Rodolfo Vieira Expects to Submit Andre Petroski at UFC Vegas 102

It might come as a surprise that the man known as “The Black Belt Hunter” is expecting to pick up a submission win in his next outing.

Rodolfo Vieira (10-2) will make his Octagon return against Andre Petroski (12-3) at UFC Fight Night 251, which is scheduled for Feb. 15 inside of the UFC Apex in Las Vegas. The middleweight grapplers are expected to ply their trade on the main card of an event also headlined by 185ers. Vieira talked with Sherdog about this upcoming pairing, who discussed what he expected and where he wanted to go from a win.

“The camp was excellent,” Vieira admitted. “We just have to make some adjustments, because I was initially scheduled to face Jacob Malkoun, [Robert] Whittaker’s training partner, but five weeks to the fight he got injured, so Andre Petroski replaced him. [Considering] Petroski is a southpaw, we had to make some adjustments.”

With only a few weeks to prepare for an entirely new styled opponent, the Brazilian stuck with the basics. What did Malkoun excel at? Where does Petroski measure up to those skills? Is there anywhere Petroski outperforms Malkoun, and is that an issue? Vieira believing he is an entire well-rounded MMA fighter; he did not seem overly concerned with taking on a fellow grappler that can go three hard rounds.

“Petroski is not so technical like Malkoun, boxing-wise, but on the other hand we have to be really careful with his dangerous overhand lefts,” the middleweight analyzed. “He is also a BJJ black belt and has good takedowns too, so I’m prepared for everything he brings. I’m ready to exchange blows and also do guard. My goal is no secret, submit him. That's how I visualize this fight, winning via submission before the third round.”

In case he gets his third consecutive submission win, Vieira has no plans to call out any future opponent, but the four-time world jiu-jitsu champion revealed that the ADCC Submission Fighting World Championship is among his future plans.

“I already talked to Ali to fit me in one of the future editions,” he noted.