UFC featherweight champion Jose Aldo says that people will know who he is soon enough... after his UFC 129 fight with Mark Hominick, to be precise. Get more MMA and UFC news at the World's top MMA News website http://www.mmaweekly.com.Source: http://mmalice.com/ufc-129/jose-aldo-people-will-know-who-i-am-after-ufc-129-video_1b3537c99.html
Yoshiaki Yatsu Hirotaka Yokoi Hidehiko Yoshida Yoshiyuki Yoshida
Source: http://fiveouncesofpain.com/2011/04/27/charles-oliveira-vs-nik-lentz-added-to-ufc-live-4-line-up/
Wesley Cabbage Correira Patrick The Predator Côté Randy The Natural Couture Dan Cramer
Jose Aldo is a bad, bad man. The dude who knocks him off his UFC featherweight perch will have to be a helluva fighter and probably a little bit lucky. In a game of inches, landing that perfect shot can't always be planned. Nor can life, that's why Mark Hominick needs to catch a break outside the Octagon as well.
The Canadian has the pressure of the world on him facing the UFC champ and doing it in front 55,000 faithful Canadian fans. Hominick faces Aldo at UFC 129 (9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT).
Check out MMAWeekly's Damon Martin, ProMMARadio's Larry Pepe and me break down the fight on RawVegas.
The last thing he needs to be thinking about is his wife in a hospital delivering their first child. Everything should be fine as long as the little girl doesn't come a week early. Hominick's wife, Ashley, is due on May 7.
Ashley will be in Toronto roughly 90 minutes from their hometown of Thamesford and the precautions have been taken.
"We have a doctor lined up (in Toronto) if she does go into labor," he said. "We have a pretty strong support system with my family. It's nice that the fight's literally an hour and a half drive away from where we live," Hominick told the Canadian Press.
Hominick (20-8, 3-0 UFC) admitted he's balancing a lot.
"I'm just trying to take it all in. This is an experience that I'll look back on and say, 'Wow, that was a crazy time,' especially with my wife being due," Hominick said. "Everyone in my life knows the opportunity that's in front of me, so it's been a huge, strong support system that I have behind me."
Hominick and trainer Shawn Tompkins feel, Aldo (18-1) has never been tested by a top-notch striker.
"I think I'm the guy to take this guy out," he said. "I really do think I have the skill set to beat him. The main thing is staying composed and sticking to the game plan," Hominick said.
Aldo has the reputation of being a great ground, but sounds willing to test Hominick on the feet.
"I feel it's a great fight," Aldo said through an interpreter. Two guys that are going to go out there and keep the fight standing and always be looking for that knockout."
Tompkins told us last month, no one has come forward against Aldo. That'll change Saturday night.
One of the biggest mixed martial arts cards in history takes place on Saturday night, with the UFC smashing its attendance record by selling 55,000 tickets to fans who will get to see the UFC's most popular fighter, Georges St-Pierre, defend his welterweight belt against challenger Jake Shields.
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Source: http://mmafighting.com/2011/04/27/ufc-129-predictions/
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Source: http://mmafighting.com/2011/04/23/mann-dominates-mpumbu-and-hale-advance-at-bellator-42/
Canada sounds like it's stoked for UFC 129 and all its countrymen on the card next week in Toronto. Mark Hominick, a Thamesford-native is representing all of Ontario, he'll also be pushing the CFL's Hamilton Tiger-Cats. From Yahoo!'s CFL blog:
Hominick will wear a Tiger-Cats' hat as he enters the octagon; his shorts will also feature a Tiger-Cats' logo and an ad for Ticats.ca. The team's also running a contest which includes tickets to UFC 129 as a prize (along with plenty of other impressive stuff), and Hominick will also be featured at "MMA Night" at Ivor Wynne Stadium, which will take place July 16 when the Tiger-Cats host the Saskatchewan Roughriders.
