Cleiver Fernandes and an Unlikely Source of Inspiration

An upkick from Gegard Mousasi foiled Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza’s best-laid plans to capture the vacant Dream middleweight championship in September 2008. Nevertheless, Souza left the ring with a check for three million yen and unknowingly stirred the competitive spirit within Cleiver Fernandes—a teenager thousands of miles away in his native Brazil.

“I wanted it for me, too,” Fernandes told Sherdog.com. “It would change my life and that of my family. I decided to go to the academy and check it out. A week turned into two and more. I fell in love with the art of jiu-jitsu. When I was 15 years old, I received a proposal to go live in Rio de Janeiro. I left home at 15 years old. My mother was very mad with me. My parents let me know they couldn’t afford to help me. I told them not to worry, [that] one day I’d come back as a champion.”

Fernandes took his professional mixed martial arts assignment at the age of 22 in 2017, won seven of his first eight bouts and then made good on the promise to his parents, as he captured the Shooto Brazil bantamweight title with a fifth-round arm-triangle choke submission of Mauricio Almeida. A subsequent victory over Denilson De Lima Ferreira under the Centurion Fight Championship banner drew the attention of the Professional Fighters League. Fernandes, now 29, will take the next step in his development in his promotional debut, where he meets the undefeated Renat Khavalov in a PFL Champions Series 1 bantamweight showcase this Saturday at Coca-Cola Arena in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. He welcomes the challenge.

“Renat is a guy who originally comes from grappling, from sambo,” Fernandes said. “That’s my understanding. He usually switches striking bases, looking to confuse his opponents. He has a very dangerous cross when he’s in a southpaw stance. I love to fight against undefeated guys. I like to be the spoiler. It motivates me more. I even like to fight on their own turf.

“Here in the UAE, these Russians are basically at home,” he added. “The whole event is full of Russians, and I’m the only Brazilian representative. I like it. I like this atmosphere. The party is actually theirs. I’m there to mess up their party. This happened to me in Brazil before, in other promotions. They booked me as bait. Everybody else was a local, but I beat them.”

Fernandes represents the famed Nova Uniao camp fronted by Andre Pederneiras but undertakes much of his preparation time in the United Arab Emirates. Bruno Machado and Luciano Benicio served as his primary sparring partners in advance of his showdown with Khavalov.

“We trained together for a few weeks,” Fernandes said. “I’m ready for what’s coming. This fight won’t reach the final buzzer. I’m going to show my work to the fans in the best possible way. I’ll either submit him or knock him out. It can happen in any round.”

When Fernandes steps back and examines the reshaped PFL landscape, he sees only opportunity in front of him.

“I’m there to show that there are new talents,” he said. “There’s a new crop of elite fighters. I have this fight in front of me. It’s against a very tough opponent. After I beat him, we can see what’s next for me in the PFL.”