Grappling specialist Hérica Tibúrcio scored the biggest victory of her career in a featured strawweight tournament semi-final bout on Saturday night at MMA Super Heroes 1 in Louveira, São Paulo, Brazil. Tibúrcio submitted top Brazilian prospect Kinberly Novaes with an armbar late in round three.

In flyweight semi-final fights, both Kalindra Faria and Juliana “Julie” Werner Aguiar advanced on to the tournament final with key wins. Faria submitted Carina “Barbie” Damm in a rematch from September 2009, while Aguiar earned a clear-cut Unanimous Decision victory over Vanessa Melo.

Tibúrcio (6-2-0) weathered an early storm of punches from Novaes (6-2-0) in the opening round and she secured a takedown into North-South position. Novaes tried to scramble from the bottom, but Tibúrcio locked on an armbar and pulled back on Novaes’s left arm. Novaes refused to tap and she eventually wound up on top. Tibúrcio continued to hunt for submissions, working for a triangle choke and another armbar, but Novaes scrambled to her feet and she landed leg kicks and punches in the final seconds.

The fighters battled for position in a pair of lengthy clinches in round two. Novaes scored with some nice elbows, but Tibúrcio caught a kick and took her down. She looked to set up another armbar and used a leglock attempt to sweep into top position. Tibúrcio passed to mount and landed some hard ground and pound from the top. Novaes gave up her back and Tibúrcio attempted a toe hold shortly before the bell.

Tibúrcio threw wild punches in round three that missed, but she was able to close the distance with Novaes and clinched in search of a takedown. Tibúrcio moved from side control to North-South position and looked to lock up a Kimura. Novaes latched onto Tibúrcio’s leg, but Tibúrcio continued to batter her with punches. Novaes rolled to her side as Tibúrcio tried to finish the fight with big strikes. She quickly secured an armbar and Novaes tapped out at the 3:54 mark of round three.

Following the fight, it was announced that Tibúrcio will next face the winner of the second strawweight semi-final between Camila “Camilinha Pitbull” Lima (6-3-0) and Vanessa Guimarães (2-1-0), which is targeted for September 7th. Tibúrcio and Lima have already faced off twice before, with Lima earning a controversial Split Decision victory in the pair’s second meeting in December. Guimarães has won back-to-back fights this year including a vicious first-round knee knockout.

Saturday’s flyweight semi-final rematch between Faria (11-3-1) and Damm (18-10-0) played out much differently from when they first faced off nearly four years ago. As she has done on multiple occasions recently, Damm once again missed weight for the fight and she was deducted 20% of her fight purse.

The fight began with both women landing punching combinations. Faria caught kicks from Damm and tried to capitalise by taking her down. Damm reversed and wound up on top, but Faria wasted no time in posturing for an armbar. She secured the hold on Damm’s right arm and Damm tried to defend. Faria broke Damm’s grip and Damm tapped out at the 2:05 mark of round one, but Faria did not immediately release the hold and Damm retaliated by punching her in the face after the fight had been stopped.

In the second flyweight semi-final, Aguiar (6-3-0) extended her winning streak to four by outpointing Melo (1-1-0) in a three-round battle. Much of the first round was contested in the clinch and both fighters landed occasional knees. Neither could mount any sustained offence until the final minute when Aguiar used a standing arm-triangle choke attempt to set up a takedown.

Aguiar scored with more knees in round two and she eventually hopped on Melo’s back and dragged her to the ground. Melo fought off Aguiar’s rear-naked choke attempts until the end of the round. Aguiar took Melo back down in round three and used ground and pound to set up another rear-naked choke. Melo spun into Aguiar’s guard and fought off an armbar, and both women landed punches on the ground before time expired. All three judges scored the bout 30-27 in Aguiar’s favour.