Andrew Bucholtz from 55-yard line says the CFL is capitalizing on something other major leagues are whiffing on:
MMA fans are also an excellent demographic for the Tiger-Cats to reach out to. The MMA fan base includes a lot of people in their 20s and 30s (partly because the sport's rise to prominence is still relatively recent), and that's a group the CFL would do well to try and draw. The CFL audience used to skew a lot older; I think that's starting to change, but there's still a need to bring in new, young fans, and a partnership with a prominent Canadian MMA fighter's an excellent way to at least increase the visibility of the Tiger-Cats' brand. From an image perspective, it's also a good thing for a CFL team to position itself as on the side of MMA; many established sports leagues and brands have somewhat turned up their noses at the UFC, and that's probably not a smart long-term strategy given the sport's rapidly growing popularity.
We're glad to see Ontario is welcoming MMA with open arms. Now it's time to work on its acceptance of the Lingerie Football League.
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Source: http://mmafighting.com/2011/04/23/ufc-132-mayhem-miller-vs-aaron-simpson/
Source: http://www.fighters.com/04/25/ufc-129-complete-collection-part-1-of-12-yves-jabouin-vs-pablo-garza
The UFC officially opened for business today in Toronto with the final prefight press conference. After a 50-minute presser, Dana White stuck around to lend clarity to some of the bigger stories around MMA.
- Jon Jones' hand injury will probably keep him out six months. Earlier today, the Jones Camp answered allegations of ducking the fight against Rashad Evans.
- White confirmed that Nick Diaz's Strikeforce contract allows him to box, but that doesn't necessarily mean he will. White plans on meeting with him after UFC 129 to figure things out.
- During the press conference, Jake Shields confirmed that his trainer Cesar Gracie is not in Toronto this week. Visa issues prevented Gracie from entering the country (43:30 mark).
- White said Royce Gracie is pressing him to face Matt Hughes at UFC in Rio in August. He's very hesitant to make the fight. Gracie was present at the presser and White said he was going to meet with the legend shortly.
- According to MMAjunkie, Jason Miller was recently signed by the UFC because as White said, "he was banned from fighting on Showtime and CBS." Matchmaker Joe Silva wanted him, so they signed the MMA veteran. This from USA Today:
"Mayhem, he's banished from CBS for life. In my opinion, he was a guy that was put into a position -- first of all, we control what happens inside that Octagon; the fighters do not. In our organization, you don't see melees break out in huge fights. And you see what happens when somebody does cross the line and does stuff like that," White said.
"I think Mayhem was put in a bad position. And I don't know -- I haven't talked to Mayhem about this; this is just what I believe, in conversations I've had with Joe Silva."
- White said Strikeforce is working on a fight between Fedor Emelianenko and Dan Henderson. He has zero involvement in the negotiations. UFC owner Lorenzo Fertitta has taken the lead on trying to put that match together.
- White said he's disappointed with the ratings for Season 13 of "The Ultimate Fighter," but blames the time slot. White isn't happy that Spike bumped TUF up to 9 p.m. ET and put "Coal" at 10. He said TUF is battling some big-time programming on television in that time slot.
- He expects Cain Velasquez back in October. He could've returned earlier but suffered a setback in his recovery from a shoulder injury. Brock Lesnar and Junior dos Santos square off in June with the winner expected to battle Velasquez in the fall for the UFC heavyweight title.
- White is confident that the UFC 129 setup is better than the recent mega-fights featuring Manny Pacquiao at Cowboys Stadium. He also said the promotion is considering opening more seats to add to the current 55,000 seat configuration (1:07:30 mark).
Some presser info courtesy of Yahoo!'s Kevin Iole and MMAjunkie's John Morgan.
You can watch UFC 129 on PPV (9 p.m. ET/6 p.m. PT) right here on Yahoo! Sports.
