PFL's Antonio Carlos Jr. Revitalized His Career by Moving up to Light Heavyweight

Moving up a division after he joined the Professional Fighters League was one of the best decisions in Antonio Carlos Jr.’s career. Following his Ultimate Fighting Championship stint at middleweight, Carlos (13-5, 2NC; 4-0, 1NC PFL) opted to go back to light heavyweight following his agreement with the PFL. Unlike his first foray at 205 pounds that ended with a decision loss to Patrick Cummins in 2014, “Cara de Sapato” made the most out of his new weight category this time. Since his 205-pound transfer, the Brazilian fighter is undefeated and became the PFL 2021 light heavyweight champion by quickly submitting Marthin Hamlet in October. Now, Carlos is scheduled to face Bruce Souto at the upcoming 2022’s PFL 4 event, and he isn’t willing to let go of his winning streak.



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(00:00) Intro
(00:27) Discussing the Brazil national soccer team
(01:08) His favorite modern soccer player
(01:22) His all-time favorite soccer player
(02:30) His camp for Souto
(03:35) Training in Thailand
(04:23) Whether Marcus "Buchecha" Almeida will be in his corner
(05:05) Commenting on Buchecha’s latest victory
(06:45) Whether he would like to compete in grappling matches in the cage
(08:17) The biggest lesson he learned in his first year with PFL
(09:22) Moving up to light heavyweight
(11:48) Whether he considers returning to heavyweight
(12:48) Finishing Delan Monte at 2022’s PFL 1
(14:00) Picking his walkout song
(14:55) Outro

Tudor Leonte started writing about mixed martial arts in 2013 for Italian media outlets. His journey with Sherdog began in 2018 and he now covers One Championship and countless European shows. You can follow him on Twitter @MrTudorLeonte.