Vinny Magalhaes, a season eight finalist of The Ultimate Fighter, is back in the UFC after signing a multi-fight deal with the promotion, sources with knowledge of the situation confirmed to MMA Fighting.
The signing brings to a close a difficult period for the Brazilian submission specialist, who had been on the shelf since last October due to an ongoing feud with M-1 Global, his former promotion. He was its reigning light-heavyweight champion at the time of his departure.
Magalhaes’ signing was first reported by Tatame. However, the Brazilian news site added that Magalhaes is set to make his return at UFC 151 on September 1, and sources told MMA Fighting that while that possibility exists, Magalhaes has not yet been slotted into a return date and could make his comeback later in the year.
He is one of the most decorated jiu-jitsu practitioners in MMA, having won the 99 kg-and-over weight class of the prestigious ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship in 2011. He’s also won many other major BJJ titles.
The 28-year-old Magalhaes (9-5, 1 no contest) competed in season eight of TUF, when he was a relative MMA neophyte. At the time, he came in with a 2-2 record, and advanced to the finals before losing to current divisional contender Ryan Bader. In his next match, he lost a decision to Eliot Marshall and was subsequently cut from the promotion.
Since then, Magalhaes has gone 7-1, including an April 2011 mounted gogoplata submission victory over Viktor Nemkov, a win that earned him the M-1 title. He successfully defended the belt in a TKO over Mikhail Zayats in October before a falling out with M-1.
Most recently, while waiting for his M-1 contract matching period to end, Magalhaes, who is also a coach at Las Vegas-based Xtreme Couture — helped Chael Sonnen prepare for his UFC 148 title match with Anderson Silva.