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Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_9178.shtml
Logan The Pink Pounder Clark Steve The Snake Claveau Rich No Love Clementi Mark The Hammer Coleman
Looking to get in the win column in the UFC for the first time, Norifumi "Kid" Yamamoto will have to wait a while longer. Source: http://mmafighting.com/2011/04/28/kid-yamamoto-out-at-ufc-130/
Kyle Bradley Jai Bradney Ebenezer Fontes Braga Chris Brennan
Above, that's Arianny Celeste from the UFC. She's best known for being sweet eye candy at UFC events and that little naked deal in Playboy. With this new song, Arianny wants to show she's more than a pretty face. Check it out.� Is it any good? Or does it rank right up there with Kieren Mulvaney's favorite song by Rebecca Black? Before you say Arianny won't hit it big in the music world check out the hits on this "great" song.
Oh you crazy Internet, now Black has a billboard in Hollywood and some wackos are sending her death threats.
Daniel Acacio Bernard Ackah Terrance Aflague Yoshihiro Akiyama
Source: http://ninjashoes.net/forum/showthread.php?74356-its-me-its-me-its-UTT!&goto=newpost
Ryo Piranha Chonan Dan The Sandman Christison Logan The Pink Pounder Clark Steve The Snake Claveau
Jason "Mayhem" Miller, a veteran of Strikeforce and DREAM and the star of MTV's "Bully Beatdown" has signed a multi-fight deal with the UFC after his Strikeforce deal expired, as reported by MMA Fighting and confirmed by Miller's Twitter account.
He plans to fight in the UFC's middleweight division:
"I will beat the brakes off most of the guys in the middleweight divisions in the UFC," he said. "I guaran-damn-tee it."
Miller hasn't fought since a DREAM win over the legendary Kazushi Sakuraba in September 2010. His last Strikeforce bout was a year ago in Nashville. He won over Tim Stout, then jumped in the cage after Jake Shields' win, sparking a brawl resulted in suspensions. He has fought in the UFC before: one loss to now-welterweight champ Georges St. Pierre.
This is the first big signing of a former Strikeforce fighter since Zuffa, the UFC's parent company, bought Strikeforce. At the time of the purchase, UFC president Dana White said that business would continue as usual and that the UFC and Strikeforce would continue to compete for fighters. Miller's contract had expired, and he hadn't had any Strikeforce fights in more than a year.
Many of the UFC's top middleweights are already tied up with fights, so it will be interesting to see where they will slot Miller first. Do you think they should challenge him with a top middleweight? Or bring him back into the fold slowly? Tell us in the comments or on Facebook.
In the major sports, stories about athletes' salaries generally draw derision and jealous reactions. In the case of mixed martial arts, fans probably have a more supportive stance for the fighters. The combatants aren't making a killing relative to athletes from the NFL, NBA and MLB yet they're putting their safety on the line.
According to ESPN the Magazine, the highest paid MMA fighter in 2010 was Lesnar at ONLY $5.3 million. Boxer Manny Pacquiao led the way in the other major combat sport at $32 million.
On the surface, that makes MMA look pathetic. Should MMA stars like Lesnar, Georges St-Pierre and Anderson Silva be making $15 million-plus a year? Maybe, but the argument from MMA promoters is that the gap between boxing's haves and have-nots is massive while MMA can boast of dozens of fighters making in excess of $500,000 per year.
The StarPhoenix's Dave Deibert points out that Lesnar is actually a bigger draw than 99.9 percent of the fighters in the modern history of combat sports:
Lesnar has recently become the biggest pay-per-view draw in the world. In 2010, he joined Mike Tyson as the only athletes to twice draw more than one million buys on pay-per-view in a single year ? Tyson did it three times in 1996.
Other popular stories on Yahoo! Sports:
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Mark Epstein Tom Big Cat Erickson Martinsh Egle Eric Butterbean Esch
In a potential candidate for Fight of the Year in the main event, sizzling STRIKEFORCE Welterweight (170 pounds) World Champion Nick Diaz (24-7, 1 NC), of Stockton, Calif., will seek his 10th consecutive victory when he defends against the hard-hitting, notorious British striker, Paul "Semtex" Daley (26-9-2), of Nottingham, England.
