400-pound Zuluzinho loses fight after nearly finishing opponent in Russia

In the typical fashion of a Zuluzinho fight, especially in 2021, there was some weirdness. Taking place in Russia, the PRIDE FC vet earned his 10th career loss.

At AMC Fight Nights: Sochi after three rounds of action against unbeaten 5-0-1 Yusup Shuaev, the 400-pounder connected with a big punch to drop his opponent. Immediately celebrating, little did Zuluzinho know that the fight hadn’t been stopped.

https://twitter.com/Grabaka_Hitman/status/1364264317491834881

Instead, it was just the referee signaling the end of the bout’s time. Unfortunately, for the 42-year-old Brazilian, he then went on to lose the contest via majority decision.

Despite his age and unique size, Zuluzinho has managed to find a decent degree of success since ending an eight-year hiatus in 2018. Before this loss, he had strung together the best winning streak of his career with three since starting out going 7-0 from 2003 to 2005.

His first loss? None other than one Fedor Emelianenko.

Since returning to action, “Zulu” is now 3-2 in his last five. 14-10 (1 NC) overall, the Sao Luis native was quite the featured attraction during his heyday in PRIDE.

Following his loss to Emelianenko, Zuluzinho would lose his final two bouts in the Japanese-based promotion against Antonio “Minotauro” Rodrigo Nogueira and Eric “Butterbean” Esch. Eventually, he would find his way back to Japan for a showdown with the “Giant Killer,” Ikuhisa “Minowaman” Minowa. However, this time the giant was slain as Zuluzinho earned a third-round TKO.

Overall, Zuluzinho has fought three times in Russia. Seeing how willing he is to continue competing along with the country’s openness to finding him fights, it may not come as a surprise to see him continue forth with his career. Perhaps we could even see a clash with the 500-plus pound Grigory Chistyakov…