Prospect in the Spotlight (Aug 30-31): Marco Tulio

Introduction

Tuesday, August 27th, Brazilian middleweight prospect Marco Tulio will be in action for Dana White’s Contender Series, where he will be looking continue his winning ways against Mattieu Duclos. He will be looking for another win, as Tulio looks to score a contract with the UFC. He represents Chute Boxe, a legendary camp in MMA. Let’s take a closer look at this prospect as this week’s “Prospect Spotlight.”

Strengths

Striking: Tulio, being a rep from the legendary Chute Boxe team, has their typical strong-arm style of striking. That means aggressive, powerful striking. Tulio has scored seven of his eleven wins by way of knockout, most of which came in the first or second round. His most recent fight (and first since last year’s Contender Series) saw Tulio fight for LFA, where he blasted through Cemey dos Santos with a massive right cross that was followed up by ground-and-pound. Tulio will bring this style into his fight with Duclos, which will be his best chance to win.

Positional Grappling: As seen in his Contender Series fight vs. Yousri Belgaroui, Tulio can use his grappling when he needs to stifle somebody with superior striking. He was able to keep him close in the clinch and sometimes on the mat, where he positionally dominated despite not being the most active. It’s good to have in his back pocket if needed, and even if it’s not the most exciting brand of grappling, it can be effective.

Needs Improvement

Unproven Against Wrestlers: Tulio has spent his career fighting in Brazil, which is not exactly a bastion of wrestling talent. There are a lot of good grapplers, but they don’t have the wrestling chops of an American or Russian fighter, who get good reps on a daily basis. Tulio’s stiffest test in the wrestling department came against Glaico Franca, who fought in the UFC at a lower weight class than middleweight.

Outlook

UFC Prelim Fighter: Tulio besting a Glory veteran last year should have gotten him a UFC contract, but it did not. A win here should get him in, as it would make him 2-0 on the Contender Series. Once on the UFC roster, I think he has a bit of a ceiling, given his lack of fights against wrestlers. The middleweight division has a lot of wrestlers, which could be a bit of a problem for Tulio. Either way, he’ll be a fun guy to watch while on the UFC roster.