On October 22, 2013, Wanderlei Silva and Chael Sonnen were announced as coaches for the season.[1] The UFC held open tryouts for the show on November 11, 2013. The casting call was for Middleweight, Light Heavyweight, Heavyweight fighters who are at least 21 years old and have a minimum of two wins in three professional fights.[1] It was announced on January 7, 2014 that the show would feature middleweight and heavyweight fighters.[2] The cast was revealed on February 26, 2014[3]
Middleweights: José Roberto, Douglas Moura, Cristiano Pontes, Willian Steindorf, Markus Perez Echeimberg, Pedro Paulino, Wendell Oliveira, Giuliano Arante.
Wanderlei Silva and Chael Sonnen reveal their thoughts about their presence on this season and their expectations for their rivalry. Isabel Salgado and Hortência Marcari also share their motivation as guest coaches. Later, all four coaches greet the contestants before the preliminary fights begin.
The fights to get into the house were divided into two parts, half in this episode and half in the second episode.
The 16 preliminary fights begin:
Job Kleber Melo defeated Gonçalo Salgado via knockout (head kick) in the first round.
Paulo Costa defeated José Roberto via submission (guillotine choke) in the second round.
Jollyson Francisco defeated Everton Rocha via submission (arm-triangle choke) in the first round.
Joilton Santos defeated Douglas Moura via split decision after three rounds.
Edgard Castaldelli Filho defeated Felipe Dantas via TKO (punches) in the second round.
Wagner Silva defeated Cristiano Pontes via submission (rear-naked choke) in the first round.
Ricardo Abreu defeated Willian Steindorf via TKO (punches) in the second round.
Antônio Carlos Júnior defeated Guilherme Viana via TKO (punches) in the first round.
Episode 2: (March 16, 2014)
The 16 preliminary fights continue:
Richardson Moreira defeated Alexandre Machado via knockout (punches) in the first round.
Guilherme Vasconcelos defeated Markus Perez Echeimberg via submission (rear-naked choke) in the first round.
Marcos Rogério de Lima defeated Thiago Santos via submission (guillotine choke) in the first round.
Ismael de Jesus defeated Pedro Paulino via TKO (finger injury) in the first round.
Antônio Branjão defeated Fernando Camoles via TKO (punches) in the second round.
Warlley Alves defeated Wendell Oliveira via split decision after three rounds.
Márcio Alexandre Júnior defeated Giuliano Arante via submission (guillotine choke) in the first round.
Vitor Miranda defeated Bruno Silva via knockout (head kick) in the second round.
Silva and Sonnen welcome the winning fighters to the season. But before they pick the teams, Silva demands that Sonnen apologize to the cameras for something he said about Brazil during a press conference in Rio de Janeiro for his UFC 148 title fight against Anderson Silva.
Sonnen refuses to make an apology and Silva announces that he will not come back until he sees him apologize. After some private discussion between the two, Silva decides to leave.
Later, a day before the Ultimate Fighter Brazil 3 Finale, Sonnen revealed in a scrum session that after Silva had left the premises he called Vitor Belfort asserting that Silva fears Belfort more than Sonnen himself. Before the call, Sonnen instructed the crew of the show to tell Silva that Belfort was replacing him if he leaves. However, at that time Belfort was concentrating on a middleweight title match against Chris Weidman and could not replace Silva.[5]
Episode 3: (March 23, 2014)
Silva returns to the training center despite no apology from Sonnen.
He then flips a coin (yellow for Wanderlei, green for Sonnen) to decide who the first pick (either first fight or first fighter). Silva wins the toss and opts to choose the first fight. Sonnen chooses the first middleweight and Silva the first heavyweight.
Middleweights selection:
Coach
1st Pick
2nd Pick
3rd Pick
4th Pick
Sonnen
Márcio Alexandre Júnior
Joilton Santos
Warlley Alves
Guilherme Vasconcelos
Wanderlei
Ricardo Abreu
Paulo Costa
Wagner Silva
Ismael de Jesus
Heavyweights selection:
Coach
1st Pick
2nd Pick
3rd Pick
4th Pick
Wanderlei
Antônio Carlos Júnior
Jollyson Francisco
Richardson Moreira
Antônio Branjão
Sonnen
Marcos Rogério de Lima
Vitor Miranda
Edgard Castaldelli Filho
Job Kleber Melo
Sonnen tells Silva to call the program "Wanderlei's show" instead of Ultimate Fighter and Silva gets angry to the point of pushing and threatening him.
A contest to decide a new Brazilian ring girl is announced by Marcari and Salgado, with the fighters as the judges.
Silva announces the first fight and matches Wagner Silva against Santos.
