Diego Torresean Nunes (born November 30, 1982) is a Brazilian

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, incorpo ...

. A professional since 2004, he has fought for the

UFC The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

, WEC, Bellator MMA, RXF,

Fight Nights Global AMC Fight Nights (or Fight Nights Global before 2021) is a Russian mixed martial arts organization that previously hosted K-1 and other martial arts events. It is one of the largest promotion companies in the world and features some of the top-ra ...

, and the Rizin Fighting Federation.

Mixed martial arts career

Diego trains with Team Nogueira Brazil. Nunes' professional career in mixed martial arts began in May 2004, when he defeated Jorge Santos Velho by TKO. He has fought in GP, TFC, Shooto, WEC and the

World Extreme Cagefighting

Diego won his WEC debut against Cole Province by unanimous decision at

WEC 37 ''WEC 37: Torres vs. Tapia'' was a mixed martial arts event held by World Extreme Cagefighting on December 3, 2008 at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event aired live on the Versus Network. Background Former IFL stando ...

. Nunes was scheduled to fight

Cub Swanson Kevin Luke "Cub" Swanson (born November 2, 1983) is an American professional mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Bantamweight division in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). A professional since 2004, Swanson holds the most ...

on the

undercard In sports, a card lists the matches taking place in a title match combat-sport event. Cards include a main event match and the undercard listing the rest of the matches. The undercard may be divided into a midcard and a lower card, according to ...

WEC 40 ''WEC 40: Torres vs. Mizugaki'' was a mixed martial arts event held by World Extreme Cagefighting on April 5, 2009 at the UIC Pavilion in Chicago, Illinois. The event aired live on the Versus Network. Background This was the first WEC event to ...

, but a hand injury just days before the bout, forced Nunes to cancel the fight. He next fought Rafael Dias at

WEC 42 ''WEC 42: Torres vs. Bowles'' was a mixed martial arts event held by World Extreme Cagefighting on August 9, 2009 at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada Background Kenji Osawa was originally scheduled to face Rani Yahya at this ...

on August 9, 2009. Nunes defeated Dias via unanimous decision (30–27, 30–27, 30–27). Nunes suffered his first professional loss to

LC Davis La Carvas Rashad Davis (born October 28, 1980) is an American mixed martial artist who most recently competed in the Bantamweight division of Bellator MMA. A professional competitor since 2006, Davis has also formerly competed for the Quad Cities ...

via unanimous decision at

WEC 44 ''WEC 44: Brown vs. Aldo'' was a mixed martial arts event held by World Extreme Cagefighting. It took place on November 18, 2009 at The Pearl at The Palms in Las Vegas, Nevada. Background Anthony Pettis was originally slated to face Rob McCul ...

. Nunes was expected to face

Leonard Garcia Leonard Garcia (born July 14, 1979, in Plainview, Texas) is an American former mixed martial artist who most recently competed in the Featherweight division of the Legacy Fighting Championship, and is the former Legacy FC Featherweight Champion. ...

on March 6, 2010 at

WEC 47 ''WEC 47: Bowles vs. Cruz'' was a mixed martial arts event held by World Extreme Cagefighting on March 6, 2010. It was held at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio Background The only WEC event held in Ohio, WEC 47 coincided with the Arnold ...

, but Nunes was forced from the card with an injury. Nunes was replaced by former

fighter

George Roop George H. Roop (born November 10, 1981) is a retired mixed martial artist. He was a cast member of Spike TV's '' The Ultimate Fighter: Team Nogueira vs. Team Mir'', winning his preliminary and first round fights. He fought as a bantamweight in th ...

. Nunes then faced

Raphael Assunção Raphael Oliveira Assunção (born 19 July 1982) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist who competes in the Bantamweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Background Born in Recife in Northeast Brazil, Assunção moved to Unite ...

on June 20, 2010 at

WEC 49 ''WEC 49: Varner vs. Shalorus'' was a mixed martial arts event held by World Extreme Cagefighting that took place on June 20, 2010 at Rexall Place in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Background WEC 49 was the only event the organization had held outsi ...

