo, but all of Brazil
“What I'm trying to make in Brazil is to have our national squad be The Fighting Nerds,” he said. “So when you think MMA, I want the guys to say, ‘Oh, I'm almost reaching the top. so I'm trying to get in The Fighting Nerds.’ Almost like we are the national squad of MMA. The main thing is, I'm treating my team as a company, not as a team. If you think about an NFL team or an NBA team, first of all, it's a big company. MMA teams, usually they’re not. So I'm really focused on that, in making The Fighting Nerds to be the biggest company among the MMA teams.”
That’s good business. But that doesn’t mean Sucupira and his squad aren’t close. It’s very personal in their gym, with everyone showing up to help each other get ready for fights while walking into battle together, glasses and all.
“Sometimes it's hard to believe, but man, I can only say I'm thankful for being surrounded by so many good people,” Sucupira said of the culture he’s created. “I'm blessed with that. It looks like everybody who is in contact with me is good people. Sometimes I have such a good energy with everybody that that's what they give me back. And with my team, I'm sure that I'm on the right path. I don't know if I'm at my peak or close to my peak, but I'm on the right path. So the only thing I have to do is do a hundred percent every time and I'm doing that. Time and God will say how long our team will go and how long and how many people we will be good for. I don't know what's the end of that story of The Fighting Nerds culture, but I think we are reaching something that nobody had before.”
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The end is certainly not here. In fact, while the story may have taken off internationally in 2024, this year, Sucupira is aiming even higher.
“I think life is about expansion, so I'll never get tired of that,” he said. “I will always be trying to expand. And 2024 was the biggest expansion of my life. And the thing is, for the first time in my life, I'm starting a year that people are expecting more from me. Everybody is expecting so many big things from The Fighting Nerds. They are saying that we are the future of MMA, and I agree with that. I can take that pressure and, more than that, I know that it's time for the team to have a UFC belt, so we won't run away from that pressure, and we are getting ready for that. I think the belt is not gained in a fight; it's a whole process. Caio Borralho is ready to take that road. I think he's one or two fights away from that and he knows that. Caio was talking since his first fight in the Contender Series that he will be a champion in 2025. So he's saying that this year he would be a champion since 2021. We've been planning for that, and we've been preparing ourselves to be here. This year we're going to have our first UFC belt.”
