One of Brazil’s most popular samba stars has deep roots in the martial arts world.
A multiple-time winner at the world-famous Carnival parade in Rio de Janeiro as a singer and composer, Dudu Nobre was a guest on this week’s episode of MMA Fighting’s Portuguese-language podcast Trocação Franca to discuss how he teamed up with some of Brazil’s biggest stars years before MMA became a hit in the country.
Nobre was backstage with Anderson Silva and his crew at the Mandalay Bay Events Center leading up to his legendary win over Vitor Belfort. A friend of “The Spider” since his Cage Rage days, Nobre reveals an awkward interaction with Steven Seagal before saying The Lord’s Prayer with Silva and his teammates.
The Rio de Janeiro native composed an anti-Conor McGregor samba prior to the Jose Aldo clash, leading to friends poking fun at him for jinxing Aldo. Nobre has known the former UFC champion before fame since they cheer for the same soccer club in Rio de Janeiro — he began training martial arts to join soccer firms, too, but hasn’t gone past purple belt in jiu-jitsu.
In a 45-minute interview, Nobre recalled traveling all over the world to watch MMA events, from Germany to Las Vegas to Japan to Brazil, from big-time UFC events to the regional scene in Rio de Janeiro, as well as visiting legendary teams in their peak, like Wanderlei Silva and Mauricio Rua battling in the Chute Boxe headquarters in Curitiba during the PRIDE era.
Listen to the newest episode of Trocação Franca below and don’t forget to subscribe to the MMA Fighting feed on all your favorite podcast platforms for the newest episodes.