. He won the fight via split decision. Nunes faced

Tyler Toner Tyler Toner is an American former professional mixed martial arts fighter. A professional from 2005 until 2014, he fought in the UFC, WEC, Strikeforce, and the RFA. Background Born and raised in Colorado, Toner began training in Taekwondo at ...

on September 30, 2010 at

WEC 51 ''WEC 51: Aldo vs. Gamburyan'' was a mixed martial arts event held by World Extreme Cagefighting that took place on September 30, 2010 at the 1stBank Center in Broomfield, Colorado. This was the only event that the WEC hosted in Colorado. Backg ...

. He won the fight via unanimous decision.

Ultimate Fighting Championship

On October 28, 2010,

World Extreme Cagefighting World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) was an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion founded in 2001. It was purchased by Zuffa, LLC, the parent company of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), in 2006. In its final incarnation, it was mad ...

merged with the

Ultimate Fighting Championship The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

. As part of the merger, all WEC fighters were transferred to the UFC. Nunes faced Mike Brown on January 1, 2011 at

UFC 125 The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

. He won the fight via split decision. Nunes faced

Kenny Florian Kenneth Alan Florian (born May 26, 1976) is an American retired mixed martial artist and commentator who formerly competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He formerly served as an analyst for UFC on Fox from 2011–2018, and he als ...

on June 11, 2011 at

UFC 131 ''UFC 131: dos Santos vs. Carwin'' was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on 11 June 2011 at the Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Background Brock Lesnar was originally scheduled to face ...

. He lost the fight via unanimous decision. Nunes was expected to face

Manvel Gamburyan Manvel Gamburyan ( hy, Մանվել Գամբուրյան; born May 8, 1981) is an Armenian mixed martial artist who has competed in the UFC's lightweight, featherweight, and bantamweight divisions. A professional competitor since 1999, he was a c ...

on September 24, 2011 at UFC 135, but Gamburyan pulled out of the fight due to a shoulder injury. Then, on August 29, Nunes confirmed his own exit from the card, citing an injury. Nunes/Gamburyan eventually took place on December 30, 2011 at

UFC 141 The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

. Nunes won the fight via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28). Nunes next faced

Dennis Siver Dennis D. Siver (Russian: Дмитрий Сивер, tr. Dmitriy Siver, born January 13, 1979) is a Russian-born German mixed martial artist who competed in the welterweight, lightweight, and featherweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Champio ...

on April 14, 2012 at UFC on Fuel TV: Gustafsson vs. Silva. He lost the fight via unanimous decision. Nunes faced Bart Palaszewski on October 5, 2012 at

UFC on FX 5 ''UFC on FX: Browne vs. Bigfoot'' (also known as ''UFC on FX 5'') was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on October 5, 2012, at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was the fifth UFC event broadcast l ...

. After three full rounds, Nunes won the fight via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 30-27). The performance also earned both participants ''Fight of the Night'' honors. Nunes then faced

Nik Lentz Nik Lentz (born August 13, 1984) is an American retired mixed martial artist. He most notably fought for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, fighting in the lightweight division. Background Lentz was born in El Paso, Texas but grew up in Twin ...

on January 19, 2013 at UFC on FX: Belfort vs. Bisping. He lost the fight via unanimous decision and was subsequently released from the promotion.

Bellator MMA

In June 2013, it was revealed that Nunes signed with Bellator MMA. In his debut, Nunes faced prior title challenger

Patricio Freire Patricio in Spanish, or Patrício in Portuguese, is a male given name equivalent to Patrick in English. The Spanish name is pronounced with the stress on the same first i as Portuguese, but an accent is not needed because this follows normal ru ...

