Antonio Trocoli

Antonio Trocoli is a 35-year-old Brazilian middleweight who has become an unlikely figure in the UFC partly because of his struggles in the octagon and partly because of his lucrative parallel career in professional poker. A former regional prospect and Contender Series winner in 2019, Trocoli rose through the ranks with solid grappling credentials, a BJJ brown belt, and five submission wins on his record. A spine injury forced him into an extended layoff, during which he discovered professional poker and found far greater financial reward than his MMA career had offered: in 2025 alone, he earned around $200,000 in poker tournaments, dwarfing his entire MMA earnings to date. When he returned to the octagon, however, the results were grim.

Since his UFC debut on short notice in June 2024, Trocoli has gone 0-4, suffering losses to rising prospect Shara Magomedov (TKO, R3), submission specialist Tresean Gore (guillotine, R1), undefeated finisher Mansur Abdul-Malik (guillotine, R1), and most recently to Mantas Kondratavičius in a three-round unanimous decision at UFC London (March 2026). In interviews, Trocoli has been refreshingly candid about his struggles, blaming poor weight cuts, travel fatigue, cardio collapse, and tactical errors rather than offering excuses. He acknowledges that he now considers himself "a poker player who fights MMA" rather than the reverse, though he insists MMA remains his plan A.

Fighting out of Eduardo Full House, Trocoli brings a Muay Thai striking base paired with submission expertise. His anaconda choke and arm triangle finishes showcase technical grappling, but his record reveals serious vulnerabilities: poor takedown defense (43 percent), limited striking output (1.27 sig. strikes landed per minute), and apparent cardio concerns late in fights. At 12-7-0 overall and on a four-fight UFC skid, he is very much a gatekeeper fighting to stay relevant in a tough middleweight division. His willingness to take tough fights despite his losing streak, combined with his transparent reflections on failure and his unlikely success in high-stakes poker, have given him a modest cult following among fans interested in the human side of MMA.