Ricardo Almeida
Born	November 29, 1976 (1976-11-29) (age 33) New York City, New York, U.S.
Other names	Big Dog
Nationality	Brazilian[1] American
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Weight	170 lb (77 kg; 12 st)
Division	Welterweight
Style	Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Wrestling, Boxing
Fighting out of	Hamilton, New Jersey
Team	Renzo Gracie Combat Team
Rank	3rd degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
MMA record
Total	16
Wins	12
By knockout	0
By submission	4
Losses	4
Other information
Mixed martial arts record from Sherdog

Ricardo Almeida (Portuguese pronunciation: [ʁiˈkaʁdu awˈmejdɐ]; born November 29, 1976) is a Brazilian-American mixed martial artist and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu grappler residing in Bordentown, New Jersey.^[2]

Background

Almeida is a third degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Renzo Gracie, and part of the Gracie Barra Combat Team. Almeida is a veteran of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, PRIDE Fighting Championships, Grapplers Quest and a former Middleweight King of Pancrase. In Pancrase he had notable wins over Nathan Marquardt and Kazuo Misaki.

Marquardt incident

On November 30, 2003, Almeida was involved in an altercation with middleweight opponent Nate Marquardt in a Pancrase title fight. Marquardt was put into a guillotine choke in which the referee believed he tapped out. The referee was unable to immediately separate the fighters and the choke remained applied around Marquardt’s neck after Marquardt’s apparent submission. After the choke was let go, Marquardt threw a strike at Almeida’s face, prompting both corners to storm into the ring – including Renzo Gracie, who was cornering Almeida and kicked Marquardt in the face. The confrontation came to an end and Marquardt approached Almeida after the bout to congratulate him. Almeida then vacated his title in July 2004.

Hiatus

Almeida retired for a three-year period after a six fight win streak to focus on running his Jiu-Jitsu school in Hamilton, New Jersey.^[3] He now fights in the Welterweight division in the UFC.^[4]

Ultimate Fighting Championship

His return bout in the UFC occurred at UFC 81, where he submitted Rob Yundt at 1:08 in the first round. Almeida’s next fight was against Patrick Cote, where he lost a close split decision.

Almeida returned at UFC Fight Night: Condit vs. Kampmann, this time on the preliminary card, to face Matt Horwich, winning by unanimous decision. His next fight took place on August 8 in Philadelphia against Kendall Grove at UFC 101. Almeida won by outgrappling his opponent for the majority of the bout and controlling the fight to earn a unanimous decision victory.

He was scheduled to fight Jon Fitch at UFC 106 but had to withdraw due to a knee injury suffered while training.^[5]

Almeida faced Matt Brown on March 27, 2010 at UFC 111 in his welterweight debut.^[6] Almeida defeated Brown by rear naked choke at 2:30 in round 2.

Almeida faced former UFC Welterweight Champion and UFC Hall of Famer Matt Hughes on August 7, 2010 at UFC 117 and lost via technical submission (anaconda choke).^[7][8]

Personal life

Ricardo and his wife have three children.^[9]

Grappling credentials

ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship

ADCC 2003 88–98 kg: 4th place

ADCC 2001 88–98 kg: 2nd place Openweight: 4th place

ADCC 2000 Openweight: 3rd place

ADCC 1999 88–98 kg: 3rd place

ADCC 1998 88–98 kg: 2nd place

CBJJ Pan American Championships

1999 Brown Belt pesado: 1st Place

CBJJ Brazilian Championships

1997 Brown Belt Pesado: 1st Place

1996 Purple Belt Médio: 1st Place Purple Belt Open Weight: 3rd Place

Mixed martial arts record

Result	Record	Opponent	Method	Event	Date	Round	Time	Location	Notes
Loss	12-4	Matt Hughes	Technical Submission (Anaconda Choke)[10][11]	UFC 117: Silva vs. Sonnen	02010-08-07 August 7, 2010	1	3:15	Oakland, California, USA
Win	12-3	Matt Brown	Submission (Rear Naked Choke)	UFC 111: St-Pierre vs. Hardy	02010-03-27 March 27, 2010	2	3:30	Newark, New Jersey, USA	Welterweight Debut
Win	11–3	Kendall Grove	Decision (Unanimous)	UFC 101: Declaration	02009-08-08 August 8, 2009	3	5:00	Philadelphia, PA, USA
Win	10–3	Matt Horwich	Decision (Unanimous)	UFC Fight Night: Condit vs. Kampmann	02009-04-01 April 1, 2009	3	5:00	Nashville, Tennessee, US
Loss	9–3	Patrick Côté	Decision (Split)	UFC 86: Jackson vs. Griffin	02008-07-05 July 5, 2008	3	5:00	Las Vegas, Nevada, US
Win	9–2	Rob Yundt	Submission (Guillotine Choke)	UFC 81: Breaking Point	02008-02-02 February 2, 2008	1	1:08	Las Vegas, Nevada, US
Win	8–2	Ryo Chonan	Decision (Unanimous)	PRIDE – Bushido 3	02004-05-23 May 23, 2004	2	5:00	Yokohama, Japan
Win	7–2	Nathan Marquardt	Submission (Guillotine Choke)	Pancrase – Hybrid 10	02003-11-30 November 30, 2003	1	4:53	Tokyo, Japan	Pancrase Middleweight Championship
Win	6–2	Kazuo Misaki	Decision (Majority)	Pancrase – 10th Anniversary Show	02003-08-31 August 31, 2003	3	5:00	Tokyo, Japan
Win	5–2	Yuki Sasaki	Decision (Unanimous)	Pancrase – Hybrid 4	02003-04-12 April 12, 2003	3	5:00	Tokyo, Japan
Win	4–2	Ikuhisa Minowa	Decision (Unanimous)	Pancrase – Hybrid 2	02003-02-16 February 16, 2003	3	5:00	Osaka, Japan
Win	3–2	Osami Shibuya	Submission (Rear Naked Choke)	Pancrase – Spirit 8	02002-11-30 November 30, 2002	1	3:25	Yokohama, Japan
Loss	2–2	Andrei Semenov	TKO (Punches)	UFC 35: Throwdown	02002-01-11 January 11, 2002	2	2:01	Uncasville, Connecticut, US
Win	2–1	Eugene Jackson	Submission (Triangle Choke)	UFC 33: Victory in Vegas	02001-09-28 September 28, 2001	1	4:06	Las Vegas, Nevada, US	Middleweight debut
Loss	1–1	Matt Lindland	DQ (Repeated Fouls)	UFC 31: Locked & Loaded	02001-05-04 May 4, 2001	3	4:21	Atlantic City, New Jersey, US	Light Heavyweight
Win	1–0	Akira Shoji	Decision (Unanimous)	PRIDE 12: Cold Fury	02000-12-09 December 9, 2000	2	5:00	Saitama, Japan

References

External links

• Ricardo Almeida Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Academy
• Professional MMA record for Ricardo Almeida from Sherdog
• Ricardo Almeida, Pancrase profile