Introduction
Thursday, April 28th, Brazilian heavyweight prospect Bruno Cappelozza will be in action for PFL, where he will be looking continue his winning ways against Stuart Austin. He will be looking for another win, as Cappelozza looks to start off the 2022 season in a positive fashion and position himself for the $1 million grand prize. He represents Corinthians MMA, a smaller-known camp in MMA. Let’s take a closer look at this prospect as this week’s “Prospect Spotlight.”
Strengths
Power Striking: Cappelozza is an absolute killer on the feet. This much is evident and we saw it in his coming out party in the 2021 PFL season. He started off by starching Ante Delija in his first 2021 PFL fight in what was considered in an upset (later beat Delija by decision for the 2022 season championship). He then blasted through Mo De’Reese with a combination of brutal punches and a head kick. Lastly, he jabbed the hell out of Jamelle Jones that dropped the latter and finished him with ground strikes to score the knockout. Cappelozza is scary powerful and gets the job done violently.
Killer Instinct: The dangerous thing about Cappelozza is that not only can he put you away with one strike, but if you’re not out, he makes sure to get on that quickly. Cappelozza has that unteachable killer instinct that when he smells blood in the water, he goes for the kill. His style is violent and so is his intent, so be wary if you get clipped around this guy.
Needs Improvement
Can Be Goaded Into Brawls: While Cappelozza has a very fun style and a massive highlight reel of brutal knockouts, sometimes he can be too aggressive and get goaded into wild brawls. In a swing fest, anything can happen, and that has happened negatively to Cappelozza in recent years. Fellow PFL 2022 season roster member Teodoras Aukstuolis put him down under the Rizin banner after a wild exchange where Cappelozza got caught. Same happened against Jiri Prochazka, though there’s no shame in that seeing as he’s the potential uncrowned UFC champion. He could have more care in wild exchanges.
Outlook
UFC Top-20 HW: Cappelozza came out of nowhere last year and was a major and pleasant surprise for PFL. Not only was he a devastating finisher, but he’s obviously a high-level heavyweight at that. He is likely the favorite for this year’s PFL $1 million prize again in what should be a season that has familiar, yet high level, competition. If he ever chooses to move to the UFC, he will experience much success. He will be top-20 at minimum and likely higher ranked than that.
MMA Intel 