SFT MMA Xtreme No. 1 in Brazil

MIAMI — Mixed-martial-arts was born in Brazil, which has produced so many great combat sports fighters, and the No. 1 Brazilian promotion is SFT MMA & Extreme (Standout Fighting Tournament).

With more than 70 fighters under contract, SFT MMA currently has five of the top seven Brazilian pound-for-pound fighters in its stable, six of 13, including No. 1 Marcos “Bubuino” dos Santos (33-13-1), the reigning SFT featherweight champion.

“I definitely believe we have upcoming fighters who will be huge stars,” SFT MMA & Xtreme president David Hudson said. “To have come this far in only 18 months is an amazing accomplishment. When we first started signing exclusive contracts, we practically had to beg fighters to sign. Our first round of signing fighters was August of 2019. Six months later, when the pandemic hit, we had 57 fighters under contract, including four of the top 10 pound-for-pound in Brazil.”

Below see the top-rated P4P Brazilian fighters in the SFT stable:

Top SFT Pound-for-Pound MMA Fighters in Brazil

1.) Marcos “Babuino” dos Santos Featherweight 33-13-1 (SFT: 3-0-0)
2.) Irwing “King Kong” Machado Welterweight 16-6-2 (SFT: 1-0-0)
3.) Thiago “Manchina” Silva Lightweight 18-8-0 (SFT: 0-0-0)
4.) Luis “Betao” Nogueira Featherweight 22-8-2 (SFT: 0-0-0)
5.) Wellington “Predador” Prado Featherweight 10-2-0 (SFT: 2-1-0)
13.) Felipe “Buakaw” Douglas Lightweight 18-5-0 (SFT: 3-0-0)

Last November at SFT 18, Santos (pictured to right) successfully defended his SFT title belt, originally captured at SFT 4 (August, 2018 in Sao Paulo, Brazil) when he won a decision over Sergio Soares, against the then-SFT Interim featherweight champion, Wellington “Predador” Prado, by way of unanimous decision.

A living MMA legend in Brazil, “Babuino” has really had two fighting careers, losing 11 of his first 19 fights, but dropping only two of his last 27 matches, including a win streak of 17 during one hot stretch. Now 44 years old, he has the body, endurance, and overall drive of a fighter half his age. Santos is riding a five-fight win streak.

The only promotion in Brazil to air weekly shows, every Saturday, on national television, SFT was the first promotional company in Brazil to sign fighters to exclusive promotional contracts, although SFT does allow its fighters to fight for other promotional organizations as long as the fight is held outside of Brazil.

SFT MMA & Xtreme has expanded from its base in Brazil to include Mexico and the United States. Once the pandemic is in the past, SFT plans to promote monthly shows, six in Brazil (possibly as many as 8), four in the U.S., and two in Mexico.

Roberto Villa

Roberto Villa is the CEO, Founder, Executive Writer, Senior Editor of FightBook MMA. Has a passion for Combat Sports and also a podcast host for Sitting Ringside. He’s also a former MMA fighter and Kickboxer.