Wágner da Conceição Martins (born May 19, 1978), better known as Zuluzinho (), is a Brazilian

vale tudo Vale Tudo (; en, Everything Goes/Everything Allowed), also known No Holds Barred (NHB) in the United States, is an unarmed, full-contact combat sport with relatively few rules. It became popular in Brazil during the 20th century and would event ...

fighter and

mixed martial artist Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incorp ...

. He is the son of Vale Tudo legend Casemiro Nascimento Martins ("Rei Zulu"). Wagner was raised by his grandmother and works as a security guard in a number of reggae clubs in northern Brazil. Following in his father's footsteps, he trained in both

Brazilian jiu-jitsu Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ; pt, jiu-jitsu brasileiro ) is a self-defence martial art and combat sport based on grappling, ground fighting (ne-waza) and submission holds. BJJ focuses on the skill of taking an opponent to the ground, control ...

and

. Zuluzinho holds a purple belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under black belt Ricardo "Ricardinho Bulldog" Candido Gomes, who also serves as his MMA coach.

Record controversy

Zuluzinho reportedly compiled an undefeated Vale Tudo record of 38-0 (38 knockouts) in Brazil prior to his fight at

Cage Warriors Cage Warriors (CW) is an Irish owned mixed martial arts promotion, based in London, England. The promotion was established in 2001 and staged its first MMA event in London in July, 2002. Many MMA stars have made their names under the Cage Warrio ...

Strike Force 2 in England. However, all but five of those fights are unconfirmed. In the December 2005 issue of ''Full-Contact Fighter,'' Marcelo Alfonso wrote that Zuluzinho started his MMA career in 2000 in the town of Teresina, near the city of Sao Luis, Brazil.

Career highlights

Zuluzinho was beaten after only 26 seconds of the first round in

PRIDE Fighting Championships PRIDE Fighting Championships (Pride or Pride FC, founded as KRS-Pride) was a Japanese mixed martial arts promotion company. Its inaugural event was held at the Tokyo Dome on October 11, 1997. Pride held more than sixty mixed martial arts even ...

Shockwave 2005 event at the hands of world champion

Fedor Emelianenko Fedor Vladimirovich Emelianenko ( rus, Фёдор Влади́мирович Емелья́ненко, r=Fyodor Vladimirovich Yemelyanenko, p=ˈfʲɵdər vlɐˈdʲimʲɪrəvʲɪtɕ jɪmʲɪˈlʲjænʲɪnkə, IPA; born ...

. In the Pride Open Weight Grand Prix on May 5, 2006, he was defeated via armbar in the first round by

Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira (, born 2 June 1976), better known as Minotauro or Big Nog, is a Brazilian retired mixed martial artist. He competed in the heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is a former Inter ...

. His next fight was a loss against

Eric Esch Eric Scott Esch (born August 3, 1966), better known by his nickname "Butterbean", is an American retired professional boxer, kickboxer, mixed martial artist, and professional wrestler who competed in the heavyweight division. He is also a televis ...

PRIDE 34 ''Pride 34: Kamikaze'' was a mixed martial arts event held by Pride Fighting Championships on April 8, 2007 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Japan. Background This was the last Pride show promoted by Dream Stage Entertainment before the ...

by Submission (kimura). On December 31, 2007, Zuluzinho scored the biggest win of his career by stopping Ikuhisa "The Punk" Minowa in 3 rounds at K-1 in Japan. He saw his winning streak snapped when he lost by 1st-round TKO to Ibragim Magomedov at FightForce - Russia vs. The World on April 19, 2008. On July 7, 2008, Zuluzinho was knocked out by fellow super heavyweight Guigao Guigao at DDG-Desafio de Gigantes 10. In the semi-final match, Zuluzinho's 63-year-old father, Rei Zulu, lost by a disqualification to Santos Samurai. Zulu faced rising star Geronimo "Mondragon" dos Santos on December 14, 2008. In this bout he landed a flurry of strikes early in the first round but was unable to finish dos Santos, and subsequently was knocked out in round 2. One year later he returned to action with a win against

Brazilian Top Team The Brazilian Top Team (BTT) is an academy specialized in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and mixed martial arts. It established in April 2000 by Murilo Bustamante, Ricardo Libório, Mário Sperry and Luis Roberto Duarte, former members of the Carlson Grac ...

veteran Angelo Araujo. On Nov. 30, 2010, Zuluzinho lost in his second bout against Geronimo dos Santos via first-round KO at Mr. Cage 4. On June 2, 2018, Zuluzinho lost to Edvaldo de Oliveira via TKO at Imortal FC 9. On February 23, 2021, Zuluzinho faced undefeated Russian Yusup Shuaev at AMC Fight Nights: Sochi. Despite dropping his opponent at the very end of a round and celebrating prematurely his win, Zuluzinho would go on to lose the bout via majority decision.

