{"id":37674,"date":"2026-04-09T13:41:58","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T13:41:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/news\/news\/Aureo-Cruz-confident-ahead-of-PFL-Africa-debut-I-have-all-the-weapons-200785"},"modified":"2026-04-09T13:41:58","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T13:41:58","slug":"aureo-cruz-confident-ahead-of-pfl-africa-debut-i-have-all-the-weapons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/aureo-cruz-confident-ahead-of-pfl-africa-debut-i-have-all-the-weapons\/","title":{"rendered":"Aureo Cruz confident ahead of PFL Africa debut: \u2018I have all the weapons\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/aureo-cruz-confident-ahead-of-pfl-africa-debut-i-have-all-the-weapons.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\"\/><\/div>\n<p><center><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/xFS2glkMdx8?si=Cawds7ytmS9OfuPi\" title=\"YouTube video player\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen>[embedded content]<\/iframe><\/center><br \/>\n<br \/><a rel=\"noopener nofollow noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/pflmma.com\/watch\">A bantamweight<br \/>\nworld title fight headlines PFL Chicago: Tune in LIVE, Saturday,<br \/>\nApril 11 at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN2<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><a rel=\"noopener nofollow noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/fighter\/Aureo-Cruz-345319\">Aureo<br \/>\nCruz<\/a> believes he was built for the main stage.<\/p>\n<div id=\"adViAi\">\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p> The 29-year-old Angolan lightweight will make his <a rel=\"noopener nofollow noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/organizations\/Professional-Fighters-League-12241\"><br \/>\nProfessional Fighters League<\/a> debut when he faces <a rel=\"noopener nofollow noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/fighter\/Abdoul-Razac-Sankara-456418\">Abdoul<br \/>\nRazac Sankara<\/a> as part of the <a rel=\"noopener nofollow noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/events\/Professional-Fighters-League-PFL-Africa-1-2026-First-Round-111505\"><br \/>\n2026 PFL Africa 1<\/a> undercard on Friday at SunBet Arena in<br \/>\nPretoria, South Africa. Cruz took something of a roundabout route<br \/>\nto mixed martial arts.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was influenced by various schoolmates who already practiced a<br \/>\nvariety of martial arts,\u201d he told Sherdog.com. \u201cIt piqued my<br \/>\ninterest. I started in karate at 11 years old. That didn\u2019t last too<br \/>\nlong. By age 17, I started training for self-defense. My<br \/>\nself-defense teacher was also my Brazilian jiu-jitsu coach. I<br \/>\nstarted competing in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and became the national<br \/>\nvice champion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p> One of Cruz\u2019s coaches, <a rel=\"noopener nofollow noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/fighter\/Shido-Boris-Esperanca-309011\">Shido<br \/>\nBoris Esperanca<\/a>, introduced him to full-contact fighting.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI started training MMA with him: wrestling, boxing and<br \/>\nkickboxing,\u201d he said. \u201cThat\u2019s how I came to the MMA world. While<br \/>\nlearning MMA, I participated in a few kickboxing events in Namibia,<br \/>\nand I became a wrestling vice champion. After participating in<br \/>\namateur MMA on the Angola circuit, I made the decision to go pro in<br \/>\n2022.\u201d<\/p>\n<h2>Off and running<\/h2>\n<p>So far, all has gone according to plan for Cruz, as he has compiled<br \/>\na perfect 3-0 record. He last saw action under the Benin Fighting<br \/>\nChampionship banner on Nov. 29, when he put away <a rel=\"noopener nofollow noreferrer\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sherdog.com\/fighter\/Zikpli-Adam-Anoumou-312871\">Zikpli<br \/>\nAdam Anoumou<\/a> with a second-round keylock. Cruz now brings his<br \/>\ntalents to the PFL. Sankara, who happens to be one of Anoumou\u2019s<br \/>\nstablemates, serves as his first assignment.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve had a chance to watch some of Sankara\u2019s fights,\u201d Cruz said.<br \/>\n\u201cWe were able to gather enough information. We studied him to<br \/>\nascertain his fight style. He\u2019s a natural striker. Strategically,<br \/>\nwe are very ready. I expect ours to be a long fight, but I\u2019ll be<br \/>\nvictorious in this challenge, as I have all the weapons to nullify<br \/>\nSankara.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cruz splits his training between the New Generation MMA and<br \/>\nMalicious Team camps. \u201cMy preparation went well,\u201d he said. Cruz<br \/>\nmaintains a clear focus on his career ambitions.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAfter this next fight, which I will win, my plan is to remain<br \/>\nactive and be part of the PFL tournament,\u201d he said. \u201cI wish to gain<br \/>\nvisibility in the sport and represent my country at the highest<br \/>\nlevel. I wish to be one of the key fighters in Angola, going into<br \/>\nworld-level promotions and inspiring other fighters in the future.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[embedded content] A bantamweight world title fight headlines PFL Chicago: Tune in LIVE, Saturday, April 11 at 9 p.m. ET on ESPN2. Aureo Cruz believes he was built for the main stage. Advertisement The 29-year-old Angolan lightweight will make his Professional Fighters League debut when he faces Abdoul Razac Sankara as part of the 2026 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37675,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[150],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-martial-arts-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37674"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37674\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/37675"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.martialartskleinanzeigen.com\/videos\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}