Written by Luis Francischinelli | Photo via LFA
Luis Francischinelli might be the world’s tallest welterweight in MMA today, and being almost as big as UFC heavyweight Alexander Volkov—and having the skills to back it up—earned him a shot at changing his life.
Francischinelli looks to go 5-0 as a professional fighter on Friday, when he faces Angelo Rivera Jr. at LFA 208 in Santa Cruz, Calif. Prior to cagefighting, he was a kickboxer looking to make a name for himself in the Brazilian circuit when he realized it was taking way too long due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
At the time, Francischinelli was 25, and he sat down with his wife and decided to sell their car and motorcycle to buy a ticket to fly to the United States. He messaged eight random people on Instagram looking for advice on how was it like to live in the U.S., and the first man to write back told him to do it immediately.
Francischinelli flew to California 45 days later and knocked on the door of Black House gym. Money was short, but he had enough to pay for a room and train. He shared the place with two other men, including “a bipolar man that became my friend and even borrowed me money to buy a car.”
“It was hard,” Francischinelli told MMA Fighting, “But God put good people around me.”
One of those people was Jorge Guimarães, manager to current UFC stars like Alex Pereira, Alexandre Pantoja, and legends such as Anderson Silva, Lyoto Machida and the Nogueira brothers. One of the talents on the team was Volkov, a top-ranked UFC heavyweight who was slated to face Ciryl Gane after knocking out Alistair Overeem. Volkov needed bodies to train with, and that tall kid from Brazil was selected.
“But he was a heavyweight and I weighed like 180 pounds,” Francischinelli said. “I’m tall, but that’s all. They said, ‘Go there and spar with him.’ I was like, ‘My God! But yeah, sure, I’ll go.’ I went there and did three hard rounds with Volkov. People were like, ‘What? Who’s this kid?’ ‘Joinha’ [Guimarães] saw me and was like, ‘Oh, we got something here.’”
Guimarães introduced Francischinelli to his business partner Ed Soares, the head of LFA, and offered him a contract with the promotion so he could get a visa to start his career in the U.S..
“They did me a favor, really, because they didn’t know who I was yet,” Francischinelli said. “They saw me train, but how many people go there every day?”
Francischinelli trained at Black House for a little over a year before moving to CMMA, where he sharpened his jiu-jitsu and wrestling to finally start a carer in MMA. It was on a random Thursday that the call came asking him if he wanted to take a fight on 48 hours’ notice at middleweight, since the original fighter suffered an injury. He jumped on the opportunity, drove to Commerve, Calif., made weight and beat Emmanueli Adzoh by knockout in just 85 seconds.
Months later, after a few cancelled matches, Francischinelli flew to New York to score another first-round knockout, this time stopping Ken Burrs. Greg Sun and Victor Kuiks also failed to last a round against Francischinelli, who now feels he’s one win away from the UFC.
“I almost made it on The Ultimate Fighter in May but wasn’t selected, maybe because I only have four fights,” Francischinelli said. “But they know who I am now. They see me. And I believe this could be the fight [to get me to the UFC].
“Every single day I wake up and think, this is the year I’m going to the UFC. I know it’s going to happen. I believe I have huge potential, and I have a ton of experience in the striking. I still have to prove myself in some areas, like the ground game, but my wrestling and jiu-jitsu are getting better and better. I have everything to put on a show, to go [to the UFC] and become champion. I know that will happen. And I’ll be there this year.”