Roan Carneiro


Roan Carneiro is a Brazilian retired professional mixed martial artist who most recently competed in the Welterweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. A professional competitor since 2000, Carneiro was the winner of the Battlegrounds MMA's one-night, eight-man tournament, in which he won three fights to become the champion, and has also competed for DEEP.

Mixed martial arts career

Early career

Carneiro began fighting in MMA professionally in 2000 at the age of 22 in his native Brazil. One of his earliest losses was to future longtime UFC Middleweight Champion Anderson Silva. He amassed a record of 10-5 before signing with the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Ultimate Fighting Championship

In April 2007, Carneiro debuted with the UFC. He faced Rich Clementi in his debut and won the fight via unanimous decision.
Carneiro then faced Jon Fitch at UFC Fight Night 10. He lost the fight via submission in the second round.
In his third UFC fight, Carneiro faced Tony DeSouza at UFC 79 on December 29, 2007. He won the fight via TKO in the second round.
Carneiro next faced Kevin Burns at UFC 85 on June 7, 2008. He lost the fight via submission in the second round.
For his fifth UFC fight, Carneiro faced Ryo Chonan at UFC 88 on September 6, 2008. He lost the fight via split decision. Following this loss, he was released from his contract.

Battleground MMA

After fighting sporadically for independent promotions between 2009 and 2013, Carneiro signed to compete in a one-night, eight-man tournament for BattleGrounds MMA on October 3, 2014. In the quarterfinals, he defeated Randall Wallace by submission in the first round. In the semifinals, he defeated Trey Houston by TKO in the second round. In the finals, Carneiro defeated Brock Larson by unanimous decision to be crowned the tournament champion.

UFC return

In December 2014, it was announced that Carneiro had been re-signed with the UFC. In his return fight, Carneiro faced Mark Muñoz on February 28, 2015 at UFC 184. He won the fight via technical submission from a rear-naked choke in the first round.
Carneiro was expected to face Gegard Mousasi on September 27, 2015 at UFC Fight Night 75. However, Carneiro was forced to pull out of the bout in mid-August with an elbow injury and was replaced by Uriah Hall.
Carneiro faced Derek Brunson on February 21, 2016 at UFC Fight Night 83. He lost the fight via TKO in the first round.
Carneiro next faced Kenny Robertson on September 17, 2016 at UFC Fight Night 94. He won the fight via split decision.
Carneiro faced Ryan LaFlare on February 11, 2017 at UFC 208. He lost the fight by unanimous decision.
In May 2017, Carneiro was again released from the company.

Post UFC

Carneiro returned to action on November 30, 2019 in Auckland, New Zealand where he won WKN Middleweight MMA title by submission in the first round against previously 15-fight undefeated Kelvin Joseph in the main event of WKN World Cup 2019.

Acting

Carneiro had an acting role as fictional MMA fighter Marco Santos in the MMA movie Warrior.

Championships and accomplishments

Mixed martial arts