Bellator 99 2013 in Bellator MMA was the eighth installment of the Bellator MMA, which began on January 17, 2013 and ended on April 4, 2013. Mixed martial arts tournaments were held in five weight classes and all of the champions, except the heavyweight cha ...

in the Quarterfinals of the season nine featherweight tournament. He lost the fight via knockout at just 1:19 in the first round. This is the first time that Nunes had ever been knocked out, or even finished, in his career. In February 2014, Nunes entered into the Bellator season ten featherweight tournament. He faced

Matt Bessette Matthew James Bessette (born December 28, 1984) is a retired American mixed martial artist currently competing in CES MMA where he is the reigning Featherweight Champion. A professional competitor since 2007, he has also competed for Bellato ...

in the quarterfinals at

Bellator 110 2014 in Bellator MMA was the tenth season for Bellator MMA, a mixed martial arts promotion. It began on February 28, 2014 and aired on Spike TV. The season included tournaments for the Heavyweight, Welterweight, Featherweight, Light Heavyweight, ...

and lost the back-and-forth fight via split decision.

Post Bellator

After an unsuccessful run in Bellator, Nunes faced longtime MMA veteran Joachim Hansen at Superior Challenge 11 for the featherweight title. Nunes won the fight by KO in the second round with a hard left hand after breaking his knee in the first round

Fight Nights Global (FNG)

After recovering from a knee injury for almost two years, Nunes signed with

and his debut was at the Fight Nights Global 51: Dagestan battle 2, on 25 September 2016 against Rasul Mirzaev. He lost the fight by knockout in the first round.

Post FNG

After Fight Nights Global Nunes fought Radu Mihaita in Italy-based promotion Magnum FC in July 2017. Nunes won the fight via knockout. In the beginning of December 2017, Nunes fought Michel Ersoy in Swedish promotion Superior Challenge. Nunes won the fight via guillotine choke. Just two weeks after the fight with Ersoy, Nunes fought Corneliu Lascăr in Romania at RXF 29: All Stars and won via guillotine choke.

Rizin FF

After amassing a win streak of three in the European circuits, Nunes signed a contract with Rizin Fighting Federation. He was slated against Yusuke Yachi at Rizin 10 and lost a close fight via split decision.

Personal life

Diego is of Italian heritage. Diego is married with Karen Nunes. He is a Christian and regularly posts Bible verses on his Facebook page.

Championships and achievements

** Fight of the Night (One time) vs. Bart Palaszewski *Superior Challenge **SC Featherweight Championship (One time, current)

Mixed martial arts record

, - , Win , align=center, 23–8 , Simon Sköld , Submission (guillotine choke) , Superior Challenge 19 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 2:55 , Stockholm, Sweden , , - , Loss , align=center, 22–8 , Yusuke Yachi , Decision (split) , Rizin 10 , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

Fukuoka is the sixth-largest city in Japan, the second-largest port city after Yokohama, and the capital city of Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan. The city is built along the shores of Hakata Bay, and has been a center of international commerce since anc ...

, Japan ,

Lightweight Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing. Boxing Professional boxing The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) weight class in the sport of boxing. Notable lightweight ...

bout. , - , Win , align=center, 22–7 , Corneliu Lascăr , Submission (guillotine choke) , RXF 29: All Stars , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 4:46 , Brasov,

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

bout. , - , Win , align=center, 21–7 , Michel Ersoy , Submission (guillotine choke) , Superior Challenge 16 , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 0:54 , Stockholm, Sweden , , - , Win , align=center, 20–7 , Radu Mihatu , KO (punch) , Magnum Fighting Championship 2 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 0:25 , Rome, Italy , , - , Loss , align=center, 19–7 , Rasul Mirzaev , TKO (punches) , Fight Nights Global 51: Pavlovich vs. Gelegaev , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:45 ,

Kaspiysk Kaspiysk (russian: Каспи́йск; lbe, Ккасппи; av, Каспиялъухъ) is a city in the Republic of Dagestan, Russia, located on the Caspian Sea, southeast of Makhachkala. The 2010 Russian census recorded the city as being the ...

, Dagestan, Russia , , - , Win , align=center, 19–6 , Joachim Hansen , KO (punch) , Superior Challenge 11 , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 1:51 , Sodertalje, Sweden , , - , Loss , align=center, 18–6 ,

, Decision (split) ,

, , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

Uncasville, Connecticut Uncasville is an area in the town of Montville, Connecticut, United States. It is a village in southeastern Montville, at the mouth of the Oxoboxo River where it flows into the Thames River. The name is now applied more generally to all of the ea ...

