UFC picks up Shooto champion Hernani Perpetuo and Heat champ Kiichi Kunimoto

Hernani Perpetuo has been a hot prospect for quite a while now. Making his debut back in 2005, he went 9-3 on his way to winning the Shooto Brazil welterweight title in 2010 and then rattled off another eight wins on his way to the Shooto world title in in August of this year. Training out of Nova Uniao and still only 28 years of age Perpetuo has everything necessary to make a big impact in the UFC. Combate reports his signing.

At 6' 0" he's got great size for welterweight and carries a nice mix of skills with seven wins by KO/TKO, four by submission, and five by decision. He has wins over some decent competition in Tommy Depret, Andre Santos, Edilberto de Oliveira, and Daniel Acacio. Watching him fight, he's sort of a mashup of the best and worst of Brazilian strikers. He pops in and out of range with a strong jab and leg kicking game, but seems more likely to brawl than throw actual combinations. He strikes well out of either stance (still something of a rarity in MMA) and while his footwork isn't always on point he moves well in the ring. He also has a nice arsenal of spinning kicks that he deploys liberally in his fights. In some ways he reminds me a bit of Carlos Condit, although perhaps less crisp with his hands. It's hard to get a good bead on his ground game as he prefers to strike, but from what I've seen he tends to stall off his back rather than improve position. It's hard to know how much that's changed over time.

Fight Sport Asia reports that he will be joined in the welterweight division by submission specialist and Heat MMA champion Kiichi Kunimoto. Kunimoto is a Pancrase vet sporting a 15-5-2 (1 NC) record. He'll be entering the UFC on a four fight win streak, his most recent being over UFC vet Edward Faaloloto. At 5' 10" he's a tiny bit undersized for welterweight, so he may not have a long term home in the division, but at 32 years of age, he may be a bit too established in his weight class to want to make the cut. He trains out of the Cobra Kai Dojo, responsible for producing another recent UFC fighter, Motonobu Tezuka.

While he struggled a bit early in his career, his only loss since 2009 is to top Pancrase fighter Takenori Sato by decision. His resume is still a bit underwhelming however, with Hiroki Tanaka representing the high point of his wins thus far. Unfortunately it's hard to find almost any footage of him fighting. From what I have seen he certainly has had the potential to be a decent fighter. He appears athletic and has some crisp strikes, but footage I've found is all so old as to be largely irrelevant in figuring out what he'll look like in his UFC debut.

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2013/10/31/5051678/ufc-picks-up-shooto-champion-hernani-perpetuo-and-heat-champ-kiichi

The Perpetuo signing has been long overdue. He's got a threshold of pain much like Diego Sanchez. I can see him becoming a fan favorite down the road.

The Kiichi Strasser signing is a bit mindboggling, honestly. Much like the Tezuka signing, I think they're basing it.more off of his attractive record. I'm guessing Takenori Sato was ahead of him on his list but not interested in signing with UFC.

I want to know why K-Taro isn't moving to 155 or why the UFC hasn't looked at Kuniyoshi Hironaka at 155. Two guys who I think deserve another shot at the big time.

SRC wrote:I want to know why K-Taro isn't moving to 155 or why the UFC hasn't looked at Kuniyoshi Hironaka at 155. Two guys who I think deserve another shot at the big time.

It seems like the UFC isn't into giving Japanese fighters second chances. Omigawa kind of forced them to change that for once but we saw how that worked out.

That's kind of true. I think Kiichi will do alright. I don't think he'll be a world beater, but he can be like a low level gate keeper. I hope he can prove me wrong, but since Hioki didn't come through, I have so many doubts these days.

wekka wrote:

SRC wrote:I want to know why K-Taro isn't moving to 155 or why the UFC hasn't looked at Kuniyoshi Hironaka at 155. Two guys who I think deserve another shot at the big time.

It seems like the UFC isn't into giving Japanese fighters second chances. Omigawa kind of forced them to change that for once but we saw how that worked out.

I've always got that vibe as well.

Will campuzino is headed to ufc to fight Sergio pettis .....great fight

Strasser will be matched up with Hyun Gyu Lim. Lim's going to destroy the poor guy.