For many years, Leandro Vieira was responsible for sharpening the
ground skills of American Kickboxing Academy fighters.
For the last two years, however, the brother of legendary Leonardo Vieira did not renew his contract with AKA and instead decided to focus 100% on his jiu-jitsu classes.
"The way everything finished with AKA, even still having many friends out there, I decided to not work with MMA [fighters] anymore,” the black belt said.
Vieira changed his mind upon receiving an invitation from UFC bantamweight contender Marlon Vera.
"Actually we knew each other on ‘TUF: Latin America,’ where I was the BJJ coach for [Cain] Velasquez and he was from the [Fabricio] Werdum team,” Vieira said. “Two years ago we met again at RVCA and I showed him some tips on knee control, and he got mad and invited me to train with him. Since his fight with [Sean] O´Malley, we have been working together. I had no doubt he was going surprise O’Malley, just like he surprised Dominick [Cruz] last Saturday. In his last fights he didn’t need to show his ground skills, [but] when he needs to, people will be impressed by him.”
Given his history with AKA, Vieira weighed in on the UFC 278 co-main event between his friend, Luke Rockhold, and Paulo Costa. Vieira believes Rockhold should be the clear favorite if he sticks to a game plan.
"That's always the big question mark concerning Luke,” Vieira said. “If he fights the same way he fought Lyoto [Machida], I have no doubt he will beat ‘Borrachinha,’ but will he be able to follow the best game plan?”
According to Vieira, Rockhold is better than Khabib Nurmagomedov on the ground.
"He has more pressure on the ground than Khabib,” Vieira said. “Besides that, he has great takedowns and a great reach advantage for the division. If he was able to put everything together and follow the correct game plan I have no doubt he would still be the champion. But the careless way he follows his tactical game made him reach the current point. If he fights the way he has been doing in his last [few] fights, ‘Borrachinha’ will win, but if he uses the weapons he has, I have no doubt he will finish with his hand raised.”
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