Alessio Sakara

Template:MMAstatsbox Alessio "Legionarius" Sakara (born September 2, 1981 in Rome, Italy) is an Italian mixed martial arts fighter, currently competing in the Ultimate Fighting Championship's (UFC) Middleweight division. Sakara is a former world junior boxing contender and pro boxer.

Biography and training

When Sakara was five, he began to play football (Soccer) as a midfielder. Sakara began training in boxing after realizing that, in order to be a football player on a professional level, he needed to know how to defend himself in case of a confrontation on the field. Initially, Sakara continued to play football and box, but after being penalized for fighting during a football tournament, he decided that he couldn't continue boxing and football.

After two years of training, Sakara competed in his first boxing tournament and won. Sakara would go on to win the world junior boxing championships. Several years after turning professional in boxing, a friend showed him a video of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, and Sakara drew inspiration. To supplement his training, he traveled to Brazil where he met Roberto Almeida Meneguetti, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt.The two athletes cross-trained together, with Sakara teaching Meneguetti boxing and Meneguetti teaching Sakara jiu-jitsu.He recently signed with American Top Team in Miami. Sakara has great hands, due to his boxing days, and he's primarily a striker.

Alessio has amassed a 17-7-1 record, with one no contest ruling, in mixed martial arts . He was part of UFC 80 in Newcastle,England , where he won via TKO in the first round against PRIDE FC veteran James Lee. Following his victory over Lee, Sakara announced that he would be moving down to the middleweight division.^[1] Sakara lost by TKO to middleweight Chris Leben at UFC 82.^[1]He defeated Joe Vedepo in the first round by KO at UFC Fight Night

Mixed martial arts record

Professional record breakdown
25 matches	17 wins	7 losses
By knockout	12	3
By submission	2	2
By decision	3	2
No contests	1

Record	Result	Opponent	Method	Event	Date	Round	Time	Location
13-7-0(1)	Win	Joe Vedepo	KO (Kick and Punch)	UFC Fight Night: Diaz vs. Neer	9/17/08	1	1:27	Omaha, Nebraska, USA
12-7-0(1)	Loss	Chris Leben	TKO (Punches)	UFC 82: Pride of a Champion	3/01/08	1	3:16	Columbus, Ohio, USA
12-6-0(1)	Win	James Lee	TKO (Punches)	UFC 80: Rapid Fire	1/19/08	1	1:30	Newcastle, England, United Kingdom
11-6-0(1)	Loss	Houston Alexander	TKO (Knee and Punches)	UFC 75: Champion vs. Champion	9/08/07	1	1:01	London, England, United Kingdom
11-5-0(1)	Win	Victor Valimaki	TKO (Strikes)	UFC 70: Nations Collide	4/21/07	1	1:44	Manchester, England, United Kingdom
10-5-0(1)	Loss	Andrew McFedries	TKO (Punches)	UFC 65: Bad Intentions	11/18/2006	1	4:07	Sacramento, California, USA
10-4-0(1)	Loss	Dean Lister	Submission (Triangle Choke)	UFC 60: Hughes vs. Gracie	5/27/2006	1	1:20	Los Angeles, California, USA
10-3-0(1)	Win	Elvis Sinosic	Decision (Unanimous)	UFC 57: Liddell vs. Couture 3	2/4/2006	3	5:00	Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
9-3-0(1)	NC	Ron Faircloth	No Contest (Faircloth kicked Sakara in groin)	UFC 55: Fury	10/7/2005	2	0:24	Uncasville, Connecticut, USA
9-3	Win	Frank Amaugou	Decision (Unanimous)	King of the Ring	2/19/2005			Milan, Italy, Italy
8-3	Win	Tihamer Brunner	TKO (Punches)	Ring Fight	11/20/2004			Bergamo, Italy
7-3	Loss	Assuerio Silva	Decision (Unanimous)	Jungle Fight 3	10/23/2004	3	5:00	Manaus, Brazil
7-2	Win	Eduardo Maiorino	KO (Punch)	Real Fight 1	7/30/2004	1	0:30	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
6-2	Win	Rafael Tatu	TKO (Doctor Stoppage)	Meca World Vale Tudo 9	8/1/2003	2	4:18	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
5-2	Win	Damien Riccio	Decision (Unanimous)	Martial Arts Day	5/11/2003	2	6:00	Rome, Italy
4-2	Win	David Mortelette	TKO (Strikes)	Resa Dei Conti 6	12/20/2002	1	1:12	Livorno, Italy
3-2	Loss	Roman Zentsov	Decision (Unanimous)	M-1 MFC: Russia vs. the World 4	11/15/2002	2	5:00	St. Petersburg, Russia
3-1	Loss	Simon Holmes	Submission (Rear Naked Choke)	CWFC 1: Armageddon	7/27/2002	1	4:50	London, England, United Kingdom
3-0	Win	Adam Woolmer	Submission (Kimura)	CWFC 1: Armageddon	7/27/2002	1	0:21	London, England, United Kingdom
2-0	Win	Mastioli Mastioli	Submission (Armbar)	Fight Night	6/21/2002	1	0:20	Pomezia, Italy
1-0	Win	Di Clementi	KO (Punch)	Fight Night	6/21/2002	1	0:13	Pomezia, Italy