UFC Rio’s Awesome Undercard Saturday Evening in Farmasi Arena

This week, the No. 1 MMA promotion in the world returns to Brazil for another edition of UFC Fight Night. Farmasi Arena in Rio de Janeiro serves as the host venue for UFC Rio.

Inside the United States of America, Saturday night’s show actually begins in the late afternoon. Prelims kick off at 4 pm ET/ 1 pm PT from Rio before moving onto the main card at 7 pm ET/ 4 pm PT. You can catch the entirety of this week’s excitement on ESPN+.

All told, this show features a 13-fight schedule in Brazil. Let’s discuss the prelims on Saturday’s card.

UFC Rio Featured Prelim: Jafel Filho vs. Clayton Carpenter

At the top of the bill on Saturday for the undercard is a flyweight showdown matching 20-fight veteran Jafel Filho (16-4 MMA, 2-2 UFC) and Clayton Carpenter (8-1 MMA, 2-1 UFC.) All fights mentioned herein are an advertised maximum of three rounds at five minutes per round.

Filho will be touching down in Rio de Janeiro for UFC Rio having posted a record of 3-2 since his 2022 appearance on Dana White’s Contender Series. On the night of May 30, he trekked to Enterprise, NV and the UFC Apex for a contest versus Allan Nascimento (21-6 MMA, 3-1 UFC.)

That night, he dropped a unanimous decision after three rounds of action. Prior to that contest, he’d won three out of his last four fights and two in a row.

Can he get back in the win column on Saturday? Meanwhile, Clayton Carpenter will be making just his second walk to the cage in 2025 over the weekend.

Back on Jan. 18 at UFC 311, he sustained the first loss of his professional MMA career by unanimous decision to Tagir Ulanbekov (17-2 MMA, 6-1 UFC) inside Intuit Dome in Inglewood, CA. Just as a fighter on a hot streak can be dangerous, a fighter trying to rebound from a defeat can be equally brutal once the cage door closes.

What happens this time?

UFC Rio Co-Featured Prelim: Vitor Petrino vs. Thomas Petersen

Immediately beforehand, the heavyweights take to the cage for the UFC Rio co-featured prelim when Vitor Petrino (12-2 MMA, 5-2 UFC) meets up with Thomas Petersen (10-3 MMA, 2-2 UFC.) Petrino comes into the weekend with a 3-2 record in his last five appearances.

He’s been a streaky fighter of late, dropping two in a row before returning to the win column with a first-round submission by way of rear-naked choke over Austen Lane (13-7, 1 NC MMA, 1-4, 1 NC UFC) on July 12 in UFC Nashville. Petrino will have had almost three months in-between fights. Can he win his second bout in under three months?

Across the way, Thomas Petersen makes his fifth UFC promotional appearance on Saturday in UFC Rio having gone 2-2 in the company thus far and 3-2 in his last five fights. Back on May 3 in UFC Des Moines, he secured a unanimous decision victory against Don’Tale Mayes (11-9, 1 NC MMA, 4-7, 1 NC UFC) on the evening’s undercard.

This was Mayes’ third loss in succession and last under the UFC banner. The following Thursday, the promotion cut him from the active roster following a six-year tenure.

Petersen is currently batting .500 in the company and could use another victory over the weekend. Can he best Petrino on Saturday night?

UFC Rio: Bia Mesquita vs. Irina Alekseeva

Also on UFC Rio’s undercard over the weekend, you’ll be seeing a women’s bantamweight fight matching Bia Mesquita (5-0 MMA, UFC promotional debut) with Irina Alekseeva (5-3 MMA, 1-2 UFC,) a veteran of the late Bellator MMA. Mesquita will be making her first walk to the Octagon on Saturday having yet to lose as a professional.

She might only be five fights into her career, but Mesquita already has a championship belt on her mantle at home. In her latest fight, she secured the LFA Women’s Bantamweight Championship by way of second-round knockout due to punches versus Sierra Dinwoodie (4-1 MMA) during LFA 211 on June 20.

All five of her wins in MMA have been recorded inside the distance. This young woman only turned professional in the sport less than 16 months ago and is already in the UFC. Will she make a good first impression in the top promotion on the planet?

In the other corner, Irina Alekseeva has posted a record of 2-3 in her last five fights. She’s come up short in each of her last two contests, including a unanimous decision loss to Klaudia Sygula (7-2 MMA, 1-1 UFC) back on June 21.

Alekseeva is a teammate of current UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Kayla Harrison and hopes to build on her resume by beating former LFA champion Bia Mesquita on Saturday evening. Only time will tell if she can knock Mesquita from the ranks of the unbeaten.

Rest of the Prelims

The UFC Rio prelims on Saturday are rounded out by the following fights:

• A flyweight contest between Lucas Rocha (17-2 MMA, 0-1 UFC and Stewart Nicoll (8-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC,)
• a heavyweight match pairing No. 15 contender Valter Walker (14-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) against Mohammed Usman (11-4 MMA, 4-2 UFC,)
• a women’s strawweight encounter matching Julia Polastri (13-5 MMA, 1-2 UFC) up against Karolina Kowalkiewicz (16-9 MMA, 9-9 UFC,)
• a bantamweight fight versing Saimon Oliveira (18-6 MMA, 0-3 UFC) and Luan Lacerda (12-3 MMA, 0-2 UFC.)

Which fight or fights are you looking forward to on the UFC Rio prelims on Saturday night?