Felipe Colares

Felipe Colares was a Brazilian mixed martial artist from Macapá who built his fighting foundation on a diverse grappling base: judo from age seven, then Brazilian jiu-jitsu, taekwondo, and Muay Thai from his teenage years. Before entering the UFC, he dominated the Brazilian regional scene, earning an 8-0 record and capturing the Jungle Fight featherweight championship, establishing himself as a legitimate submission threat with a black belt pedigree.

Colares joined the UFC in February 2019 and competed primarily at featherweight and bantamweight over three and a half years. His UFC career was characterized by volatility: he won three fights (including a gritty unanimous decision over Luke Sanders in 2021 after being knocked down early) but lost four, alternating results across his tenure. A specialist in leg-lock free submissions, particularly the arm triangle, Colares secured five submission victories during his time with the organization. However, his striking defense proved problematic at the elite level; he absorbed significant strikes at a high rate and his takedown defense hovered around 43 percent, exposing him to strikers with good accuracy.

Colares was released by the UFC in June 2022 following a technical knockout loss to Chase Hooper in the third round. His record in the promotion stood at 3-4, a reflection of the difficulty top regional prospects face when stepping into the global elite. Outside the octagon, Colares was a student of both accounting and environmental science, and his fighting career represented a childhood dream realized, even if the UFC chapter proved brief and inconsistent.