While you were begging your parents for a copy of Duke Nukem 3D back in 1996, Murilo Bustamante was going toe to toe against Joe ‘The Ghetto Man’ Charles in Universal Vale Tudo Fighting 2. Dude was the first UFC middleweight champion and after defending his belt against Matt Lindland, he pulled a BJ Penn and abandoned his title to fight in Japan. He was your favorite middleweight before you even knew what MMA was. Bustamante has banged against Rampage Jackson, Minowaman, Kazuhiro Nakamura, Dan Henderson, Matt Lindland, Chuck Liddell and now he will take on the DEEP welterweight champion, Yuya Shirai, at Clube da Luta in just over a week. Sure there’s a thirteen-year age difference, but don’t let the vast flux of time fool you. Check out this video of Bustamante training for a very tough fight on July 20th 2011. [Source]
