Vitor Petrino’s time as a ranked UFC heavyweight didn’t last that long, but that’s not entirely surprising to the Brazilian fighter.
Petrino, who faces Steven Asplund at Saturday night’s UFC Vegas 114 in an attempt to go 3-0 in the promotion as a heavyweight, was promoted to No. 15 in the official UFC lists after the departure of Jailton Almeida. Days before his March 14 clash with Asplund, however, Petrino’s name was removed from the rankings as Tuivasa was sent back to the No. 15 spot despite being on a six-fight losing skid, four by knockout or submission.
“There’s not much to say, really,” Petrino told MMA Fighting when informed of the change. “I don’t know how that ranking works, how the people there do their job, the names involved and all that, but I’m not in a rush. If they took me out, I know that sooner or later I’ll be back again. It delayed the plans a bit, but nothing surprising either. I know that soon enough we’ll be near the top of the division again.”
Petrino went 4-2 as a light heavyweight in the UFC before getting rid of the weight cut, and he feels a much better athlete now. At heavyweight, the CM System product tapped out Austen Lane in one round in July 2025 and then cashed a performance bonus for his third-round knockout over Thomas Petersen three months later.
“I can sleep, I can get in the pool, eat something a little different, have some salty food, even taste some chocolate,” Petrino said of his fight week as a heavyweight. “Just being able to sleep already makes a huge difference, man. At 205, just so you have an idea, I could barely sleep any day of the week. I’d take a one-hour nap and stay awake the entire night. You can’t sleep because there’s no water in your body, and there’s a lot of little aches too. You spend the whole week basically just surviving.”
Petrino said he will be “leaner and heavier” at UFC Vegas 115 if compared to his latest fight in Rio de Janeiro, and the opponent changes won’t affect him that much. The Minas Gerais native was originally announced to face off with Kennedy Nzechukwu, but apparently that wasn’t the only change.
“It seems like about three different athletes were supposed to fight me,” Petrino said. “But it didn’t change much because the heavyweight division nowadays has a lot of guys leaning toward striking. I was even surprised by my last opponent, who was a grappler, but he stood and traded. It’s always either a pure grappler or a striker. It’s hard to face a guy who truly does it all and fights MMA.”
Winner of three bonuses so far in eight octagon appearances, cashing extra $150,000 for past victories over Petersen, Modestas Bukauskas and Anton Turkalj, the Contender Series alumni promises to “leave everything inside the octagon” against Asplund.
“The idea is to chase that 100k bonus,” Petrino said. “It’s money that solves a lot of things. That’s good too because it pushes us to look for a more intense fight. I’m definitely winning by knockout or submission, and before the third round.”
Petrino will most likely re-enter the heavyweight rankings with a big victory over Asplund, who won his UFC debut with a bonus-winning knockout over Sean Sharaf in December, but he will save the callout for the moment he gets his hands raised at the Meta APEX.
“There are several big names out there, but my focus is on Steven right now,” Petrino said. “It’s about facing this guy and showing what I have to do. There’s no point holding a plate in your hand and watch what’s happening in the kitchen. As much as there are names I’d like to talk about, I’ll leave that for the right moment.”
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