The Best Brazilian Fighters Outside the UFC

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Long considered a hotbed for MMA talent, Brazil is home to some of the best fighters in the sport of MMA. Brazilian jiu-jitsu has been a stalwart in any fighter's repertoire and it seems the country is producing black belts at will these days.

While nobody will argue that the best fighters are currently under the UFC banner, there's also a handful of great fighters outside the Zuffa umbrella.

Stars like Anderson Silva, Junior dos Santos and Jose Aldo have become the face of Brazilian MMA but fans shouldn't forget about the people on this list either. They may not get the headlines, but they definitely put on exciting fights.

Thales Leites

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Another prominent Brazilian jiu-jitsu artist, Thales Leites has graced the UFC's Octagon and challenged for the UFC Middleweight title. Despite the fight being incredibly boring, he still earned the right to challenge Anderson Silva.

A Nova Uniao product, the BJJ black belt holds wins over notable fighters like Nate Marquardt, Dean Lister and MMA legend, Jeremy Horn.

Following his release from the UFC, Leites won three-straight bouts until being submitted by Matt Horwich. Leites bounced back from the loss by defeating Tor Troeng and Horn.

Eduardo Dantas

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A Nova Uniao product, the 23-year-old Eduardo Dantas began his career by going 10-2 while competing mainly in his native Brazil.

Dantas was brought in to Bellator to compete in their Season 5 Bantamweight tournament. Dantas ended up winning the tournament which was highlighted with an impressive flying knee to former EliteXC champion, Wilson Reis.

A title fight with Zach Makovsky is in line for Dantas sometime in 2012.

Jorge Santiago

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Jorge Santiago may have not had a successful UFC career, but that hasn't stopped the Brazilian from achieving success outside the UFC's Octagon.

Following his first release from the UFC, Santiago became the first Sengoku Middleweight Champion and defeated two men in a single night tournament for the Strikeforce Middleweight Grand Prix. Santiago was also involved in what many MMA fans consider the fight of the year against Kazuo Misaki in 2010.

Santiago is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt and holds wins over Mamed Khalidov, Siyar Bahadurzada and Jeremy Horn.

Douglas Lima

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Although the diehard MMA fans knew about Douglas Lima, he announced his arrival to the spotlight with a fantastic victory of Ben Saunders in the Bellator Welterweight tournament in November.

Lima has amassed an impressive 21-4 record with 18 of his victories coming via knockout or submission.

The Bellator title challenger trains with American Top Team in Atlanta and will have a chance to dethrone current Bellator champ, Ben Askren in April.

Roger Gracie

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Roger Gracie is not only a decent MMA fighter, he's also one of the most accomplished Brazilian jiu-jitsu artists to step inside a cage.

Gracie has a laundry list of accomplishments in the grappling world which has prevented him from competing a lot in MMA. To date, Gracie has only five fights on his record with his most recent being a KO loss to former Strikeforce champion, "King Mo" Lawal.

Recently, there was a rumor that Gracie had been contacted to join the UFC ranks but Dana White has since denied those claims.

Rafael Cavalcante

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Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante is the former Strikeforce Light Heavyweight champion. "Feijao" defeated "King Mo" Lawal in order to win the belt but was subsequently beaten by Dan Henderson.

Cavalcante rebounded from the loss and defeated Yoel Romero Palacio in September with a solid knee followed by a series of punches.

"Feijao" trains with the Black House team and has amassed an 11-3 record. All of his 11 wins have come via knockout or submission.

Renato Sobral

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Renato "Babalu" Sobral has been a staple of Brazilian MMA for a number of years. Known for his submission prowess, Sobral has used his Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt level skills to obtain half of his total wins.

Sobral was on his way to a fairly decent career in the UFC until he decided David Heath learning respect was more important than keeping his boss happy and following the rules.

"Babalu" holds victories over the likes of Mauricio Rua, Jeremy Horn, Chael Sonnen, Robbie Lawler and Mike van Arsdale.

Marlon Sandro

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In what is seemingly becoming the minimum requirements to train at Nova Uniao, Marlon Sandro is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt with a professional record of 20-3.

Sandro has only been finished once in his career, a loss to Pat Curran in the Bellator Summer Series Featherweight tournament. He bounced back from the loss by submitting Rafael Dias in November.

The Brazilian fighter has mainly fought in his native Brazil and Japan but has gone 3-1 since taking his career to the United States.

Patricio Freire

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Patricio "Pitbull" Freire had an impressive run on the Brazilian MMA circuit that saw the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt fighter go undefeated in 12 bouts.

Freire continued his successful MMA career by making it all the way to the finals of the Bellator Season 2 Featherweight tournament finals before being defeated by future champion Joe Warren.

"Pitbull" once again made it to the finals in the following tournament, this time winning the whole thing. A broken hand prevented Freire from exacting his revenge on Warren.

Ronaldo Souza

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Widely regarded as one of the best Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioners of all time, Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza has been making people tap a floor more than the Jersey Shore crew.

Other than Souza's numerous BJJ credentials, Souza holds wins over Robbie Lawler, Tim Kennedy, Matt Lindland, Jason "Mayhem" Miller and perennial Bellator title challenger, Alexander Shlemenko.

"Jacare" was last seen in a cage losing his Strikeforce middleweight title to Luke Rockhold. It was the grappling superstar's first loss in nearly three years.

Patricky Freire

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As impressive as his brother Patricio has been, Patricky may be even better. Freire made a successful Bellator debut by knocking out Rob McCullough.

He added another highlight reel KO to his credit by hitting Toby Imada with a flying knee to end their encounter. Freire was defeated in the finals by the current lightweight champion, Michael Chandler.

Freire got back to his winning ways by defeating Kurt Pellegrino via TKO in November at Bellator 59.

Bibiano Fernandes

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Bibiano Fernandes is no stranger to top-level competition. In just his second professional fight, Fernandes lost to Urijah Faber. In his next bout, he would lose against Japanese superstar, "Kid" Yamamoto.

The Carlson Gracie product is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt and holds notable wins over former champion Joe Warren and defeated two men in a single night to win the inaugural DREAM Bantamweight Grand Prix/Championship.

Other than being the first DREAM Bantamweight champion, Fernandes is also the promotions first featherweight champion as well.