Wagner Silva defeated Joilton Santos via split decision in three rounds.
Episode 4: (March 30, 2014)
Silva announces the first heavyweight fight and puts Carlos Júnior against Filho.
Both fighters share some of their personal life experiences, including Filho's newborn son and Carlos Júnior's experience with his father leaving him.
Salgado and Marcari create experiences with their respective teams that remind their previous sports and both get approval from their main coaches.
Some of Team Sonnen's fighters discuss their opinions of their head coach. They mention that their impression of Sonnen has changed, but they will cheer for Silva when the two coaches fight, due to being long time fans of their countryman.
Antônio Carlos Júnior defeated Edgard Castaldelli Filho via KO (punch) in the first round.
One fighter from each team is chosen to take part in a special challenge. They must to push a large ball across a muddy field into their opponent's goal to determine the next fight pick and Jollyson Francisco wins for his team.
Episode 5: (April 6, 2014)
Silva announces the next middleweight fight: Abreu against Vasconcelos, both men are Brazilian jiu jitsu world champions.
The teams participate in a challenge to each build a raft and race each other with them. Team Wanderlei manages to finish first and they get a special dinner served by the losing team.
Ricardo Abreu defeated Guilherme Vasconcelos via unanimous decision in two rounds.
Episode 6: (April 13, 2014)
The next heavyweight fight is supposed to be announced by Silva, but he is nowhere to be found. He eventually arrives and the fight is revealed as Moreira against Kleber.
Sonnen complains about Silva's excuses for being late and even mentions that he smells alcohol from his opponent.
During a training session, Moreira accidentally hits his knee on Jollyson Francisco's eyebrow. Francisco gets stitches to heal the wound and he is afraid that accidents like that could put him out of the competition.
Both teams participate in a challenge to write TUF: Brasil using a strings-based device that requires them to work together so the words are correctly written and approved by a professor.
Team Sonnen finally ends their overall losing streak and Marcari announces that their team will participate in a pajamas party at the house while their opponents will be locked in a room as the party goes on.
Antônio Carlos Júnior confronts Paulo Costa about statements Costa made about defeating him several times during a training camp as preparation for this season. Carlos Júnior says that somebody told him so and Costa reveals that he had only mentioned training with him and that they had both defeated each other but it was "no big deal." Carlos Júnior leaves the room upset and he continues to argue with Costa.
Gabrielle Garcia, a multi-time BJJ world champion, participates as a guest coach in Team Wanderlei's training session.
Before the weigh-ins, Silva confronts Sonnen about their future fight. He is aggressive towards Sonnen, offends him and even threatens to slap his face.
Sonnen pushes Silva, leading to the Brazilian attempting to punch Sonnen, who ducks and takes down Silva. After they reach the floor, the whole coaching staff and fighters from both teams try to separate them.
Instead of trying to keep the peace like the rest, André Amade punches Sonnen in the back of the head and later brags about punching him and ripping his shirt off. Vinny Magalhães tells Sonnen that Amade was punching him, something that he did not notice during the altercation. The entire team is perplexed with Amade's attitude.
Richardson Moreira defeated Job Kleber Melo via submission (armbar) in the first round.
Kleber breaks his finger during the fight.
Episode 7: (April 20, 2014)
Silva is at the doctor's office and states that his hand has been bothering him since the scuffle. The doctor puts it in a cast.
Dana White later appears via video conference and expels André Amade from the show for punching Sonnen in the brawl. He calls him a disgrace and says that he should be arrested.
White then scolds Silva and Sonnen for being thuggish and poor mentors for the fighters. Sonnen then blames Silva, who praises Amade's actions and even gives a team huddle for the coach leaving.
Mauricio "Shogun" Rua, former UFC light heavyweight champion, makes a guest appearance and lends support to Team Wanderlei.
Márcio Alexandre Júnior defeated Paulo Costa via split decision after three rounds.
The episode closes with a "wrapped up" challenge in which four fighters from each team are covered in plastic wrap. They have to scramble to get on their feet and ring a bell. First team to get all four fighters to ring the bell wins and gets to choose the next fight.
The yellow team wins the challenge and gets all fighters to ring the bell before Team Sonnen even has one, earning control of the next fight matchup.
Episode 8: (April 27, 2014)
Márcio Alexandre Júnior is limping around the house, having injured his foot against Paulo Costa. The doctors say that it should not hamper his fighting.
Silva announces the next fight and matches Antônio Branjão against Vitor Miranda. The two happen to be former training partners and are not happy about the fight pick.
Team Sonnen coach Vinny Magalhães hears about this and calls Silva a hypocrite. A flashback plays to TUF Brazil 1 when Silva confronted Vitor Belfort about making two friends fight. Silva then states that this is different in that Branjão and Miranda may know each other, but "they don't train with or live together."
