It is weird to see this behavior in Brazil. Due to the high amount of corruption, money usually solves problems and sways decisions. But it is great to see one person stick to his integrity.
A fight took place in December over a waterpark dispute. Former councilor Erineu da Silva, who is 45 years old challenged Simão Peixoto, who is 39 and the mayor of an Amazonian town called Borba, to a fistfight. Silva argued with Peixoto that he had failed to conserve a waterpark near the Madeira River, which runs through Borba. Borba is located in the Amazon territory in the Northwest of Brazil.
Peixoto accepted the challenge but only agreed to a regulated, organized UFC-style fight with a referee in the ring. He said he was not a street fighter and rules needed to be applied.
The fight happened at 230AM in a local gymnasium. They sold tickets to the event and it was recorded and live-streamed on social media. The fight was scheduled for three rounds.
Silva came out solid and aggressive, wasting no time physically showing his frustrations delivering a series of leg kicks. However, Peixoto’s shining and best moment of the fight was when he perfectly timed his right jab anticipating another one of Silva's low leg kicks. Peixoto caught Silva off guard, struck him and knocked him to the ground sending the crowd into a frenzy.
From the surprising turn of events. Peixoto advanced on the opportunity when Silva fell to the ground. He straddled him and threw a few more one-two connections. After Silva felt the delivery of punches, he became a man with a plan and changed the fight's momentum by flipping Peixoto off of him, landing a few punches as well producing more cheers, jeers, and excitement from the stands.
The fight was kind of a regulated street brawl. You could see the politicians were amateurs of some martial arts and lacked conditioning. They were fatigued after the first round.
The following two rounds basically were flat and had no strategy. Typical slow-paced out of breath and just looking for an opportunity from their opponent's mistake or from a quick burst of energy to attack. The kicks and punches were not connecting and sloppy with errors. They seemed content to finish the fight without getting knocked-out.
Although Silva seemed to have dominated the fight, the judges gave the decision to Peixoto. In the last two rounds, Silva was initiating kicks without any blowback from Peixoto. However, being tired and fatigued seemed to destroy his timing and energy.
After the fight, Silva and Peixoto exchanged hugs and shook hands. No one knows if it really solved the dispute of the water park or helped them get out their frustrations. Either way, it looks like it was a win because, in the end, they seemed to be more friends rather than rivals.
