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Fioravanti celebrated his 30th birthday in style, as be battered his overmatched foe with strikes, bullied him from the clinch and controlled virtually every aspect of the fight. The Orlando, Fla.-based American Top Team representative has finished three of his last four opponents, rebounding nicely from consecutive defeats to Pete Spratt and John Kolosci. Fioravanti was released by the UFC following his first-round technical knockout loss to the brutish Anthony Johnson at UFC Fight Night 17 in February 2009.
Other winners at WEF 45 included Pride Fighting Championships veteran Fabio Mello (split decision over Charles “Krazy Horse” Bennett), Strikeforce alum Gareth Joseph (split decision against Derrick Mehmen) and unbeaten middleweight prospect Derek Brunson (first-round knockout over Danny Babcock).
EliteXC veteran Nicolae Cury outpointed Frank Carrillo en route to a unanimous decision under the RadRok MMA Championship banner on Friday at the Coral Springs Center for the Arts in Coral Springs, Fla. An American Top Team representative, Cury had not competed in more than a year, his hiatus the result of a near-fatal health scare.
A black belt in judo and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Cury nearly lost his life after contracting a virus in 2010. The 29-year-old had not fought since he submitted Daniel McWilliams with a first-round triangle choke at an Art of Fighting event in October 2009.
“Without my team, I could not do it,” Cury wrote on Facebook. “We gotta have a whole bunch of great people to make a great team, and we do.”
Meanwhile, Cury’s ATT stablemate, Ailton Barbosa, was also victorious at the RadRok MMA Championship show, as he picked up a unanimous nod over Mark Anthony Serkez. A Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt under Ricardo Pinho, Barbosa has won four fights in a row.