The kitchen is filled with dirty dishes and Antônio Carlos Júnior has had enough. He confronts Joilton Santos about it who then gets upset about Júnior complaining and not doing anything. Finally, Ricardo Abreu gets tired of the complaining and decides to do the cleaning himself.
Sonnen brings in World Series of Fighting middleweight Yushin Okami as a guest coach, who ramps up the intensity levels of the training.
The next challenge is called "the bridge," where members of each team work together to create a bridge using narrow sticks that can support one of the Octagon ring girls. The team then has to guide four different ring girls across their makeshift structures. Team Wanderlei takes an early lead and wins the challenge and an all-day spa treatment.
Miranda tells his tale of how he started playing basketball, but after a Muay Thai class, switched to fighting. After moving to the United States to train, his 4-year-old son drowned in a swimming pool. He then states that he will use this tragedy to motivate him.
Branjão admits to having been picked on in the past due to being overweight, but states that the bullies would not try now.
Vitor Miranda defeated Antônio Branjão via TKO (punches) in the first round.
Both coaches praise the fighter's performance.
Episode 9: (May 5, 2014)
The Coaches' Challenge between Silva and Sonnen is an obstacle course on the football pitch. The winner will receive $23,000 for himself, $10,000 for his team, and a football jersey signed by Pelé.
Sonnen blows by the competition and wins the Coaches' Challenge. Silva declares this victory as meaningless and states that he will ultimately win when he fights Sonnen.
Luis Dorea joins Team Wanderlei as a boxing coach to replace the expelled André Amade.
Warlley Alves defeated Ismael de Jesus via KO (knees) at 3:38 in round 1.
Episode 10:
Marcos Rogério de Lima defeated Jollyson Francisco via unanimous decision after 2 rounds.
Episode 11:
Warlley Alves defeated Wagner Silva via submission (guillotine choke) in round 1.
Antônio Carlos Júnior defeated Marcos Rogério de Lima via submission (rear naked choke) in round 1.
Episode 12:
Márcio Alexandre Júnior defeated Ricardo Abreu via split decision after 3 rounds.
Vitor Miranda defeated Richardson Moreira via TKO (punches) in round 2.
Tournament Bracket
Middleweight Bracket
Elimination Round
Semi-finals
Finale
Wagner Silva
SD
Joilton Santos
3
Wagner Silva
1
Warlley Alves
SUB
Ismael de Jesus
1
Warlley Alves
KO
Warlley Alves
SUB
Márcio Alexandre Jr.
3
Ricardo Abreu
UD
Guilherme Vasconcelos
2
Ricardo Abreu
3
Márcio Alexandre Jr.
SD
Paulo Costa
3
Márcio Alexandre Jr.
SD
Heavyweight Bracket
Elimination Round
Semi-finals
Finale
Antônio Carlos Júnior
KO
Edgard Castaldelli Filho
1
Antônio Carlos Júnior
SUB
Marcos Rogério de Lima
1
Jollyson Francisco
U2
Marcos Rogério de Lima
UD
Antônio Carlos Júnior
UD
Vitor Miranda
3
Richardson Moreira
SUB
Job Kleber Melo
1
Richardson Moreira
2
Vitor Miranda
TKO
Antônio Branjão
1
Vitor Miranda
TKO
Legend
Team Wanderlei
Team Sonnen
UD
Unanimous Decision
SD
Split Decision
SUB
Submission
(T)KO
(Technical) Knock Out
Bonus awards
Fans voted to award the following $25,000 bonus awards to fights that took place during the TUF Brazil 3 season:[6]
Fight of the Season: Ricardo Abreu vs. Guilherme Vasconcelos
Performance of the Season: Antônio Carlos Júnior (knockout of Edgard Castadelli) and Warlley Alves (submission of Wagner Gomes)
The Ultimate Fighter Brazil 3 Finale: Miocic vs. Maldonado
The Ultimate Fighter Brazil 3 Finale: Miocic vs. Maldonado
The poster for The Ultimate Fighter Brazil 3 Finale: Miocic vs. Maldonado
The event was expected to be headlined by a light heavyweight bout between the coaches of The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil 3Chael Sonnen and Wanderlei Silva. The fight was originally scheduled for UFC 173 but later shifted to this card. However, the fight was transferred to July 5, 2014 at UFC 175.[10]
Diego Brandão was expected to face Brian Ortega to make his promotional debut. However, Brandão pulled out of the bout in the days leading up to the event citing an injury. Due to the late nature of the change, officials did not try to find a replacement and Ortega was pulled from the card despite being uninjured.[18]
