Paulo Filho

Weighing 185 lbs and standing 5'8" tall, Paulo Filho is also known as "Paulao". He was born on 24th May, 1978 in Rio de Janiero, Brazil.  Paulo is possibly the only Brazilian MMA fighter who has maintained a clean slate.  Paulo's MMA record reads - 15 wins, 0 losses.  Paulo fights a combination of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Judo.

Paulo made his Mixed Martial Arts fighting debut in July 2000 against Luis Claudio das Dores.  The fight got over as soon as it began, with Paulo delivering deadly punches to his opponent and throwing his out of contention.  After a trio of wins, he made his debut in PRIDE.

PRIDE 22 saw him face Akira Shoji.  Akira was tipped to win the contest largely due to Filho's inexperience with PRIDE Rules.  Filho turned the tables on Akira and defeated him in less than 3 minutes by an armbar submission.  July 2004 and PRIDE Bushido 4 gave Akira the perfect opportunity to extract revenge.  As Paulo went head to head with Akira, he knew this would be a tough fight.  It was a tough fight with the battle lasting more than 8 minutes.  In the end, Filho won again with the help of a split decision.

PRIDE Bushido 6 and 9 saw the deadly effects of Paulo's armbar submission.  Paulo defeated Amar Suloev and Ryuta Sakurai with each of these contests lasting less than 5 minutes.  This brought Paulo heads-on with Murilo Rua, brother of the famous Mauricio Rua.  Paulo did well not to play to reputations and won this fight with a unanimous decision from the judges in 5 minutes.    Since then Paulo has used armbar submission to defeat two of his opponents in Ryo Chonan and Kazuo Misaki.

His last battle against Joe Doerksen at WEC 29 where Paulo defeated Joe in 4 minutes had Paulo win the WEC Middleweight championship.

A record of 15-0 is indeed impressive for any MMA fighter.  That coupled with the ability of Paulo to combine Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and Judo makes him a dangerous opposition for any fighter in the world.

If there is something the world has not seen of Paulo, it would be his clashes with the much illustrious fighters like Fedor, Mirko Cro Cop and more.  Paulo has proved himself over the years with a 15-0 record, but a couple of matches against these top stars would be a good test of Paulo's strength and skills.

6 of Paulo's wins have come from armbar submissions.  Paulo will do well not to rely on the armbar submission as his only tool.  Though he has won 7 decisions and 2 knockouts, he should develop a more defensive game at times.  Currently, Paulo's mode of fighting is all-out attack.  That may not be considered a good strategy when you are up against fighters of top caliber.

For now, Paulo can clearly relish his 15-0 record and wait for what the new year has to offer him.  The whole world is anticipating a match in 2008 against the top stars making for a rollicking contest.