Alcantara, Iuri

Iuri Alcantara was born on August 4, 1980 on the island of Marajo , Para . He practiced Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu , achieving a black belt in this discipline. He trained with his younger brother Ildemar , who later also became a well-known fighter ^[1] .

Beginning of a professional career

He made his debut in mixed martial arts on a professional level in September 2003, sent his opponent to the knockout in the first round. He fought in various small promotions in Brazil - he emerged victorious from most of the fights, although the level of his opposition during this period was not very high.

Jungle Fight

Since 2010, he collaborated with the fairly large Brazilian organization Jungle Fight , where in particular he defeated such well-known fighters as Viskardi Andradi and Francisco Trinaldo . He won the lightweight Jungle Fight champion title by beating TKO against Manuel Moralis ^[2] .

World Extreme Cagefighting

Having 25 victories and only 3 defeats in the track record, Alcantara attracted the attention of the large American organization World Extreme Cagefighting and in November 2010 signed a long-term contract with it. In the final tournament, WEC 53 met with Ricardo Lamas , knocking him out in the first round.

Since the WEC organization was absorbed into a larger player in the mixed martial arts market of the Ultimate Fighting Championship , all the strongest fighters from there automatically switched to a contract for the new owner, including Alcantara ^[3] .

Ultimate Fighting Championship

For the sake of performances in the UFC octagon, Iuri Alcantara decided to go down to the featherweight category, in August 2011 he made his debut here safely, winning points by compatriot Felipi Arantis ^[4] .

In 2012, he defeated by a unanimous decision the Japanese judoka Mitihiro Omigawa , but lost the same unanimous decision to the same master of the Brazilian jiu-jitsu Akran Diaz - this ended his impressive series of thirteen consecutive victories ^{[5] [6]} .

After this defeat, Alcantara still lost weight, descending into the lightest category. The duel against Pedro Nobri in January 2013 was declared invalid, Alcantara inflicted forbidden blows to the back of the head, because of which his opponent could not continue the duel. This was followed by a knockout victory over Iliardi Santos and defeat by unanimous decision from former WEC champion Juraya Feiber ^[7] .

In 2014, Alcantara was marked by victories over such fighters as Wilson Reis , Won Lee and Russell Dawn ^[8] .

In February 2015, he was defeated on points by Frankie Saens , a few months later he defeated Leander Isu ^[9] by the decision of the judges.

His duel with Jimmy Rivera in January 2016 was recognized as the best fight of the evening, although Alcantara lost by unanimous referee decision. Later, at a tournament in England, he defeated local English fighter Brad Pickett - already in the second minute of the first round he caught him in the “ triangle ” and forced to surrender - he was awarded a bonus for the best performance of the evening ^{[10] [11]} .

In 2017, with the help of a knee lever, he forced Luke Sanders to surrender, again earning an award for the best performance of the evening. However, then he lost to Brian Kelleher and Alejandro Perez ^[12] .

In February 2018, he won by technical knockout from the American Joe Soto , having received the third bonus in his career for the best performance of the evening ^[13] .

• Iuri Alcantara - professional battle stats on the Sherdog website