Thales Leites facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Thales Leites |
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| Born | Thales Leites Lourenço 6 September 1981 Niterói, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| Height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) |
| Weight | 185 lb (84 kg; 13.2 st) |
| Division | Middleweight |
| Reach | 78 in (198 cm) |
| Style | Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai |
| Team | Nova União |
| Rank | 3rd degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Welton Ribeiro |
| Years active | 2003–2018 (MMA) |
| Mixed martial arts record | |
| Total | 37 |
| Wins | 28 |
| By knockout | 4 |
| By submission | 15 |
| By decision | 9 |
| Losses | 9 |
| By knockout | 1 |
| By submission | 1 |
| By decision | 7 |
Thales Leites Lourenço, born on September 6, 1981, is a retired Brazilian mixed martial artist. He is famous for fighting in the middleweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
Contents
Thales Leites' MMA Journey
Starting His Fighting Career
Thales Leites began his mixed martial arts (MMA) career in 2003 at an event called Shooto Brazil. He won his first fight by using a special move called an arm-triangle choke. After winning two more fights in Brazil, he went to the United States in 2005. There, he won his fourth fight in a row.
After his success in the U.S., Leites returned to Brazil. He fought Gustavo Machado, who had won fights in Japan. Leites won this fight by submission in the third round. He was then invited back to fight in Hawaii, where he won his sixth fight by technical knockout.
Even though Leites had not lost a fight, he became more well-known after fighting Osami Shibuya in Japan and Jose Landi-Jons in Brazil. Leites was less experienced than these opponents. He even said that Landi-Jons was already famous when he wasn't even interested in MMA yet! But Leites won both fights. He won against Shibuya by a unanimous decision and made Landi-Jons give up with an arm-triangle choke. This brought his perfect record to 9 wins and 0 losses.
Fighting in the UFC
In September 2006, it was announced that Leites would join the UFC. His first fight was supposed to be against Nate Marquardt. However, he couldn't travel because of issues with his documents.
Leites finally made his UFC debut at The Ultimate Fighter 4 Finale. He lost this fight to Martin Kampmann by a unanimous decision.
In his next fight at UFC 69, Leites defeated Pete Sell. He then won another fight by submission against Floyd Sword. After that, he fought Ryan Jensen and won by an armbar submission in the first round. This made his UFC record 3 wins and 1 loss.
Leites was set to fight Nate Marquardt again in 2008 but had to pull out because he broke his hand. They finally fought at UFC 85. Leites won this fight by a split decision, which means the judges had different opinions. Marquardt had points taken away during the fight for illegal moves.
At UFC 90, Leites won against Drew McFedries by submission. This win was very important because it meant he would get to fight for the UFC middleweight title. He faced the champion, Anderson Silva, at UFC 97. Leites lost to Silva by a unanimous decision. Many people thought this was not a very exciting fight. After this, Leites lost again to Alessio Sakara by a split decision. The crowd was not happy during this fight because there wasn't much action.
After these losses, Leites was released from the UFC. The UFC president, Dana White, later said he didn't know about the decision to release Leites and wanted to bring him back. However, he decided not to change the decision.
After His First Time in the UFC
After leaving the UFC, Leites continued to fight in other organizations. He won against Dean Lister in December 2009. He also won two more fights by submission in 2010 against Rico Washington and Jesse Taylor.
He was supposed to fight Falaniko Vitale in August 2010 but instead fought Matt Horwich. Leites lost this fight by submission, which was the first time he had ever lost that way in his career.
In a promotion called Superior Challenge, Leites won against Tor Troéng by submission in 2010. He then fought Jeremy Horn in 2011 and won by a split decision, becoming the Superior Challenge Middleweight Champion.
Returning to the UFC
After winning three fights in a row, Leites was signed back by the UFC. He returned to the octagon on August 3, 2013, at UFC 163, where he fought Tom Watson. Leites won this fight by a clear unanimous decision.
Leites then faced Ed Herman in November 2013 and won by unanimous decision. In April 2014, he fought Trevor Smith and won by TKO (technical knockout) in the first round.
In August 2014, Leites fought Francis Carmont and won by knockout in the second round. This win also earned him his first "Performance of the Night" bonus award.
Leites then faced Tim Boetsch in January 2015. He won this fight by technical submission using an arm-triangle choke in the second round. This amazing win earned him both "Fight of the Night" and another "Performance of the Night" bonus awards.
Leites then had a few tough fights. He lost to Michael Bisping by split decision in July 2015. He also lost to Gegard Mousasi by unanimous decision in February 2016.
