André Lima will be competing at UFC 302 this weekend (June 2nd) against Mitch Raposo. Lima was supposed to be fighting Hyun Sung Park however, he pulled out due to injury and his replacement Nyamjargal Tumendemberel also was forced to withdraw leaving Lima to face Mitch Raposo.
André Lima Background and Amateur Record
André Lima comes from a kickboxing background having competed in several kickboxing matches. Lima was able to clinch the tournament championship in Spartans K1 Rules 6. André Lima was able to finish Rafael Araujo before getting a split decision victory against Jonathans Silva. Lima has also been able to clinch the SFT Bantamweight Title when he defeated Ramon Costa by Unanimous Decision.
André Lima has also competed for 3 times as an amature before turning pro. Throughout those 3 fights, Lima was able to go 2-1. Lima started off his amature career with a first-round submission against Junior Brazil. This victory came due to a rear naked choke. André Lima was able to follow this victory up with another first-round rear-naked choke victory against Daniel Fernando. However, was sadly unsuccessful in his last amature fight against Marcos Degli. This came by unanimous decision and was his last amature fight before turning professional.
Lima Road to UFC
After turning professional André Lima was able to get his first fight against João Vitor Oliveira. André Lima would go on to get the victory due to a body punch in the first round to give Lima the perfect start. André Lima would then be able to follow that victory up a month later when he was able to get the victory against Luis Farias due to punches in the first round. Once against André Lima would end up returning after only a month and once again he was able to get another victory. However, this time it was due to a unanimous decision against Victor Santos.
Natan Ziele would be his next opponent when Lima would re-enter the cage. Lima would be able to get back to his finishing ways when he was able to get the finish in the first round due to punches. After a defeat to Ramon Costa in a Muay Thai he would go back to MMA. Alexandre Rodrigues would end up being his opponent in his return. Once again Lima was able to finish the fight in the first round due to punches. This meant that 4 out of Lima’s 5 professional fights hadn’t gone out the first round.
This allowed Lima to fight in LFA against Igor Taylon. Igor was coming into this fight as a 7-2 prospect but would once again fall victim to André Lima. This is due to Lima being able to defeat Igor Taylon by elbows in the 2nd round and be able to get him a spot in Dana White’s Contenders Series. André Lima would be picked to fight Rickson Zenidim who was a 14-1 prospect. Lima was able to pick up a unanimous decision victory and impressed Dana White enough to give him a UFC Contract.
UFC Career
His first career victory was one to remember when he faced off against the undefeated Igor Severino. After a very impressive start from both fighters, the fight would eventually be stopped in the 2nd round. This is due to Igor Severino biting André Lima. This resulted in Igor being disqualified and André Lima being given the victory.
After the fight, Lima would go out and get a tattoo done on the bite mark that happened that night. Lima would get the outline of the bite mark tattooed which made Dana White laugh. Dana White was originally going to give André Lima a $25,000 bonus due to the incident. However, after seeing the tattoo he raised that to $50,000.
Igor Severino is still to face punishment from the Nevada State Commission however, is expected to face a fine plus a submission when his punishment is handed down.
Significant Stats
André Lima is coming into this fight with a 2.5-inch reach advantage which he will be able to use to his advantage. His opponent has been able to finish the fight both on the feet and on the ground so Lima is going to have to be prepared for both approaches.
Throughout the only fight he had in the UFC André Lima has attempted 3 takedowns and has been successful once giving him a success rate of 33%. While the fight is on the ground he averages a submission attempt every 1.31 submissions per 15 minutes. This is compared to his defence where he is able to defend against the takedowns 62% of the takedown attempts.
While on the feet André Lima is able to land just under 4 significant strikes per minute with 3.98 strikes. Lima is able to land at an accuracy rate of 61%. André Lima has proven he is able to land at a high volume and at a good accuracy rate but is also able to defend well. While he is able to output just under 4 strikes per minute he absorbs 2.67 significant strikes per minute. André Lima has been able to defend 61% of significant strikes he has been faced with while inside the UFC octagon.
Featured image credits to Embed from Getty Images
