As the Fighting Nerds began their rise to prominence as a powerful force in the MMA space, more and more athletes from Brazil began looking to make the journey to Sao Paulo to train with the ascending squad helmed by coach Pablo Sucupira and built around the “core four” of Caio Borralho, Jean Silva, Mauricio Ruffy, and Carlos Prates.
But Polish middleweight Michal Oleksiejczuk joining the squad and conducing his training camps in Brazil wasn’t on anyone's 2025 bingo card.
“After my fight with Caio, I started watching Fighting Nerds on Instagram, and I watched fighters who train at Fighting Nerds,” explained Oleksiejczuk, who squared off with the team’s talisman in 2023 and returns to action this weekend at UFC 319 in Chicago opposite veteran Gerald Meerschaert.