5 Things You Might Not Know About Thiago Moises

Thiago Moises operates on the periphery of the lightweight elite in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, where he has settled in as a dependable player at 155 pounds.

Moises made his organizational debut four-plus years ago and owns a 6-4 record inside the Octagon, having lost only to Beneil Dariush, Damir Ismagulov, Joel Alvarez and current lightweight champion Islam Makhachev. He last competed at UFC 283, where he submitted Melquizael Costa with a face crank in the second round of their Jan. 21 pairing, and will enter his next assignment on the strength of back-to-back victories. Wins over Kurt Holobaugh, Alexander Hernandez and former two-division King of the Cage titleholder Bobby Green anchor his resume.

As Moises awaits word on his next move from UFC matchmakers, here are five things you might not know about him:

1. He was something of a prodigy.

Moises first appeared on the mixed martial arts scene at the age of 17 when he dispatched Wellington Dias with a first-round armbar at a CT Fight show on May 19, 2012. He fought five times as a teenager and went 5-0 with three finishes, including a 23-second head kick knockout of Dennis Bentes Figueira da Fonseca in the second assignment of his career.

2. Regional pursuits proved profitable for him.

The Indaiatuba, Brazil, native struck gold in the Resurrection Fighting Alliance organization in February 2016, as he put away David Castillo with an armbar in the second round of their RFA 35 main event and laid claim to the vacant lightweight championship. Moises retained the title on two subsequent occasions—he stopped Jamall Emmers with fifth-round punches at RFA 38 and took a unanimous decision from Zach Freeman at RFA 44—before the company merged with the Legacy Fighting Championship and formed the Legacy Fighting Alliance in 2017.

3. He chose a climate conducive to development.

Moises threw out his anchor at the famed American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Florida, which provides him with access to a host of world-class coaches, from Mike Thomas Brown and Marcus “Conan” Silveira to Marcos da Matta and Steve Mocco, and a variety of top-flight stablemates, including current Bellator MMA champions Yaroslav Amosov and Johnny Eblen.

4. He seizes opportunities when they are presented to him.

The 27-year-old Brazilian nailed down his spot on the Ultimate Fighting Championship roster through an appearance on Dana White’s Contender Series on Aug. 11, 2018, when he cut down Gleidson Moraes Cutis with punches a little more than four minutes into their encounter.

5. Base skills have served him well.

Moises holds the rank of black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Paulo Streckert, and he has put those tools to use as a mixed martial artist. Nearly half (eight) of his 17 career victories have come by submission, two of them in the UFC. Moises dismissed Michael Johnson with an Achilles lock at UFC Fight Night 171 and disposed of Christos Giagos with a rear-naked choke at UFC on ESPN 38.