SuckerPunch Entertainment

You can ask any fighter in the sport about Junior Assuncao and you will get the same response… “He is a tough M*#$%&”. Junior Assuncao may have the respect of his peers in the MMA game but he is still looking to get back to a big promotion. “I feel like I was in the UFC too soon in my career”, said Junior. While he performed well, even earning a fight of the night award, with only 5 fights under his belt he didn’t feel he had enough experience to be on that stage. “Now I have matured and evolved as a fighter I feel confident that I am ready for that shot again” said Assuncao.

On a 2 fight win streak going into SHINE FIGHTS 2, Junior had to deal with the psychological battle of having his opponent changed a number of times all the way up to the week of the fight. Finally settling on HIT SQAUDS Peter Grimes. Junior was ready to get in and handle business.

Grimes, knowing he had a big opportunity to take out a 3X UFC vet, came out swinging for the fences with what seemed to be total disregard for who was in front of him. Junior showed a lot of patience and methodically broke Grimes down with calculated strikes, take downs and ground control earning him a decision victory. “I’m happy for the win and feel that my conditioning and jiu jitsu were just at another level”.

When asked what was next Junior replied, “I’m ready now for the UFC and wouldn’t even mind going to the WEC, I think it would be great to fight in the same promotion as my brother and I think I could do very well in the lightweight division there”, Junior goes on to add, “My brother is the future featherweight champion and I think I could be the lightweight champ there, would be a dream come true”.

Now on a 3 fight win streak Junior is looking to stay busy. “I’m grateful to SHINE for having me, as for the UFC or WEC, I’m patient… I know my time is coming.”

We would like to thank CrimeCraft, Tapout and Fighter Warehouse for supporting Junior on this fight.

Photographs courtesy of Sherdog.com and Dave Mandel