Source: http://mmafrenzy.com/18334/ufc-129-videos-jose-aldo-preview-for-mark-hominick-fight-on-april-30/
Jeff Big Frog Curran Dai Shuanghai Mac Danzig Karen Darabedyan
Filed under: MMA Videos, UFC, FanHouse Exclusive, Videos
TORONTO -- Watch below as Lyoto Machida discusses his fight against Randy Couture at UFC 129, how he expects it to play out, whether knowing this is Couture's last fight has made him even more motivated and whether he is feeling any pressure to win after losing two in a row.Source: http://mmafighting.com/2011/04/27/lyoto-machida-wants-to-be-at-his-best-out-of-respect-for-couture/
Kevin Kimbo Slice Ferguson Paulo Filho Mirko Cro Cop Filipovic Luiz Buscapé Firmino
With few quality welterweights dotting the Strikeforce roster, how willing is Zuffa to allow Nick Diaz to fight lesser names in its smaller organization? The Strikeforce 170-pound champ won his 10th straight fight against Paul Daley on Saturday, so who's next?
Diaz has the well-rounded game to give UFC champ Georges St. Pierre a real run for his money. If GSP gets by Jake Shields at UFC, will the UFC quickly abandon the "business as usual" mantra that it pitched when it purchased Strikeforce and throw Diaz at the French-Canadian?
Yahoo!'s lead MMA writer Kevin Iole joined us to discuss Diaz's immediate future and the win over Daley.
Logan The Pink Pounder Clark Steve The Snake Claveau Rich No Love Clementi Mark The Hammer Coleman
Source: http://forums.ufc.production.sparkart.net/showthread.php?t=84602&goto=newpost
Rich No Love Clementi Mark The Hammer Coleman Wes Soldier Combs Ray Cooper
Source: http://www.fighters.com/04/23/jose-aldo-his-dream-must-come-to-an-end-for-my-dream-to-go-on
Source: http://fighterxfashion.com/round-5-gsp-action-figure-ufc-fan-expo-exclusive/
Shinya Aoki is one of the greatest submission specialists in mixed martial arts, so it was no surprise that Lyle Beerbohm was no match for him at Saturday night's Strikeforce event.
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Source: http://www.mmafighting.com/2011/04/09/strikeforce-shinya-aoki-easily-submits-lyle-beerbohm/
Before their battle at UFC 129 next week, Georges St-Pierre and Jake Shields have pretty much refused to engage in trash talk. That's because there's an immense amount of respect between the two fighters. GSP went one step further today saying the odds on the fight are ridiculous.
"This is foolish. This is like a trap for me. I'm not going to fall into that trap. The odds are ridiculous," St-Pierre said. "Sometimes I think people don't even know the sport. To know the sport, you have to be into it. Most of the people who make the odds they don't even know the sport very well."
GSP said Shields would beat everyone of his previous opponents and he knew before watching past fights, that the former Strikeforce middleweight champ was going to beat Robbie Lawler and Dan Henderson.
"People forget that a guy who has good submission holds is just as dangerous as a knockout punch. You can be winning the whole fight ... and at the last minute you commit a mistake and bang you have to tap," St-Pierre said (1:15 mark). "Jake Shields has a weapon that's more dangerous than a knockout punch."
St-Pierre knows the general lack of respect for Shields puts a lot of pressure on him to win.
"People who make the odds they don't even acknowledge the true skill set of Jake Shields. And that is something that really pisses me off," St-Pierre said. "I have the pressure of going through Jake Shields like a knife in the butter. They don't understand the danger. People keep asking me about 'what are you going to do next?' It's not what I'm going to do next. What is happening right now is the most dangerous test I ever face in my career."
St-Pierre is firing away at the wrong people when he talks about the oddsmakers. The folks who set the numbers are simply looking for two-way action. He needs to call out bettors, fans and "experts" of the sport who don't recognize Shields as a good play at plus-350.
