Magalhães was born and raised in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He played football, and began training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu when he was 14 years old. His mentors are Royler Gracie & Vini Aieta [3]
Grappling career
Magalhães was promoted to black belt by his instructors Vinicius Aieta and Royler Gracie, on the podium after winning thirteen matches (ten by submissions), and taking home two gold medals in the 2005 World Jiu-Jitsu Championship as a brown belt.[4] Magalhães has recently expressed that he's been training in different grappling styles such as sambo (primarily leg locks) and catch wrestling. He is also known, despite his background in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, as being one of the primary pioneers (along with Shinya Aoki and others) of 10th planet jiu-jitsu techniques in MMA.
In 2007, Magalhães would become the first Jiu-Jitsu No Gi world champion in the Super Heavyweight Division as a black belt.[5]
In 2009, Magalhães had an impressive performance in the ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship, winning 2 Bronze Medals (Under 99 kg Division and Absolute Division). On his way to win the bronze medal in his weight Division, Magalhães defeated BJJ World Champion Rodrigo Cavaca (1st Round, Inverted Heel Hook),the 2003 ADCC World Champion and 2x BJJ Absolute World Champion Marcio Cruz(Quarter-Finals, Flying Armbar), ADCC Brazil Trial Winner and Fellow MMA fighter Glover Teixeira (3rd Place Match, Armbar) and Losing a razor edge decision on points to the eventual Champion Xande Ribeiro (Semi-Final, Points). On his run for his second bronze medal, Magalhães beat the 2005 ADCC Absolute World Champion Dean Lister by judges' decision, moving on to the quarterfinals against the 2X NCAA Wrestler and MMA Prospect[6]Chris Weidman, who he beat by Flying Armbar (His second in the Competition), which put him in the Semi-Final against Braulio Estima, who beat Magalhães by points, and became the eventual Absolute Champion. In the 3rd Place match, Magalhães used his experience against Gunnar Nelson to score a Takedown in the last few seconds of the over time to guarantee his second bronze medal in his first ADCC.[7]
In 2011, Magalhães went up weight class in the ADCC Tournament, competing at the 99 kg and over division. He became the divisional winner, beating the reigning champion Fabrício Werdum by points in the final match.
On August 9, 2014, Magalhães fought Keenan Cornelius in a grappling match in Metamoris IV. The fight ended in a draw. On November 22, 2014, Magalhães again fought at Metamoris V against Matheus Diniz that also ended in a draw.
At the 2015 ADCC Tournament, Magalhães won the bronze medal in the 99 kg and over division. All his wins came by submission, including a twister against Rodrigo Artilheiro in the quarterfinals.
Magalhães was invited to compete in the over 99 kg division at the 2024 ADCC World Championship.[8] He lost a decision to Damon Ramos in the opening round.[9]
Magalhães defeated Lance Evans, brother of Rashad Evans, when Evans quit after the first round due to a rib injury. Magalhães then defeated Jules Bruchez by armbar in the first round to move to the semifinals. Magalhães then fought Krzysztof Soszynski and defeated him by armbar in the first round, thus moving on to the finals to face Ryan Bader.
Magalhães' next fight was at UFC 97, taking on former The Ultimate Fighter castmate Eliot Marshall. Magalhães lost a unanimous decision (30-27, 30–27, 29-28).
Magalhães was released from the UFC on April 29, 2009, due to his 0–2 record with the company.[10]
M-1 Global
After being released from the UFC, Magalhães went 7–1, winning five fights by submission and two by knockout while dropping one by decision, improving his overall record to 9-5 (1).
After a contract dispute with M-1 Global, Magalhães placed his belt for sale on eBay.com with a bid of over US$90,000.
Return to UFC
On July 17, 2012, it was announced that Magalhães had re-signed with the UFC.[11] He faced Igor Pokrajac on September 22, 2012, at UFC 152.[12] and won via armbar at 1:14 of the 2nd round.
Magalhães faced Phil Davis on April 27, 2013, at UFC 159.[13] losing in a unanimous decision.
Magalhães faced Anthony Perosh on August 3, 2013, at UFC 163. He lost by knockout in just fourteen seconds in round 1.[14] After this loss, he was released from the UFC again.
Independent promotions
Magalhães denied any talks of retirement and was expected to fight Jeff Monson in a heavyweight bout on November 9, 2013, at Global Warrior Challenge 2: USA vs Brazil.[15] However, Magalhães pulled out of the fight due to a prolonged back injury.
Magalhães defeated previously unbeaten Mexican fighter Jorge Gonzalez at Xtreme Kombat 24 via first round rear naked choke on July 19, 2014, in Naucalpan de Juárez, Mexico; After almost a full year absence from fighting.
The championship fight with Brilz was re-booked and took place on September 26, 2014, at Titan FC 30 in Cedar Park, Texas, Magalhães defeated Brilz in the opening minute of the 4th round via guillotine choke after dropping Brilz with a headkick. Magalhães is now the TitanFC light heavyweight champion.[18]
World Series of Fighting
Magalhães was scheduled to face UFC veteran Matt Hamill at WSOF 20 on April 10, 2015. However, he was pulled from the bout after a contract dispute with Titan Fighting Championships. He eventually faced Hamill at WSOF 24 held on October 17, 2015, and won via submission in the first round.
Magalhães fought for the WSOF light heavyweight championship at WSOF 33 on October 7, 2016, against champion David Branch.[19] He lost via unanimous decision.
Absolute Championship Berkut
Magalhães faced Karol Celinski on July 1, 2017, at ACB 63.[20] He lost the fight via unanimous decision.
Professional Fighters League
2018 PFL season
In his PFL debut, Vinny faced Jamie Abdallah at PFL 2 on June 21, 2018. He won the bout via first round rear-naked choke.[21]
In his sophomore performance, Vinny faced Brandon Halsey at PFL 5 on August 2, 2018. He won the bout after connecting with a head kick in the first round and finishing Halsey on the ground.[22]
In the quarterfinals on October 13, 2018, at PFL 9, Vinny faced Rakim Cleveland, winning the bout via first round kimura.[23]
In the semifinals on the same night at PFL 9, Vinny faced Bazigit Atajev, winning via first round kimura once again.[23]
In the finals, Vinny faced Sean O'Connell at PFL 11 on December 31, 2018. He lost the back-and-forth fight via TKO between the third and fourth round after Vinny Magalhães stopped the bout.[24]
2019 PFL season
In the first fight of the season, Vinny faced eventual season winner Emiliano Sordi at PFL 3 on June 6, 2019. He lost the bout via TKO in the second round.[25]
In a rematch of the previous season, he faced Rakim Cleveland at PFL 6 on August 8, 2019. He won the bout via first round armbar.[26]
Making it to the quarterfinals, Vinny faced Rashid Yusupov at PFL 9 on October 31, 2019. He lost the bout in the first round after being knocked unconscious.[27]
2021 PFL season
At the beginning of April, Vinny replaced Smealinho Rama for the whole 2021 season.[28] He was scheduled to face Jordan Young at PFL 2 on April 29, 2021.[29] At weigh-ins, Vinny missed weight and had to be taken to the hospital due to complications of his weight cut and was pulled from the bout.[30]
Vinny faced Antônio Carlos Júnior at PFL 5 on June 17, 2021.[31] Halfway through round one, Júnior hit Magalhães with an accidental knee to the groin, rendering him unable to continue. This led to the bout being declared a no contest.[32]
