MMA Agent Ed Soares and his partner Jorge Guimaraes are basically in the import business. They are bringing in truckloads of fantastic fighters from Brazil to fight in matches in the US.

Just consider this lineup: Anderson Silva, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira , Andre Galvao, Chase Gromley, Daniel Nova, Diego Nunes, Fabio Maldonado, Fabricio "Morango" Camoes, Junior "Cigano" dos Santos, Luis "Sapo" dos Santos, Lyoto Machida, Lucas Rota, Paulo Filho, Pedro Rizzo, Rafael "Feijao" Custodio,
Will Ribeiro. All are from the camp of Soares-Guimaraes

“Ninety-five percent of our guys are Brazilian,” says Soares, “my partner lives in Brazil. We find our fighters in Brazil and we bring them up here. There are great fighters who come from all over the world but there’s just a lot of talent coming from Brazil. And at this moment that’s our niche.”

Why so many from Brazil? It’s the mother lode according to Soares, “It’s just that the sport has been around there a long time. That’s where the Mecca of all this stuff is, where MMA originated. It’s that and I think it’s the culture – they come from a much rougher life, they have different motivations. I’m not saying all Brazilian fighters are necessarily poor, I’m just saying it’s a hard life out there and for someone to come to the United States and get the opportunity to bring themselves to another level in their life is always a very motivating factor.”

So does that mean the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu fighters have the edge? Not necessarily, cautions Soares, “In MMA nowadays you have to be very well-rounded in every martial art, you have to have very good jiu-jitsu skills, wrestling skills, boxing skills, Muy Thai.

“The sport now is truly mixed martial arts. If you go in with only one dimension, you’re going to find yourself pigeon-holed and people will put strategies together that are going to concentrate on your weaknesses. Nowadays, you really have to be able to be put in any situation and take care of yourself. Most of the fighters who are at the top level feel very comfortable in all situations.”

            Most fans know who the top level fighters are though the ranking system is pretty loose. It’s not like boxing, for instance. “Basically you’re ranked through people’s thought processes and who you’ve beaten,” says Soares. “You take someone like a Brock Lesnar who’s basically had three MMA fights and just fought for the UFC Heavyweight title and won! I’m sure there are a lot more fighters who are more experienced that could be possibly ranked much higher than him but didn’t get that opportunity. But at this point in time, styles make fights and on any given day in this sport, anybody can beat anybody.

“So, what it’s really all about now is: it’s run by the promoters and the promoters put on the fights that the world wants to see. The Brock Lesnar/Randy Couture fight they were saying would be the biggest pay-per-view ever. So whether Lesnar was ranked number one or not, he was put in that position.”

There is no question that audiences for MMA are way up especially in Las Vegas where boxing used to be king. But Soares doesn’t think there is any comparison, “It has nothing to do with boxing being on the downswing, I think it’s just a more exciting sport. It just needs time, and an increase in the exposure frequency. I know people are saying that it’s blowing up, it’s getting huge. Well, it’s not huge yet. Anderson Silva’s a big name, yeah, Chuck Liddell’s a big name, yeah. But if you asked ten people on the street who Anderson Silva is, I would say maybe 3 of them would know. If you asked people on the street who Shaquille O’Neal is, probably all ten of them would know who it is. So that’s when it’s mainstream – when all ten people will know.”

            “I think, within the next ten-twelve years,” Soares predicted, “it’s going to be the biggest sport on the planet — mainly because everybody likes to watch fighting — it’s just in the DNA of the human being. And now, MMA is finally getting the exposure it needs. I always thought it was the greatest sport,  it’s just that now people are able to see it.”