Gleison Tibau

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1 Profile
2 Early Career
3 UFC
4 Mixed martial arts record
5 Gallery
6 External links

Profile

Gleison Tibau (born July 10, 1983) is a Brazilian professional mixed martial artist who trains out of American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Florida.

He stands 5 ft. 10 in. (178 cm) tall and fights in the lightweight (155 lbs.) division.

Tibau is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt and currently fights as a lightweight for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

Early Career

Gleison Tibau made his professional mixed martial arts debut on November 28, 2002 for the Bitetti Combat Nordeste organization where he defeated opponent, Paulo Boiko via unanimous decision after three rounds.

After scoring a split decision victory over Fernando Terere in his next bout, Tibau suffered his first professional defeat when he was stopped by Japanese fighter, Eiji Mitsuoka at a DEEP event.

Tibau bounced back from the loss with five straight victories with four of those coming by way of submission.

On October 27, 2004, Tibau conceded the second loss of his career, this time to Rodrigo Anaconda via third round TKO at a Mix Fight event in Brazil.

Four months later, Tibau knocked out Anderson Bad Boy to get back in the win column. That win was followed by a decision victory over Josenildo Rodrigues in March of 2005.

After losing via decision to Marcelo Brito at a Storm Samurai event, Tibau submitted the tough Fabricio Camoes via rear naked choke. Another submission win, this time over Jedrzej Kubski in March of 2006, earned Tibau a contract with the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

UFC

Tibau made his UFC debut at UFC 65: Bad Intentions when he faced fellow Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt, Nick Diaz. Tibau scored some takedowns in the first round, but gassed badly in the second and was no match for Diaz's striking. He was pounded out at the 2:27 mark of the second round to move his record to 11-4.

Just under four months later, Tibau earned his first UFC victory, as a lightweight, with an uninspiring decision victory over Jason Dent at UFC 68.

Due to the lackluster nature of his win, Tibau was asked to pick up a fight on a smaller show to sharpen his skills. Tibau responded with a TKO (flying knee and punches) against Antonio Moreno in May of 2007.

A little over a month later and Tibau was back in the UFC Octagon against Jeff Cox on the undercard of UFC Fight Night 10. He submitted Cox with an arm triangle choke at just 1:52 of round 1.

Tibau headed over to England for UFC 75 where he faced Englishman, Terry Etim on the undercard. Tibau used his superior wrestling and grappling to shutdown Etim's offense for the full three rounds, eventually scoring himself a unanimous decision victory.

Given a considerable step up in class for his next fight, Tibau faced off against Tyson Griffin on the main card of UFC 81. Tibau scored some takedowns in the fight but was unable to keep Griffin on his back and was instead punished on the feet for three rounds, with all three judges unanimously giving the fight to Griffin.

Five months later, at UFC 86, Tibau hoped to rebound from his second UFC loss when he faced TUF 2 welterweight winner, Joe Stevenson on the main card. He looked good early, muscling Stevenson around and finishing the first round with a locked on omoplata submission. However, in the second, Tibau was caught in Stevenson's trademark guillotine choke and forced to submit for the first time in his professional career.

Tibau halted his worrying two fight slide at UFC Fight Night 17 when he impressively submitted TUF 4's Rich Clementi with a guillotine choke in the first round.

At UFC Fight Night 18, Tibau faced off against Jeremy Stephens as a late replacement for TUF 8 lightweight winner, Efrain Escudero. Tibau dominated the position of the bout, taking out a unanimous decision after three rounds.

Tibau will again fill in on short notice when he replaces Thiago Tavares at The Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale in a bout against TUF 2's Melvin Guillard.