, United States , , - , Loss , align=center, 18–5 ,

Patrício Freire Patricio in Spanish, or Patrício in Portuguese, is a male given name equivalent to Patrick in English. The Spanish name is pronounced with the stress on the same first i as Portuguese, but an accent is not needed because this follows normal ru ...

, KO (punch) ,

, , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:19 ,

Temecula, California Temecula (; es, Temécula, ; Luiseño: ''Temeekunga'') is a city in southwestern Riverside County, California, United States. The city had a population of 110,003 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and was Municipal corporation, i ...

, United States , , - , Loss , align=center, 18–4 ,

, Decision (unanimous) , UFC on FX: Belfort vs. Bisping , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...

, Brazil , , - , Win , align=center, 18–3 , Bart Palaszewski , Decision (unanimous) , UFC on FX: Browne vs. Bigfoot , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 , Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States , , - , Loss , align=center, 17–3 ,

, Decision (unanimous) , UFC on Fuel TV: Gustafsson vs. Silva , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 , Stockholm, Sweden , , - , Win , align=center, 17–2 ,

, Decision (unanimous) ,

, , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vega ...

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, Decision (unanimous) ,

, , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

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, Canada , , - , Win , align=center, 16–1 , Mike Brown , Decision (split) ,

, , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 15–1 ,

, Decision (unanimous) ,

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, Decision (split) ,

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, Canada , , - , Loss , align=center, 13–1 ,

, Decision (unanimous) ,

, , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 13–0 , Rafael Dias , Decision (unanimous) ,

, , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 12–0 , Cole Province , Decision (unanimous) , WEC 37: Torres vs. Tapia , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 11–0 , Marcelo Franca , Submission (guillotine choke) , Shooto: Brazil 8 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 2:20 ,

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, Brazil , , - , Win , align=center, 10–0 , Henrique Mello , KO (head kick) , Top Fighting Championships 3 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, N/A ,

, Brazil , , - , Win , align=center, 9–0 , Luciano Dos Santos , Submission (guillotine choke) , Sul Fight Championship 1 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 4:40 , Santa Catarina, Brazil , , - , Win , align=center, 8–0 , Jetron Azevedo , Submission (armbar) , Storm Samurai 10 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, N/A , Brazil , , - , Win , align=center, 7–0 , Piri Piri , Submission (guillotine choke) , Floripa Fight 1 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 0:55 , Florianópolis, Brazil , , - , Win , align=center, 6–0 , Einstein Santana , Submission (guillotine choke) , Battle Front 1 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, N/A , Brazil , , - , Win , align=center, 5–0 , Jorge dos Santos Velho , TKO , GP: Tornado 5 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, N/A , Caxias do Sul, Brazil , , - , Win , align=center, 4–0 , Giovani Diniz , KO , Profight Championships 3 , , align=center, N/A , align=center, N/A , Brazil , , - , Win , align=center, 3–0 , Lindomar Silva , Submission (guillotine choke) , GP: Tornado 3 , , align=center, N/A , align=center, N/A , Brazil , , - , Win , align=center, 2–0 , Michel Michel , KO , GP: Tornado 2 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 0:30 , Brazil , , - , Win , align=center, 1–0 , Jorge dos Santos Velho , TKO (punches) , Copa Gaucha: Fight Center 2 , , align=center, 2 , align=center, N/A , Caxias do Sul, Brazil ,

References

External links

Official UFC Profile
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Nunes, Diego 1982 births Living people Brazilian male mixed martial artists Featherweight mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists utilizing Brazilian jiu-jitsu Brazilian practitioners of Brazilian jiu-jitsu Ultimate Fighting Championship male fighters Brazilian people of Italian descent Brazilian Christians People from Caxias do Sul Sportspeople from Rio Grande do Sul

Mixed martial arts career

World Extreme Cagefighting

Ultimate Fighting Championship

Bellator MMA

Post Bellator

Fight Nights Global (FNG)

Post FNG

Rizin FF

Personal life

Championships and achievements

Mixed martial arts record

See also

References

External links