Ricardo Almeida

Background

Almeida is a fourth degree black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Renzo Gracie, and part of the Gracie Barra combat and competition team. Almeida is a veteran of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, PRIDE Fighting Championships, Grapplers Quest, and a former Middleweight King of Pancrase. In Pancrase he had notable wins over Nate Marquardt and Kazuo Misaki. Almeida trains with and teaches former UFC Lightweight Champion Frankie Edgar at his longtime Gracie system gym in Robbinsville, NJ.

Hiatus

Almeida retired for a four-year period after a six-fight win streak to focus on running his Jiu-Jitsu school in Hamilton Township, Mercer County, New Jersey.

Ultimate Fighting Championship

His return bout in the UFC occurred at UFC 81, where he submitted Rob Yundt at 1:08 in the first round. Almeida's next fight was against Patrick Cote at UFC 86, where he lost a close split decision.

Almeida returned at UFC Fight Night: Condit vs. Kampmann, this time on the preliminary card, to face Matt Horwich, winning by unanimous decision. His next fight took place on August 8 in Philadelphia against Kendall Grove at UFC 101. Almeida won by outgrappling his opponent for the majority of the bout and controlling the fight to earn a unanimous decision victory.

He was scheduled to fight Jon Fitch at UFC 106 but had to withdraw due to a knee injury suffered while training.

Almeida faced Matt Brown on March 27, 2010 at UFC 111 in his welterweight debut. Almeida defeated Brown by rear naked choke at 2:30 in round 2.

Almeida faced former UFC Welterweight Champion and UFC Hall of Famer Matt Hughes on August 7, 2010 at UFC 117 and lost via technical submission due to a Dave Schultz front headlock.

Almeida faced TJ Grant on December 11, 2010 at UFC 124. Almeida defeated Grant by unanimous decision.

Almeida faced Mike Pyle on March 19, 2011 at UFC 128. He lost the fight via unanimous decision.

Retirement

Almeida retired for the second time on March 30, 2011, saying that he could not focus 100 percent on fighting, citing his family, his son (who was diagnosed with autism), and teaching at his academies as other areas of his life that needed attention. He added that he would continue to support the UFC and teammates such as Frankie Edgar and Kris McCray.

MMA Judge

A week after his retirement, Almeida became a professional MMA judge in New Jersey. On May 5, 2012, he made his major-event debut as a judge at the UFC on FOX 3 card at the Izod Center in East Rutherford, New Jersey.

Personal life

Ricardo resides in Bordentown, New Jersey with his two children. He is the head instructor and owner at Ricardo Almeida Brazilian Jiu Jitsu School located in Robbinsville Township, New Jersey and in Newtown, PA where he trains his protege Max Bohannon who graduated from Bordentown in 2009.

Grappling credentials

ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship

ADCC 2003 88–98 kg: 4th place

ADCC 2001 88–98 kg: 2nd place Openweight: 4th place

ADCC 2000 Openweight: 3rd place

ADCC 1999 88–98 kg: 3rd place

ADCC 1998 88–98 kg: 2nd place

CBJJ Pan American Championships

1999 Brown Belt pesado: 1st Place

CBJJ Brazilian Championships

1997 Brown Belt Pesado: 1st Place

1996 Purple Belt Médio: 1st Place Purple Belt Open Weight: 3rd Place

IBJJF Pan American No-Gi Championship

2012 Black belt Meio-Pesado: 1st Place

IBJJF No-Gi Worlds Championship

2013 Black Belt Masters: 1st Place