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 An 18-year-old Bento Barboza set out for a Career in combat sports that starting in the ranks of Kick boxing taking part in the highly acclaimed VKT Heavyweight Grand Prix. Barboza the native of Lisbon, Portugal went on to win the competition putting away Tom Obama in the Finals with a 4th round TKO victory and winning his first of Championship title.
Before the end of his Kickboxing career, Bento would try his luck in a MMA sanctioned bot against fellow VKT fighter and a man Bento would share the cage with many times in Jason Hightower. Hightower would put Bento away with a late third round KO and about 5 months after the bout both fighters would sign with the up-and-coming Promotion Dynasty MMA.
Bento would fire off two straight T(KO) performances for DMMA and was instantly thrown into Heavyweight title fight with then champ Kevin Faulk. Having a KT win over "Tiny Hulk" already Barboza made quick work of Faulk with a one punch KO in the very first round of their scheduled 5 round title fight. Bento went on to put away Victor Contreiras in his first title defense which set up his shot at redemption for his second title defense against his old foe Jason Hightower. The fight with Hightower would be a huge breakout for the Portuguese Superstar, as Bento would go on to win by way of Knock out in round 4.
Barboza would lose his strap his next fight to Andrei Kersikov and his flame would slowly die out in Dynasty losing another bout to Hightower in the process as well. He would however win a rematch with Kersikov in a non-title fight in his final DMMA fight before moving over to GAMMA.
Barboza made his GAMMA debut on August 6th, 2022, and was giving an immediate title fight against former #1 P4P king Karim Johnson. Karim would prove to have Bento's # winning by way of KO in the very first round of their bout. This would light a new fire under "Anjo da Morte" winning his next three GAMMA bouts all by T(KO) which would set up another shot at the GAMMA Super Heavyweight Strap which was now around the waist of Zahbit Lovanov. After the first two rounds, Bento looked to be well on his way to another failed title attempt. Round three though with a fired-up Action Jackson screaming to watch out for the shot, we saw Bento work himself back into the fight. As round 4 goes underway we see the momentum has changed and just over the 1-minute mark Barboza sealed the deal with a beautiful overhand right sending his Ukrainian counterpart to the mat like a sack of rotten potatoes.
After this Big win in a well-known org like GAMMA winning his 3rd Championship in his combat History, Barboza was at the height of his career by far as he cracked the top 25 P4P ranks. Unfortunately, this Story took a hard turn in the wrong direction as Bento would go on to lose the belt to Karim Johnson in his second defeat to the Legend. And from there he would go on to a 2-4 record and then would part ways with his longtime manager Action Jackson.
Now 30 years of age Bento found himself in a tough spot looking for new management and closing an end to his Contract with GAMMA. On 4/20 2023 Bento was spotted in LA with Convicted Member and MMA manager Antonio Herro and he would soon become the latest client of the Convicted Top Team gym owner. Bento would finish his contract out with GAMMA on May 27th winning with a light's out one punch KO over Khabib Ferguson.
Fast Forward to present Day, Barboza has Inked a 5 fight Deal with his former promotion Dynasty MMA and will make his next appearance July 1rst at DMMA 209 against former DMMA light Heavyweight champ Constantin Niculescu. Only time will tell if Bento can reach the top once again, and maybe even reach greater heights under the convicted banner.
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