Written by Rinat Fakhretdinov raises Carlos Leal’s hands after their 2024 fight in Abu Dhabi | Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC
Brazilian welterweight Carlos Leal is 1-1 under the UFC banner, but he will have a different answer if you ask him for his octagon record.
Set to face Muslim Salikhov in the preliminary portion of UFC Abu Dhabi on July 26, Leal admits he hasn’t moved on from this late-notice debut loss to Rinat Fakhretdinov. They met in October 2024, inside the same venue he returns to this weekend, and Leal lost a highly controversial decision when Hadi Mohamed Ali, Michael Bell and David Lethaby unanimously awarded Fakhretdinov the win.
“I put this pressure, this weight over myself,” Leal told MMA Fighting. “And I didn’t turn down the fight knowing it was on the same place. ‘I have to go there, I have a history there.’ It should have been a perfect story but I was hurt by the judges, so I have to go there and show the UFC I won’t be like, ‘Oh, I’m not fighting this guy on that place.’
“No, I want to be a good employee, I want to show I’ll fight anyone in any corner of the world. I put this pressure over myself. ‘I have to knock him out, I have to submit him because he’s pretty much fighting on home turf.’ It’s all in his favor, so I have to break the bank.”
Leal said he has experienced that in the past, leaving a cage feeling wronged by the judges, but the fact that this one happened under the bright lights of the UFC made it a bigger deal.
“After I saw the repercussion, it only made me know more that I had won the fight,” Leal said. “It’s what I tell everybody. I have two fight and two wins in the UFC. Who disagrees with that can just go back and watch the fight. … I was happy with my performance because I took the Rinat fight during that week. I wasn’t even training to fight someone like him and still put on a good fight. That loss put me over more than anything else.”
Leal came back eager after such heartbreak, demolishing Alex Morono for a violent first-round knockout in March. “The Lion” said the mindset remains the same for Salikhov and whoever comes after that.
“I’m in the world’s biggest promotion, and I need to show I’m one of the best in the world,” Leal said. “That was my mindset after the Rinat fight. Not only for the Morono fight, but also this one. I’m coming with the same mindset especially because of where this is, of me needing to end this before the decision. And if it goes the distance, it has to be a bigger beatdown than the one on Rinat.”
Leal said Salikhov is a better striker than Morono, much more precise with his attacks, but won’t be able to deal with his muay thai skills.
“I have to be more smart when I close the distance, especially early in the fight, because that’s when he’s more dangerous,” Leal said. “I like to start the fight feeling my opponent’s speed and power. Against Morono, when he started landing punches and kicks, I realized I was faster than him. I was seeing his movement. As my coach says, ‘He’s in slow motion, unleash your game now.’
“That’s how I’ll start with Salikhov. If I see I’m a step ahead of him, I’ll push the pace just like I did against Morono. If I see he’s dangerous, that his hands are fast and strong, I’ll be more cautious with my approach and force him to burn fuel early and then expose himself. But the goal is always the same: show that my striking is on another level. Fight a dangerous striker and knock him out. That’s the main goal. I know he’s been knocked out before, and I want to show I’m on a different level.
“I’m sure the UFC will see me with other eyes [after this win],” he continued. “It’s an opportunity to ask the UFC to test me against ranked fighters because I have all it takes to become the champion of this division. But it all depends not only on the win, but how I win. I’ll show I’m not just another fighter to take part in the UFC. I’m here to write my name in history as one of the greatest.”