Alessio Di Chirico
13-7-0
About
Italian middleweight who won fights by spectacular finish but couldn't string together consistency at the UFC level before retiring in 2022.
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Alessio Di Chirico is an Italian middleweight whose UFC career proved that finishing power alone does not guarantee sustained success at the elite level. Born in Rome and originally trained as an American football player, Di Chirico discovered MMA almost by accident while trying to lose weight, then went on to win the IMMAF Light Heavyweight amateur world championship in 2014 before compiling a perfect 9-0 record in European promotions. His UFC debut in 2016 began a six-year journey marked by extreme volatility: devastating knockout and submission victories interspersed with brutal losses to ranked competition, including a blinding 17-second head-kick KO by Abdul Razak Alhassan and multiple one-sided decision defeats to Kevin Holland, Makhmud Muradov, and Zak Cummings.
What Di Chirico did best was finish fights early and spectacularly. His signature early-fight head-kick knockout of Joaquin Buckley on UFC on ABC earned a Performance of the Night bonus and remains one of the sharpest strikes in middleweight history. He finished six of his wins by knockout, four by submission (chiefly rear-naked chokes), and notched six first-round finishes overall. Yet that same aggression and commitment to the spectacular left him vulnerable: he absorbed 3.44 significant strikes per minute, a sign of his willingness to trade rather than evade.
Ultimately, Di Chirico finished his UFC run at 6-7, unable to string together the consistency required to climb the middleweight rankings. After being knocked out by Roman Kopylov in the third round on September 3, 2022, he announced his retirement. Di Chirico leaves behind a legacy as a powerful, exciting finisher who embodied the Italian fighting spirit he proudly carried into the Octagon, even if his record never quite matched the danger of his striking.
Why fans love Di Chirico
Di Chirico's commitment to aggressive finishes and his two spectacular Performance of the Night bonuses earned respect from fans who valued his striking power and refusal to go the distance. His background as an amateur world champion and his work ethic training at his own Rome-based gym demonstrated genuine dedication to the sport.
