Born in Feira de Santana, Bahia in 1995, Carlos Felipe was bullied throughout his childhood for being overweight. At age 14, Felipe weighed 346 pounds. Felipe was morbidly obese and his family tried everything, but nothing seemed to help him lose weight. After trying many different ways to lose weight, various diets and supplements, Felipe says boxing finally helped him drop from 346 pounds to 275 in just 12 months. He gained so much more confidence that he even began running to the local gym every day, training, then running back home once finished.[3]
Mixed martial arts career
Early career
Starting his professional career in 2014, Felipe fought for various Brazilian regional promotions, amassing an undefeated 8–0 record, winning 6 out of 8 by first round KO.[4]
Ultimate Fighting Championship
After signing with the UFC, on September 19, Felipe was flagged for a potential USADA violation stemming from an out-of-competition sample collected July 29. Therefore, he was pulled from his UFC debut against Christian Colombo at UFC Fight Night: Brunson vs. Machida.[5] On October 20, it was announced that Felipe accepted a two-year suspension retroactive to the date of his provisional suspension. He tested positive for metabolites of stanozolol, 16β-hydroxy-stanozolol and 3’-hydroxy-stanozolol.[6] He was eligible to return September 18, 2019.
After being released after his positive test, Felipe was resigned to the UFC on July 20, 2019.[7]
Felipe was expected to make his UFC debut against Serghei Spivac on May 9, 2020, at then UFC 250.[8] However, on April 9, Dana White, the president of UFC announced that this event was postponed to a future date[9] Eventually the bout was scheduled on July 19, 2020, at UFC Fight Night 172.[10] He lost the fight via majority decision.[11]
On January 18, 2022, it was announced that Felipe was given a 18-month suspension and 15 percent fine of his fight purse after tested positive for the anabolic agent Boldenone and its metabolites on Oct. 16 in relation to his decision loss to Andrei Arlovski at UFC Vegas 40. He was fined $4,200 of his purse and $489 in prosecution fees. His suspension is retroactive to the night of his failed test, meaning Felipe was cleared to resume competing on April 16, 2023.[21]
Following the second doping violation, Felipe was released by the UFC.[22]
Absolute Championship Akhmat
Felipe made his ACA debut on April 28, 2023 at ACA 156, defeating Yuriy Fedorov by the way of split decision.[23]
Felipe faced Salimgerey Rasulov at ACA 164 on October 4, 2023, losing the bout via uanimous decision.[24] At weigh-ins, Rasulov missed weight coming in at 272.3 lbs, 6.3 pounds over the Heavyweight non-title limit. Due to this Rasulov was fined a 50% of his purse which went to Felipe.[25]
