Leonardo Santos

BIOGRAPHY

Leonardo Santos is a Brazilian mixed martial artist currently competing in the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s Lightweight division. He has been involved in MMA since 1998, and is known for his aggressive fighting style and relentless pursuit of victory.

Santos started training when he was 15 years old at Nova Uniao in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil with famed coach Andre Pederneiras. He rose through the ranks of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and became a black belt under Pederneiras’ tutelage in 2006. He then went on to win two World Championships as well as two Pan American titles in BJJ before transitioning into MMA full time.

Santos had his first professional fight in 1998 against Graciliano Nunes, which Santos won via unanimous decision. After 13 more fights over the next 8 years, Santos made his UFC debut at UFC Fight Night: Silva vs Belfort II against Norman Paraesy where he won by submission (rear-naked choke) after just 2 minutes 22 seconds of round one action. His next three fights were also victories for him bringing his overall record to 17 wins with no losses or draws. The fourth fight was an impressive performance where he knocked out Efrain Escudero with a powerful head kick that sent Escudero face first onto the mat rendering him unconscious within 25 seconds of round one action at UFC Fight Night: Shogun vs Sonnen I

His success inside the octagon continued over time until 2013 when Leonardo signed with ONE FC (now called Legacy Fighting Alliance). During this period he amassed an impressive 9–1 record while winning multiple titles including LFA Featherweight Champion and LFA Lightweight Champion at different points during this tenure with them; ultimately earning himself another shot inside the octagon when he re-signed back with the UFC late 2017 for four more bouts starting February 2018 where we got to see some spectacular performances from him thus far such as submitting Stevie Ray via rear naked choke after 3 minutes into Round 1 during their bout last April 2019; earning himself a Performance Of The Night bonus award from it too!

Currently 32–4–1(W-L-D), Leonardo ‘The Macarrao’ Santos continues his amazing journey trying to achieve championship gold within one of world’s premier MMA organizations -the Ultimate Fighting Championship!