Rousimar Palhares

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

Profile

Rousimar "Toquinho" Palhares (born February 20, 1980) is a Brazilian professional mixed martial artist and Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt.

He stands 5 ft. 8 in. tall and fights in the middleweight division (185 lbs.).

He currently trains out of Brazilian Top Team and fights as a middleweight for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

Palhares' nickname, "Toquinho" means "treestump" in Portugese.

Early Career

Rousimar Palhares made his professional mixed martial arts debut on April 29, 2006 for the Floripa Fight promotion in Brazil. He defeated opponent, Bruno Bastos via split decision after three rounds.

Under a month later, Palhares picked up his second victory, this time by armbar over Renan Moraes in the first round.

In June of 2006, "Toquinho" suffered his first professional defeat when he went down in a unanimous decision to Arthur Cesar in a Rio MMA Challenger event.

Palhares bounced back from the loss with a TKO victory over Claudio Popeye and a rear naked choke victory over Helio Dipp.

In August of 2007, Palhares entered Fury FC's middleweight grand prix. The event was set out over two events and featured 8 competitors with the final four fighting twice on the one night to crown the champion.

"Toquinho" submitted Flavio Luiz Moura with an ankle lock in 1:21 of round 1 in the first round to earn a place in the semi finals to be held four months later.

At Fury FC 5: Final Conflict, Palhares submitted both Fabio Nascimento and Daniel Acacio with heel hooks in the first round to claim the Fury FC middleweight grand prix title.

UFC Career

Palhares was picked up by the UFC in 2008 and made his debut at UFC 84 against veteran, Ivan Salaverry. He earned the $75,000 "Submission of the Night" bonus when he tapped Salaverry with an armbar after having his back at just 2:36 of round 1.

At UFC 88, "Toquinho" got the biggest test of his career to date as he faced off against former PRIDE welterweight and middleweight champion, Dan Henderson on the main card. Palhares was battered on the feet by Henderson for the majority of the three round affair. He came close with a leg lock attempt in the second round but was unable to secure enough points before going down in a unanimous decision.

In January, 2009, Palhares rebounded from the Henderson loss when he defeated seasoned veteran, Jeremy Horn via unanimous decision after three rounds of positional dominance at UFC 93.