Vinny Magalhães

Vinicius "Vinny" de Magalhães (born July 2, 1984) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist who competes in the Light heavyweight division.

On his way to win the bronze medal in his weight Division, Magalhães defeated BJJ World Champion Rodrigo Cavaca (1st Round, Inverted Heel Hook),the 2003 ADCC World Champion and 2x BJJ Absolute World Champion Marcio Cruz(Quarter-Finals, Flying Armbar), ADCC Brazil Trial Winner and Fellow MMA fighter Glover Teixeira (3rd Place Match, Armbar) and Losing a razor edge decision on points to the eventual Champion Xande Ribeiro (Semi-Final, Points).

Magalhães was promoted to black belt by his instructors Vinicius Aieta and Royler Gracie, on the podium after winning thirteen matches (ten by submissions), and taking home two gold medals in the 2005 World Jiu-Jitsu Championship as a brown belt.

Magalhães has recently expressed that he's been training in different grappling styles such as sambo (primarily leg locks) and catch wrestling.

On his run for his second bronze medal, Magalhães beat the 2005 ADCC Absolute World Champion Dean Lister by judges' decision, moving on to the quarterfinals against the 2X NCAA Wrestler and MMA Prospect Chris Weidman, who he beat by Flying Armbar (His second in the Competition), which put him in the Semi-Final against Braulio Estima, who beat Magalhães by points, and became the eventual Absolute Champion.

In the 3rd Place match, Magalhães used his experience against Gunnar Nelson to score a Takedown in the last few seconds of the over time to guarantee his second bronze medal in his first ADCC.

A professional competitor since 2006, he was a finalist in The Ultimate Fighter: Team Nogueira vs. Team Mir and has fought five times within two stints with the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

He is the former Titan FC Light heavyweight Champion, M-1 Global Light heavyweight Champion and is also a former jiu-jitsu no-gi world champion and ADCC champion.

Magalhães was inducted into the ADCC Hall of Fame in 2024.

Magalhães was born and raised in Rio De Janeiro, Brazil.

He played football, beach volleyball and began training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu when he was 14 years old.

His mentors are Royler Gracie & Vini Aieta

In 2007, Magalhães would become the first Jiu-Jitsu No Gi world champion in the Super Heavyweight Division as a black belt.

In 2009, Magalhães had an impressive performance in the most prestigious Grappling Tournament in the World, the ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship, winning 2 Bronze Medals (Under 99 kg Division and Absolute Division).

Magalhães was released from the UFC on April 29, 2009, due to his 0–2 record with the company.

After being released from the UFC, Magalhães went 7–1, winning five fights by submission and two by knockout while dropping one by decision, improving his overall record to 9-5 (1).

Magalhães scored an mounted gogoplata submission victory over Viktor Nemkov to become the M-1 Global Light heavyweight Champion.

He then went on to defend the light heavyweight championship with a third-round TKO victory over Mikhail Zayats.

After a contract dispute with M-1 Global, Magalhães placed his belt for sale on eBay.com with a bid of over US$90,000.

He is also known, despite his background in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, as being one of the primary pioneers (along with Shinya Aoki and others) of 10th planet jiu-jitsu techniques in MMA.

In 2011, Magalhães went up weight class in the ADCC Tournament, competing at the 99 kg and over division.

He became the divisional winner, beating the reigning champion Fabrício Werdum by points in the final match.

On July 17, 2012, it was announced that Magalhães had re-signed with the UFC.

He faced Igor Pokrajac on September 22, 2012, at UFC 152.

Magalhães faced Phil Davis on April 27, 2013, at UFC 159.

losing in a unanimous decision.

Magalhães faced Anthony Perosh on August 3, 2013, at UFC 163.

He lost by knockout in just fourteen seconds in round 1.

After this loss, he was released from the UFC again.

Magalhães denied any talks of retirement and was expected to fight Jeff Monson in a heavyweight bout on November 9, 2013, at Global Warrior Challenge 2: USA vs Brazil.

However, Magalhães pulled out of the fight due to a prolonged back injury.

and won via armbar at 1:14 of the 2nd round.

At the 2015 ADCC Tournament, Magalhães won the bronze medal in the 99 kg and over division.

All his wins came by submission, including a twister against Rodrigo Artilheiro in the quarterfinals..

Magalhães defeated Lance Evans, brother of Rashad Evans, when Evans quit after the first round due to a rib injury.

Magalhães then defeated Jules Bruchez by armbar in the first round to move to the semifinals.

Magalhães then fought Krzysztof Soszynski and defeated him by armbar in the first round, thus moving on to the finals to face Ryan Bader.

Magalhães lost via first round TKO in his UFC debut in the finals of The Ultimate Fighter: Team Nogueira vs. Team Mir against former castmate Ryan Bader at The Ultimate Fighter 8 Finale.

Magalhães' next fight was at UFC 97, taking on former The Ultimate Fighter castmate Eliot Marshall.

Magalhães lost a unanimous decision (30-27, 30–27, 29-28).