The Renewed Passion of Vinny Magalhaes

Vinny Magalhaes wants to cap an impressive 2018 campaign in the Professional Fighters League by becoming the promotion’s light heavyweight champion on New Year’s Eve inside the Hulu Theater at Madison Square Garden in New York. The Ultimate Fighting Championship veteran feels at home in the organization for two reasons: Its format brings out the best in him, and it benefits him financially.

“I feel I’ve always had the potential to perform the way I’ve done so far this season,” said Magalhaes, who has rattled off four straight victories, all of them first-round finishes. “For me, this format was great because I was able to train just the way I’ve [done in the past] for jiu-jitsu. Instead of taking a week [or more] off, I literally had no days off. I just found the right place [and] find myself in the right spot now.”

Back in his competitive jiu-jitsu days, he returned to the gym after a tournament and maintained his skills at a high level. “Pezao” believes his mixed martial arts career was hindered by the inconsistent schedule he had to keep. It led to extended periods away from the gym, which created scenarios where he was forced to spend weeks at a time getting back into shape. The PFL has afforded him the opportunity to fight five times in a six-month window -- his most active year since 2011, when he appeared in four fights.

“I feel the consistency has helped me, not just to keep myself in shape but also to improve my skills,” Magalhaes said. “Even my jiu-jitsu now is better for MMA than it was before I started training for this tournament. I feel like if I was training this way throughout the last 12 years of professional fighting, I could have had a much better record. I could have performed much better in some fights that I’ve had.”

After two regular-season fights and two playoff bouts, only one obstacle stands between the longtime Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt and the $1 million pot of gold at the end of the PFL rainbow: fellow UFC veteran Sean O'Connell, a consummate underdog who punched his ticket to the final with consecutive upsets of Maxim Grishin and Smealinho Rama.

“It’s one of those things,” Magalhaes said. “You can’t count anybody out with so much money on the line.”

Both men believe they have a clear path to victory: O’Connell on the feet, Magalhaes on the ground. Magalhaes has captured multiple Brazilian jiu-jitsu world titles and was a gold medalist at the 2011 Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Wrestling World Championships. O’Connell recognizes his credentials.

“I respect the hell out of Vinny’s jiu-jitsu game -- I really do -- but he’s not going to do anything that scares me,” O’Connell told Sherdog.com in an earlier interview.

Magalhaes sees his counterpart’s confidence as a natural part of a mixed martial artist’s mentality. “That’s what it is to be a fighter,” he said. “You have to have that confidence level. Otherwise, you’re not going to step [into the cage]. I’m not a K-1-level striker, but I believe I can beat him standing, too.” While Magalhaes respects O’Connell’s self-assuredness, he considers the notion that their ground exchanges could be competitive to be folly. “For him to believe he could give me trouble on the ground, that’s delusional. Nobody has done that in 31 fights [as an amateur and professional]. Sean has to realize I have tapped out world-class black belts. When it comes to the ground game, it is not about if my opponents make mistakes. I force those mistakes to happen, so for him to [think] he is not going to allow those mistakes to happen for this fight … come on, man.”

For a fighter who has competed all over the world in multiple disciplines, emerging victorious from the 2018 PFL playoffs would certainly strengthen the resume. However, competition and conquering the next great challenge in front of him continues to drive Magalhaes.

“I love fighting these days. There is nothing that would ever make me go back to jiu-jitsu and train with the same motivation that I do when I train for an MMA fight,” he said. “The [PFL] title matters just like any title that I have won in MMA, but I [compete] more based on fights. Which fights are the most exciting [and] the fights where you had more fun? I don’t think it’s about the biggest accomplishment. It’s about how much fun I’ve had in that fight.”

Win or lose, the Syndicate MMA representative has enjoyed his time in the PFL.

“So far, I have loved the experience. I am looking forward to the next fight, of course, and then to being in the next one or two seasons with the PFL,” Magalhaes said. “[The league format] definitely gives you financial stability; and plus, for people that are competitors like myself, it allows me to stay consistent [and] stay in shape, and it’s much easier to focus on my career this way.”

The positive relationship he has developed with the Professional Fighters League and the loyalty he feels toward the organization has all but hushed talk of an eventual return to the UFC.

“By the time this next season is over, I’m going to be 35, and I don’t think the UFC is paying $500,000 to a 35-year-old guy that has been there and has a negative record with the company,” Magalhaes said. “So if they are not going to pay me what I want them to, why would I leave? It just doesn’t make sense to me.”