Back in early June, the semi-final round of the Jungle Fight welterweight tournament took place, and Ernane “The Lion” Pimenta was able to punch himself a ticket to the final. With that great round one knockout to send him to the final, Ernane Pimenta has earned the title of “Brazilian Prospect of the Month” for June.
Pimenta is a true knockout artist at 11-1, with all his wins but one coming by way of knockout. He has only been past the second round once, and that came in his sole unanimous decision victory. Even in the only loss he has suffered up to this point, the fight finished inside the first round.
On the feet is where Pimenta does his best work, and it is very clear his hands are the best part of his game. He is light on his feet and tends to have a little bounce in his very bladed stance. Pimenta switches stances effortlessly and strikes well out of both stances. When standing orthodox, his kicking game consists of mostly leg kicks, but he will mix in a fun jumping switch kick from time to time. He doesn’t leg kick nearly as much out of southpaw, but instead employs a lead leg teep kick that he will leap into.
With the hands, I wish he would feel situations out with a jab a little bit more, but he also is rarely throwing one punch at a time. Whether he steps into range or his opponent does, Pimenta is always throwing in combination. Even when he steps back to throw a check hook, usually Pimenta will follow it up with another big punch.
Occasionally, Pimenta will mix in a surprise takedown that is typically a body lock trip of some sort. You can tell his bag on the ground is not very deep in regards to positions and submission skills, but he never ends up spending a lot of time on the ground. However, when he does take it to the ground, Pimenta wastes no time and gets straight to ground and pound.
Defensively is where I see the most issues for Ernane Pimenta, but almost no one has been able to take advantage of them. My biggest issue is head movement. Pimenta never moves his head off the center line, and his only career loss was because of this. Itamar Junior was a very lengthy opponent that was able to land a straight right down the pipe before finishing Pimenta with ground and pound.
Another problem is that defending leg kicks seems to be optional for him. I’m not sure I saw him check any leg kicks, and he isn’t very proficient at getting out of the way of them. Luckily for him, none of his opponents have really made that a big part of their game plan. Lastly, I don’t quite know if it is a true issue yet, but it seems like a good wrestler could cause him problems. In his only decision win, Pimenta’s opponent was able to make him to go all three rounds by implementing some grappling. Pimenta did well in that fight to get back to his feet and win rounds with his hands, but I think a good grappler could cause problems for him.
Ernane Pimenta is an explosive knockout artist who is always guaranteed fireworks. His next fight will close out Jungle Fight’s welterweight tournament, and I fully expect him to score another knockout. If he does, I would love to see him get a shot in a promotion like LFA to take on some better competition.