Source: http://ninjashoes.net/forum/showthread.php?74310-What-happened-to-the-power-bomb&goto=newpost
Yasubey Enomoto Mark Epstein Tom Big Cat Erickson Martinsh Egle
Source: http://fiveouncesofpain.com/2011/04/21/remaining-ufc-129-prelims-to-stream-live-on-facebook/
Yoshihiro Takayama Daiju Takase Oleg Taktarov Akitoshi Tamura
Randy Couture would make Frank Sinatra, and just about every other former fighter proud. The 47-year-old MMA legend wants to go out "his way" and not on terms set by anyone else. Tuesday during the UFC 129 prefight teleconference, he repeated his claim that he's done, following his fight versus Lyoto Machida.
"It's been an ongoing transition for me," Couture told the media. "I kind of want to go out on my own terms and decide when enough is enough. I think that time has come."
Couture said fighting a top contender like Machida at a mega-event in front of 55,000 fans in Toronto is a great way to end things. It'll also be his 30th pro fight in MMA.
"I think it's time to focus on the other things going on in my life after this fight," Couture said. "And I've pushed it pretty far. I don't think anybody is going to push it as far as I have the last 14 years."
Even if he wanted to change his mind, Couture's schedule sounds like it's booked through the fall of 2011. He begins filming a new movie "Hijacked" in late May and then it's back with Sylvester Stallone for the "Expendables II" in September.
Couture has no plans of filing some sort of official retirement papers, but indicated he won't be talked back into the cage after this one.
"I'm sure that they're probably gonna have ideas for other fights. They're gonna try and entice me into coming back and fighting again. And I anticipate all those decisions. I see myself hopefully being with Zuffa and getting involved with them in some other way, shape or form."
Couture said he's healthy now and doesn't want doctors telling him he can't fight any longer.
He sounds interested in becoming part of the UFC's broadcast team down the road. With the number of events UFC/Strikeforce is going to be putting on around the world, that's a great idea. Couture's transition to the booth may not be the best news for some of the current announcers employed by Zuffa and Showtime.
On this week's episode of The Ultimate Fighter, Junior dos Santos had some trouble in the ranks of his coaching staff, and he had to reprimand his assistant, Lew Polley, for pushing his fighters too hard in practice.
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Nobuhiko Takada Yoshihiro Takayama Daiju Takase Oleg Taktarov
Paul Daley Feels Scott Coker 'Sold Out' Video by Paul DaleySource: http://mmalice.com/paul-daley/paul-daley-feels-scott-coker-sold-out-video_cda44b1be.html
Roman Zentsov Nobuhiko Takada Yoshihiro Takayama Daiju Takase
Karen Darabedyan Viacheslav Datsik Marcus Davis Tony DeSouza
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Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/Bellator/article_9142.shtml
After a short break, the UFC's middleweight division has a ton of good fights falling into place. Today, the UFC announced Yoshihiro Akiyama is back and he'll face Vitor Belfort. Belfort is badly in need of a big win after getting booted in the face and losing to Anderson Silva back in February at UFC 126.
Akiyama and Belfort will square off at UFC 133 in Philadelphia in early August. Akiyama (13-3, 1-2 UFC) last fought in October at UFC 120. "Sexyama" was submitted in the final minutes against Chris Leben. He's lost two straight, but he's also garnered Fight of the Night awards his last three times out.
Here's a look at the rest of the scheduled bouts for 185ers near the top of the UFC's middleweight division.
UFC 130: Brian Stann vs. Jorge Santiago
UFC 131: Demian Maia vs. Mark Munoz
UFC 132: Wanderlei Silva vs. Chris Leben
UFC 134: Anderson Silva vs. Yushin Okami
We're still waiting for the next shoe to drop on middleweight bad boys Chael Sonnen and Michael Bisping. Sonnen has to sit down with the Nevada State Athletic Commission in mid-May. The UFC has been tight-lipped about the actual penalty it handed down to Bisping for his spitting incident at UFC 127. One would think, he'll be back in the Octagon no later than July or August. Alan Belcher recently announced that he's ready to return in September.
