Rodolfo Vieira

Overview

Five submission wins, zero knockouts, and not one of the seven UFC victories came from a punch or a kick. Rodolfo Vieira is a Brazilian middleweight with a 7-5 UFC record, and the finishing column is a single entry repeated: submission. The other two wins went the distance.

He debuted in August 2019 and carries a one-fight win streak into his next fight. His longest UFC streak is two.

The wins arrive by choke or lock, not by volume. The losses are another story.

UFC Career

The start was clean. Vieira submitted Oskar Piechota in the second round of his debut, then finished Saparbeg Safarov in the first at UFC 248 (2:58). Two fights, two submissions.

Then came the first loss: Anthony Hernandez submitted him in the second round at UFC 258 (1:53). He answered with a third-round submission of Dustin Stoltzfus, but a unanimous decision loss to Chris Curtis in 2022 followed. Our model rates Curtis a strong opponent.

The middle stretch brought two more submissions: Cody Brundage in the second round (1:28) and Armen Petrosyan in the first, at 4:48.

From there the results turned. Andre Petroski took a unanimous decision in February 2025. Tresean Gore fell to Vieira by unanimous decision that August, his first UFC win that didn't end in a submission. Then Bo Nickal, another strong opponent, stopped him in the third round at UFC 322 (2:24), the only knockout loss on his record. Eric McConico won a unanimous decision in April 2026, and Vieira closed the run with a unanimous decision over Robert Bryczek.

Of his five losses, three went to the scorecards. The submissions came early, and the decisions mostly came late.

Fighting Style

Rodolfo Vieira is a grappler first. His takedown rate stands far above the UFC average, and he is hard to take down himself. He also hunts for submissions more than most fighters in the division.

That grappling has produced all five of his finishes, every one by submission. Two came in the first round, two in the second and one in the third, so the finishes are spread across the fight rather than bunched early.

His striking is steady rather than flashy. He lands accurately for a fighter who spends so much time on the mat, while his output, the volume he absorbs and his defense all sit around the average. It is a sound base that supports the grappling.

Notable Wins

• Armen Petrosyan — submission, round 1 (4:48), UFC Fight Night: Hermansson vs. Pyfer (2024)
• Saparbeg Safarov — submission, round 1 (2:58), UFC 248 (2020)
• Cody Brundage — submission, round 2 (1:28), UFC Fight Night: Song vs. Simon (2023)
• Tresean Gore — unanimous decision, round 3, UFC Fight Night: Taira vs Park (2025)

Quick Facts

• Division: Middleweight
• UFC record: 7-5 (five submission wins, two decision wins)
• Professional record (all promotions): 12-5-0
• UFC debut: August 2019
• Stance: Orthodox
• Height / reach: 6'0" / 73"
• Team: Fight Sports Deerfield Beach
• Born: RJ, Brazil