In August 2016, Leites won against Chris Camozzi by submission with a rear-naked choke. However, he then lost to Krzysztof Jotko by unanimous decision in November 2016.
Leites won his fight against Sam Alvey by unanimous decision in April 2017. But he lost to Brad Tavares by unanimous decision in October 2017.
In May 2018, Leites fought Jack Hermansson and lost by TKO in the third round. This was the first time in his MMA career that he had been stopped by TKO.
Leites' last fight was against Héctor Lombard on September 22, 2018. He won the fight by unanimous decision. After this victory, Thales Leites announced that he was retiring from mixed martial arts.
Personal Life
Thales Leites has a daughter named Valentina, who was born in July 2009.
Achievements and Awards
Thales Leites achieved several notable things during his career:
- Ultimate Fighting Championship
- "Performance of the Night" award (Two times)
- "Submission of the Night" award (One time)
- "Fight of the Night" award (One time)
- He has the most submission attempts in UFC Middleweight division history (20).
- He is tied for the second most submission wins in UFC Middleweight division history (5).
- He is tied for the fifth most fights in UFC Middleweight division history (21).
- He has the fifth most total fight time in UFC Middleweight division history.
- He has the second most takedowns landed in UFC Middleweight division history (37).
- In 2015, his submission against Tim Boetsch was ranked as the #4 Submission of the Year by UFC.com.
- Superior Challenge
- He won the SC Middleweight Championship one time.
- MMAJunkie.com
- His submission against Tim Boetsch in January 2015 was named "Submission of the Month."
Mixed Martial Arts Record
| Professional record breakdown | ||
| 37 matches | 28 wins | 9 losses |
| By knockout | 4 | 1 |
| By submission | 15 | 1 |
| By decision | 9 | 7 |
| Res. | Record | Opponent | Method | Event | Date | Round | Time | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Win | 28–9 | Héctor Lombard | Decision (unanimous) | UFC Fight Night: Santos vs. Anders | 22 September 2018 | 3 | 5:00 | São Paulo, Brazil | |
| Loss | 27–9 | Jack Hermansson | TKO (punches) | UFC 224 | 12 May 2018 | 3 | 2:10 | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | |
| Loss | 27–8 | Brad Tavares | Decision (unanimous) | UFC 216 | 7 October 2017 | 3 | 5:00 | Las Vegas, Nevada, United States | |
| Win | 27–7 | Sam Alvey | Decision (unanimous) | UFC Fight Night: Swanson vs. Lobov | 22 April 2017 | 3 | 5:00 | Nashville, Tennessee, United States | |
| Loss | 26–7 | Krzysztof Jotko | Decision (unanimous) | UFC Fight Night: Bader vs. Nogueira 2 | 19 November 2016 | 3 | 5:00 | São Paulo, Brazil | |
| Win | 26–6 | Chris Camozzi | Submission (rear-naked choke) | UFC Fight Night: Rodríguez vs. Caceres | 6 August 2016 | 3 | 2:58 | Salt Lake City, Utah, United States | |
| Loss | 25–6 | Gegard Mousasi | Decision (unanimous) | UFC Fight Night: Silva vs. Bisping | 27 February 2016 | 3 | 5:00 | London, England | |
| Loss | 25–5 | Michael Bisping | Decision (split) | UFC Fight Night: Bisping vs. Leites | 18 July 2015 | 5 | 5:00 | Glasgow, Scotland | |
| Win | 25–4 | Tim Boetsch | Technical Submission (arm-triangle choke) | UFC 183 | 31 January 2015 | 2 | 3:45 | Las Vegas, Nevada, United States | Performance of the Night. Fight of the Night. |
| Win | 24–4 | Francis Carmont | KO (punches) | UFC Fight Night: Henderson vs. dos Anjos | 23 August 2014 | 2 | 0:20 | Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States | Performance of the Night. |
| Win | 23–4 | Trevor Smith | TKO (punches) | UFC Fight Night: Nogueira vs. Nelson | 11 April 2014 | 1 | 0:45 | Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates | |
| Win | 22–4 | Ed Herman | Decision (unanimous) | UFC 167 | 16 November 2013 | 3 | 5:00 | Las Vegas, Nevada, United States | |
| Win | 21–4 | Tom Watson | Decision (unanimous) | UFC 163 | 3 August 2013 | 3 | 5:00 | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | |
| Win | 20–4 | Matt Horwich | Submission (arm-triangle choke) | Amazon Forest Combat 2 | 31 March 2012 | 2 | 4:39 | Manaus, Brazil | Catchweight (194 lbs) bout. |
| Win | 19–4 | Jeremy Horn | Decision (split) | Superior Challenge 7 | 30 April 2011 | 3 | 5:00 | Stockholm, Sweden | Won the Superior Challenge Middleweight Championship. |
| Win | 18–4 | Tor Troéng | Submission (rear-naked choke) | Superior Challenge 6 | 29 October 2010 | 2 | 3:33 | Stockholm, Sweden | |
| Loss | 17–4 | Matt Horwich | Submission (rear-naked choke) | Powerhouse World Promotions: War on the Mainland | 14 August 2010 | 4 | 0:44 | Irvine, California, United States | For the PWP Middleweight Championship. |
| Win | 17–3 | Jesse Taylor | Submission (triangle choke) | MFC 25 | 7 May 2010 | 1 | 2:27 | Edmonton, Alberta, Canada | |
| Win | 16–3 | Rico Washington | Submission (arm-triangle choke) | Bitetti Combat MMA 6 | 25 February 2010 | 1 | 2:40 | Brasília, Brazil | |
| Win | 15–3 | Dean Lister | Decision (unanimous) | MFC 23 | 4 December 2009 | 3 | 5:00 | Edmonton, Alberta, Canada | |
| Loss | 14–3 | Alessio Sakara | Decision (split) | UFC 101 | 8 August 2009 | 3 | 5:00 | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States | |
| Loss | 14–2 | Anderson Silva | Decision (unanimous) | UFC 97 | 18 April 2009 | 5 | 5:00 | Montreal, Quebec, Canada | For the UFC Middleweight Championship. |
| Win | 14–1 | Drew McFedries | Submission (rear-naked choke) | UFC 90 | 25 October 2008 | 1 | 1:18 | Rosemont, Illinois, United States | |
| Win | 13–1 | Nate Marquardt | Decision (split) | UFC 85 | 7 June 2008 | 3 | 5:00 | London, England | Marquardt was deducted two points during the fight due to illegal strikes. |
| Win | 12–1 | Ryan Jensen | Submission (armbar) | UFC 74 | 25 August 2007 | 1 | 3:47 | Las Vegas, Nevada, United States | Submission of the Night. |
| Win | 11–1 | Floyd Sword | Submission (arm-triangle choke) | The Ultimate Fighter 5 Finale | 23 June 2007 | 1 | 3:50 | Las Vegas, Nevada, United States | |
| Win | 10–1 | Pete Sell | Decision (unanimous) | UFC 69 | 7 April 2007 | 3 | 5:00 | Houston, Texas, United States | |
| Loss | 9–1 | Martin Kampmann | Decision (unanimous) | The Ultimate Fighter 4 Finale | 11 November 2006 | 3 | 5:00 | Las Vegas, Nevada, United States | |
| Win | 9–0 | José Landi-Jons | Technical Submission (arm-triangle choke) | Jungle Fight 6 | 29 April 2006 | 1 | 2:40 | Manaus, Brazil | |
| Win | 8–0 | Osami Shibuya | Decision (unanimous) | MARS | 4 February 2006 | 3 | 5:00 | Tokyo, Japan | |
| Win | 7–0 | Jason Guida | Submission (armbar) | Ultimate Warriors Combat 1 | 10 December 2005 | 1 | 1:38 | Honolulu, Hawaii, United States | |
| Win | 6–0 | Ronald Jhun | TKO (doctor stoppage) | ROTR: Qualifiers | 17 September 2005 | 3 | 0:32 | Honolulu, Hawaii, United States | |
| Win | 5–0 | Gustavo Machado | Submission (arm-triangle choke) | Storm Samurai 8 | 2 July 2005 | 3 | N/A | Brasília, Brazil | |
| Win | 4–0 | Adam Roland | Submission (armbar) | Rumble on the Rock 7 | 7 May 2005 | 1 | 0:49 | Honolulu, Hawaii, United States | |
| Win | 3–0 | Flavio Luiz Moura | Submission (arm-triangle choke) | Vitoria Extreme Fighting 1 | 29 May 2004 | N/A | N/A | Vitória, Brazil | |
| Win | 2–0 | Lucio Linhares | TKO (corner stoppage) | Vitoria Extreme Fighting 1 | 29 May 2004 | 1 | N/A | Vitória, Brazil | |
| Win | 1–0 | Felipe Arinelli | Submission (arm-triangle choke) | Shooto Brazil: Welcome to Hell | 23 November 2003 | 2 | N/A | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
More About MMA
- List of male mixed martial artists