The division lost one its bigger names with Nate Marquardt dropping to 170, where he'll debut against Anthony Johnson as the main event at UFC on Versus 4 in Pittsburgh in late June.
Traditionally, middleweight has been one of the promotion's weaker divisions. That could change once Strikeforce fighters like Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza, Tim Kennedy, Jason Miller and Robbie Lawler start crossing over.
Update:� That didn't take long. Miller has officially signed a deal with the UFC.
Source: http://fiveouncesofpain.com/2011/04/22/brian-ebersole-vs-dennis-hallman-planned-for-august-event/
Jai Bradney Ebenezer Fontes Braga Chris Brennan Marcelo Brito
As almost everyone expected, Gegard Mousasi bloodied and battered Keith Jardine on Saturday night's Strikeforce card. But as almost no one expected, Jardine showed a tremendous amount of toughness, Mousasi had a point deducted for an illegal kick, and the result was a majority draw.
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Source: http://www.mmafighting.com/2011/04/09/gegard-mousasi-keith-jardine-draw-in-bloody-strikeforce-fight/
Dos Caras Jr Phil Cardella Roan Jucao Carneiro Shane The Engineer Carwin
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Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_9154.shtml
Daniel Acacio Bernard Ackah Terrance Aflague Yoshihiro Akiyama
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Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/Affliction2/article_9076.shtml
Source: http://www.mmafighting.com/2011/04/22/mma-link-parade/
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Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_9020.shtml
Yoshiaki Yatsu Hirotaka Yokoi Hidehiko Yoshida Yoshiyuki Yoshida
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Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_9113.shtml
Mark The Hammer Coleman Wes Soldier Combs Ray Cooper Kit Cope
Source: http://www.fighters.com/04/21/with-strikeforce-win-in-pocket-igor-gracie-plots-busy-2011
This latest gem doesn't sound like Nick Diaz is "playing the game." as Dana White requested last year.
Outside the cage, that means the Strikeforce welterweight champ, has to show up for drug tests and fulfill some of his media responsibilities. Do that and there could be huge paydays awaiting him in the UFC. Oh, and one more thing ... don't sign boxing contracts.
The constantly displeased Diaz told HDNet there's no one for him to fight in Strikeforce and his life is a living hell. His trainer Cesar Gracie says the MMA star has signed a deal to fight former world champion boxer Fernando Vargas in September. Gracie says the Diaz camp is just waiting for Vargas, 33, to sign the contract.
Update - Camp Diaz says the Vargas fight is off:
"We were talking about Vargas, but the thing is, I just came under some information that Vargas apparently has some kind of medical issue where he's not able to pass the test any more, and he could be retiring," Gracie said. "Vargas was very interested, but unfortunately, if he can't pass the test, he can't pass the test."
Gracie says now Diaz wants to fight Jeff Lacy.
This is all an interesting development since Scott Coker has basically indicated Diaz can't box while under contract with Strikeforce.
Vargas claims he's making a comeback and told ESPN.com's Brett Okamoto in January that he had his weight down to 187 pounds. If his goal is to make a run at a world title again, why would Vargas risk his reputation by fighting someone from the MMA world? Who wants to bet this "dream" fight never comes off?
Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/Upcoming_Events_42/article_9124.shtml
Wes Soldier Combs Ray Cooper Kit Cope Wesley Cabbage Correira
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Source: http://www.mmatorch.com/artman2/publish/UFC_2/article_9120.shtml
Patrick The Predator Côté Randy The Natural Couture Dan Cramer Alberto Crane
When it comes to the big fights, it helps to have been there before. That's true not only in the cage, but also in the gym. As UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre and challenger Jake Shields prepare to face off at UFC 129 on April 30, they have to balance their training with seemingly endless media responsibilities and the ubiquitous presence of the UFC Primetime cameras in their gyms. Source: http://www.mmafighting.com/2011/04/24/gsps-trainer-talks-ufc-129-title-fight/
Kevin Kimbo Slice Ferguson Paulo Filho Mirko Cro Cop Filipovic Luiz Buscapé Firmino
