Thales Leites – MFC event photo
Former UFC middleweight contender Thales Leites (20-4) has been re-signed by the top promotion after close to four years and seven bouts which saw the Brazilian go 6-1.
News of his return to the Ultimate Fighting Championship was first reported by Globo.com earlier today.
Leites is hoping to step back inside the Octagon this August when the UFC returns to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for UFC 163.
Leites career peaked at UFC 97 when he was tagged as the No. 1 contender to face UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The bout marked a low point for both fighters with Silva looking to stand and Leites trying to take the fight to the ground, the ‘Spider’ would win an easy unanimous decision at the end of five rounds. Both UFC president Dana White and the Canadian fans expressed their displeasure at the lack of action in the match.
The Brazilian would face Alessio Sakara next as part of UFC 101 and would lose by split decision. Leites was released by the UFC following that defeat.
Afterwards, Leites would go on to compete for a number of different promotions picking up wins over opponents such as Dean Lister, Jesse Taylor, Jeremy Horn and Matt Horwich. The single defeat in the 6-1 span was a submission defeat to Horwich for the Powerhouse World Promotions middleweight title. Leites avenged that defeat to Horwich last March by winning via submission at an Amazon Forest Combat 2 show.