ADCC 2009 champion Braulio Estima will make his MMA debut against 2004 Olympic Judo competitor Rick Hawn at the Shine Fights 3 pay-per-view event on May 15 in Fayetteville, N.C., the promoters finally announced Wednesday.The fight was agreed upon last month by both competitors but details of the bout agreement weren't ironed out until recently.
Estima (0-0), of Birmingham, England by way of Brazil, conducts most of his training in England, but will also fill out his camp in the US at Greg Jackson's gym and Renzo Gracie's academy. The fight will be at a catchweight of 175 for Estima to ease towards welterweight.
Hawn (6-0) is coming off a decision win last month over Tom Gallicchio at WCF 9. The 33-year-old Judoka trains at Pedro's Judo Center and Team Sityodtong in Massachusetts.
"(Hawn is) very strong, very explosive," Estima told MMA Fighting. "I'm not expecting an easy fight at all. He's a top judo player in the world, so he's an athlete himself. Whoever does less mistakes will win. He already has experience in MMA. He has a pretty good advantage in the cage, but I'm going to try work myself in a situation where this won't affect me."
Current Shine Fights 3 PPV Card:
Din Thomas vs. Ricardo Mayorga
Nick "The Goat" Thompson vs. Eduardo Pamplona
Falaniko Vitale vs. Murilo "Ninja" Rua
Braulio Estima vs. Rick Hawn
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