Rodolfo Vieira is still on the UFC Vegas 102 card on February 15th, 2025, as Andre Petroski has just stepped in on short notice to fight him. It will be almost a year since Vieira last stepped in the cage when the event comes around, and for a moment it looked as though he might have to wait even longer. He was originally scheduled to fight top Australian fighter Jacob Malkoun at the event but that all changed when Malkoun was forced to withdraw due to injury. That left the UFC with a little over a month to find a replacement for Malkoun, and fortunately Petroski was willing to step up.
Vieira was at one point one of the best BJJ competitors in the world, with multiple IBJJF World Championship titles and an ADCC gold medal to his name. He decided to make the transition to MMA relatively late in his athletic career in fact, only making his debut in 2017 at the age of 28. He wasted no time though, rattling off five finishes in his first five fights on the regional MMA circuit and getting signed to the UFC in 2019. Things started off well as he picked up a pair of submission wins in his first two fights there, but he also suffered the first submission loss of his career shortly after.
He’s gone 3-1 since that loss and currently holds a 10-2 professional MMA record, with a two-fight winning-streak at the moment. His last submission win maintained his 100% finishing rate and also earned him his third ‘Performance of the Night’ bonus. Although he’s still working his way up the rankings, he’s established himself as one of the most dangerous fighters in the middleweight division. Where Rodolfo Vieira has relied on his elite grappling, Andre Petroski is much more well-rounded and will make for an interesting matchup at UFC Vegas 102. Petroski is currently 12-3 with several wins over UFC veterans, and he’s even had some professional grappling experience himself.
