Recap of IVC 4
One year following Mark Kerr‘s win over Fabio Gurgel in the World Vale Tudo Championship 3, the Maksoud Plaza Hotel in Sao Paulo, Brazil witnessed another openweight tournament, this time grabbed by American wrestler International Vale Tudo Championship 4.
On February 7, 1998, an excited crowd gathered at the hotel for a ground-and-pound seminar led by Mike Van Arsdale. Despite having no participation in vale tudo events previously, Mark Coleman‘s teammate was seen as the favorite alongside other American wrestlers, Bob Gilstrap and veteran fighter Jason Godsey. Brazilian representation lacked famous fighters like Pedro Rizzo and Wanderlei Silva, but four underdogs stepped up: luta livre expert Alexandre “Cacareco” Ferreira, muay thai fighter Dario Amorim, and jiu-jitsu purple belts Francisco Nonato and Marcelo Barbosa.
In the opening match, Van Arsdale successfully took down Nonato, passing his guard and securing a keylock submission at 5:42. He would later face the victor between seasoned wrestler Tim Catalfo and Ferreira, who was debuting in MMA at just 19. Ferreira managed to avert two takedowns but ultimately succumbed to Catalfo’s relentless pressure. The match concluded with Catalfo achieving full mount before Ferreira received a disqualification for eye gouging. With Catalfo hurt, Barbosa—who submitted Guaracy Pereira—was called up for the semifinals against Van Arsdale, where he was decisively defeated via punches leading to submission at 3:36.
Due to Catalfo’s injury, Van Arsdale advanced to the final without further injury. Meanwhile, Amorim faced two American adversaries in his bracket. He first fought Godsey, where he was quickly taken down but managed to stage a comeback, ultimately forcing Godsey to submit to strikes from the mount at 3:01.
Amorim’s next hurdle was Gilstrap, who quickly dispatched Lucas Silva de Jesus. Their semifinal bout was the highlight of the event, filled with intense exchanges. Although Gilstrap almost scored a knockout, Amorim rallied and inflicted significant damage, passing guard and nearly executing a rear-naked choke. The judges awarded the match to Amorim after a grueling back-and-forth contest, earning him applause from observers including Coleman and Smith.
Amorim had less than thirty minutes to recuperate before the championship clash against Van Arsdale, which ended swiftly. Although Amorim defended two takedowns, he was ultimately thrown to the floor on the third attempt and landed awkwardly, resulting in an injury stoppage at 2:42. The audience, reminiscent of Gurgel’s defeat the previous year, watched in silence as Van Arsdale received the championship title from Sergio Batarelli. In a post-fight statement, Van Arsdale commented on his ground skills with a jab at his jiu-jitsu contemporaries.
“Conquering jiu-jitsu isn’t complex,” he stated. “Just observe; there’s no need to practice.”
Following his victory, Van Arsdale was quickly signed by the Ultimate Fighting Championship, debuting just over three months later at UFC 17, where he submitted Joe Pardo with a keylock. After his first professional loss in August at the hands of Silva, Van Arsdale achieved four more wins, culminating in a fight against Randy Couture at UFC 54. Following that bout, he faced a string of defeats by submission and eventually bowed out of the competitive scene in 2006. Nevertheless, his performance at IVC 4 remains memorable over the years.
