Thales Leites facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Thales Leites
Born	Thales Leites Lourenço (1981-09-06) 6 September 1981 (age 43) 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 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).

Thales Leites' MMA Journey

Starting His Fighting Career

Thales Leites began his mixed martial arts (MMA) journey in 2003. His first fight was at an event called Shooto Brazil. He won by using a special move called an arm-triangle choke submission. This means he made his opponent give up by putting them in a chokehold.

He won his first three fights in Brazil. Then, in 2005, he fought in the United States for the first time. He kept winning, making his record 4 wins and 0 losses.

Leites returned to Brazil and faced Gustavo Machado. Machado was a more experienced fighter. But Thales won again, showing his skill. He then went back to Hawaii and got his sixth win.

Even though he was undefeated, Thales wasn't very well known yet. He fought two more experienced opponents, Osami Shibuya and Jose Landi-Jons. Thales won both fights, bringing his perfect record to 9 wins and 0 losses.

Joining the Ultimate Fighting Championship

In 2006, Thales Leites was set to join the UFC. This is one of the biggest MMA organizations in the world. However, he had some travel problems and couldn't fight as planned.

He finally made his UFC debut at The Ultimate Fighter 4 Finale. He lost this fight, which was his first professional loss.

After that, Thales started winning again in the UFC.

• At UFC 69, he beat Pete Sell.
• He won against Floyd Sword with an arm-triangle choke.
• He also defeated Ryan Jensen with an armbar submission. This brought his UFC record to 3 wins and 1 loss.

Thales was supposed to fight Nate Marquardt twice. The first time, Thales broke his hand. They finally fought at UFC 85. Thales won by a close decision.

At UFC 90, Thales won another fight by submission. This big win earned him a chance to fight for the UFC middleweight title. He faced the champion, Anderson Silva, at UFC 97. Thales lost this title fight.

After another loss, Thales was let go from the UFC for a short time.

Fighting Outside the UFC

After leaving the UFC, Thales continued to fight and win.

• In 2009, he beat Dean Lister.
• In 2010, he won against Rico Washington and Jesse Taylor.
• He faced Matt Horwich and suffered his first submission loss.

He also fought in the Superior Challenge. He won two fights there, even becoming the Superior Challenge Middleweight Champion.

Returning to the UFC

After winning three fights in a row, Thales Leites was invited back to the UFC in 2013.

• His return fight was against Tom Watson at UFC 163. Thales won by a clear decision.
• He then beat Ed Herman at UFC 167.
• In 2014, he won against Trevor Smith by TKO (Technical Knockout). This means the referee stopped the fight because Smith couldn't defend himself.
• He also knocked out Francis Carmont. This win earned him a "Performance of the Night" bonus, which is a special award for an exciting performance.

In 2015, Thales faced Tim Boetsch at UFC 183. He won this fight with an arm-triangle choke. This amazing win earned him both "Fight of the Night" and another "Performance of the Night" bonus awards!

After these wins, Thales had a few tough fights:

• He lost to Michael Bisping in a very close fight.
• He lost to Gegard Mousasi.
• He won against Chris Camozzi with a rear-naked choke.
• He lost to Krzysztof Jotko and Brad Tavares.

His last fight was at UFC 224 in 2018, where he lost to Jack Hermansson. This was the first time he lost by TKO in his career.

Thales Leites had his final fight against Héctor Lombard at UFC Fight Night 137. He won this fight by decision. After the win, Thales announced that he was retiring from fighting.

Thales' Personal Life

Thales Leites has a daughter named Valentina, who was born in July 2009.

Achievements and Awards

Thales Leites achieved many great things in his fighting career:

• Ultimate Fighting Championship
  • Performance of the Night (Two times): He earned this bonus for his exciting wins against Francis Carmont and Tim Boetsch.
  • Submission of the Night (One time): He got this award for his great submission win over Ryan Jensen.
  • Fight of the Night (One time): His fight against Tim Boetsch was so exciting that it won this award.
  • Most submission attempts in UFC Middleweight history (20).
  • Tied for second most submission wins in UFC Middleweight history (5).
  • Tied for fifth most fights in UFC Middleweight history (21).
  • Third most total fight time in UFC Middleweight history.
  • Second most takedowns landed in UFC Middleweight history (37).
  • UFC.com Awards
    • 2015: His submission against Tim Boetsch was ranked as the #4 Submission of the Year.

• Superior Challenge
  • SC Middleweight Championship (One time): He was the champion of this fighting promotion.

• MMAJunkie.com
  • 2015 January Submission of the Month: His submission against Tim Boetsch was also named the best submission of that month by MMAJunkie.com.

Mixed martial arts record summary

See also

• List of current UFC fighters
• List of male mixed martial artists