Rafael Cavalcante

From CageWiki

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

Profile

Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante (born January 11, 1981) is a Brazilian professional mixed martial artist and a Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt.

He stands 6 ft. 2 in. (188 cm) tall and fights in the light heavyweight division (205 lbs.).

Cavalcante is an IFL and EliteXC veteran who trains under Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Anderson Silva. He currently fights as a light heavyweight for the Strikeforce promotion.

"Feijao" is a type of bean commonly found in Brazil.

Early Career

Rafael Cavalcante made his professional mixed martial arts debut as a heavyweight for Pantanal Combat organization on February 10, 2006. He defeated his opponent, Eduardo Maiorino via TKO in the first round.

Three months later, Feijao notched his second victory as he stopped Miodrag Petkovic with a knee and some punches in the second round. He followed that victory with a win over Rubens Macula in December of 2006 as he made Macula submit to strikes in the first round.

In 2007, Feijao earned a call up to the International Fight League. He made his IFL debut in February and made it a successful one as he stopped Devin Cole with punches in the second round.

Four months later, Cavalcante suffered his first professional defeat when he was disqualifed against UFC veteran, Marcio Cruz after he landed a second illegal kick to Cruz's face in the bout.

EliteXC

Cavalcante left the IFL after the DQ loss and signed with Pro Elite's EliteXC promotion. He made his EliteXC debut as a light heavyweight against Devin Cole at EliteXC: Street Certified. Just over two minutes in, Feijao finished Doyle with a knee to the body.

Four months later, Feijao defeated Wayne Cole with knees and punches in the first round of their clash at EliteXC: Return of the King.

At EliteXC: Unfinished Business, Cavalcante made it three straight wins and notched his 7th overall as he scored a TKO (knees) victory over Travis Galbraith in the first round on the show's undercard.

EliteXC management tried to match up Cavalcante against Cyrille Diabate at EliteXC: A Night of Champions on November 8, 2008 but after Diabate declined the bout and the show was cancelled due to EliteXC's demise the oppurtunity was vanquished.

Strikeforce

Following some prolonged purgatory due to Pro Elite's death grip on their fighter's contracts, Cavalcante was signed to the Strikeforce promotion after the organization had purchased selected assets from Pro Elite.

Initially, Cavalcante was to make his Strikeforce debut at Strikeforce: Lawler vs. Shields against Renato "Babalu" Sobral for his light heavyweight championship on June 6, 2009. However, Babalu pulled out of the bout due to his wife's impending labor being too close to fight date. Feijao is still expected to compete on the card against an as of yet unnamed opponent.