Former kickboxing champion Gustavo Sousa added another finish to his growing MMA highlight reel last Sunday.
It was a busy week of action in the combat sports world, and on Saturday alone the UFC returned with a UFC Fight Night event in Perth, Australia before a high-profile RIZIN 51 card, and earlier in the day Marcin Szołtysik made headlines when he tapped out the moment his fight with Przemyslaw Mysiala started at Babilon MMA 54.
MMA fans could be forgiven for being a tad burnt around by the time Thunder Fight 51 went down in Brazil on Sunday, but arguably the card’s biggest highlight came in the co-main event when Sousa collected his fourth win in MMA.
Taking place at Thunder Fight Center in Sao Paulo Brazil, Thunder Fight 51 featured an eight-fight MMA card and saw Sousa square off with 24-fight MMA veteran Marco Pirata in the night’s co-main event.
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Pirata was returning to action for the first time since he was stopped by a body kick from Arseniy Smirnov at RCC: Intro 17 back in 2021, and Sousa gave his countryman a rude welcome back to MMA when he quickly backed him up with punches before leaping in with a flying knee against the cage (clip courtesy of @nojikoskiMMA).
Former WGP Kickboxing champ Gustavo “Jones” Sousa moves up to 4-0 (MMA) as he defeats Brave and RCC vet Marcão Pirata (16-9) in just 17 seconds inside the first round.
4-0 with 4 finishes in the 1st round!#ThunderFight51 pic.twitter.com/uYEsciz9A4
— Jorge Nojikoski (@nojikoskiMMA) September 28, 2025
“Marcão” immediately shot for a takedown after absorbing the flying knee, but Sousa rained down some absolutely vicious elbows to the side of Pirata’s head until the referee stepped in to end things just 17 seconds into the light heavyweight contest.
Pirata’s MMA record fell to 16-9 with the loss, while Sousa improved to 4-0 in an MMA career that he’s started to take more seriously within the last year.
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A former WGP Kickboxing champion in his native Brazil, Sousa actually made his professional MMA debut back in 2019 and submitted Francisco Assis with a triangle choke just under three minutes into the first round at Victorious MMA 3. “Jones” didn’t return to MMA until late last year at Russia’s MMA Series: Dyakonov vs. Andryushko, where he stopped Aleksandar Kurshinsky with ground and pound late in the opening round.
“Jones” only needed 25 seconds to submit Erick Araujo at MMA University 2 in June. After extending his run of first-round wins with an even quicker finish against Pirata, combat sports fans will probably be playing close attention to see if Sousa intends to prioritize his MMA career going forward.
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