Mixed martial arts record

, - , Loss , align=center, 14–12 (1) , Serigne Ousmane Dia , TKO (punches) , MMA Attack 4: #Comback , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 0:42 ,

Będzin Będzin (; also ''Bendzin'' in English; german: Bendzin; yi, בענדין, Bendin) is a city in the Dąbrowa Basin, in southern Poland. It lies in the Silesian Highlands, on the Czarna Przemsza River (a tributary of the Vistula). Even though par ...

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, Belarus , , - , - , Loss , align=center, 14–10 (1) , Yusup Shuaev , Decision (majority) , AMC Fight Nights: Sochi , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

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, Russia , , - , Win , align=center, 14–9 (1) , Aleksandar Aleksic , TKO (punches) , Megdan Fighting 6 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 3:18 ,

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, , - , Win , align=center, 13–9 (1) , Marko Djordevic , TKO (punches) , Megdan Fighting 5 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 0:53 ,

Sremska Mitrovica Sremska Mitrovica (; sr-Cyrl, Сремска Митровица, hu, Szávaszentdemeter, la, Sirmium) is a city and the administrative center of the Srem District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. It is situated on the left bank ...

, , - , Win , align=center, 12–9 (1) , Aleksandar Aleksic , TKO (punches) , Megdan Fighting 4 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 0:23 ,

Novi Sad, Serbia Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; hu, Újvidék, ; german: Neusatz; see below for other names) is the second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the Pan ...

, , - , Loss , align=center, 11–9 (1) , Edvaldo de Oliveira , TKO (retirement) , Imortal FC 9 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 5:00 , Sao Luis, Brazil , , - , Loss , align=center, 11–8 (1) , Geronimo dos Santos , KO (punches) , Mr. Cage 4 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, N/A ,

Manaus, Brazil Manaus () is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Amazonas. It is the seventh-largest city in Brazil, with an estimated 2020 population of 2,219,580 distributed over a land area of about . Located at the east center of the st ...

, , - , Win , align=center, 11–7 (1) , Douglas Humberto , Decision (split) , Ilha Combat 3: Confrontation of Giants , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 , Sao Luis, Brazil , , - , Win , align=center, 10–7 (1) , Angelo Araujo , TKO (retirement) , Ilha Combat 2: Araujo vs. Zuluzinho , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 5:00 , Sao Luis, Brazil , , - , Loss , align=center, 9–7 (1) , Geronimo dos Santos , KO (punch) , Fusion Combat , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 0:22 ,

Boa Vista, Roraima Boa Vista (, literally ''Good View''; figuratively "Fairview") is the capital of the Brazilian state of Roraima. Situated on the western bank of the Branco River, the city lies from Brazil's border with Venezuela. It is the only Brazilian stat ...

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, , - , Win , align=center, 9–4 (1) ,

Ikuhisa Minowa is a Japanese mixed martial artist and professional wrestler currently competing in IGF as . A professional MMA competitor since 1996, he was a longtime veteran of PRIDE and Pancrase and has also competed in other mixed martial arts promotions ...

, TKO (corner stoppage) ,

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, , - , Loss , align=center, 7–4 (1) , Guilherme dos Anjos , TKO (retirement) , Desafio de Gigantes 8 , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 3:50 , Macapa, Brazil , , - , Loss , align=center, 7–3 (1) , Butterbean , Submission (americana) ,

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, , - , NC , align=center, 5–0 (1) , Kleber Ranieri Jansen , NC (both fighters fell from ring) , Desafio de Gigantes 4 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, N/A , Macapa, Brazil , , - , Win , align=center, 5–0 , Fabio Black , KO (strikes) , World Combat 3 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:20 , Sao Luis, Brazil , , - , Win , align=center, 4–0 , Junior Pitbull , TKO (punches) , Desafio de Gigantes 2 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 0:37 , Macapa, Brazil , , - , Win , align=center, 3–0 , James Adler , KO (punches) , Main Event Vale Tudo , 2004 , align=center, 1 , align=center, N/A , Itapeua,

, , - , Win , align=center, 2–0 , James Adler , KO (punches) , Main Event Vale Tudo , 2004 , align=center, 1 , align=center, N/A , Itapeua,

, , - , Win , align=center, 1–0 , Carlos Andino , KO (punches) , Main Event Vale Tudo , November 4, 2003 , align=center, 1 , align=center, N/A , Itapeua,

References

{{Reflist Brazilian male mixed martial artists Super heavyweight mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists utilizing Brazilian jiu-jitsu Brazilian practitioners of Brazilian jiu-jitsu 1978 births Living people People from São Luís, Maranhão Sportspeople from Maranhão