Alessio "Legionarius" Sakara
Record: 14-7-0 (Win-Loss-Draw)
8 (T)KO's
2 Submissions
4 Decisions
Alessio Sakara (born September 2, 1981 in Rome, Italy) is an Italian mixed martial arts fighter, boxer and currently competing in the Ultimate Fighting Championship's (UFC) Middleweight division. Sakara is a former world junior boxing contender.
When Sakara was five, he began to play football as a midfielder. Sakara began training in boxing after realizing that, in order to be a football player on a professional level, he needed to know how to defend himself in case of a confrontation on the field. Initially, Sakara continued to play football and box, but after being penalized for fighting during a football tournament, he decided that he couldn't continue boxing and football.
After two years of training, Sakara competed in his first boxing tournament and won. Several years after turning professional in boxing, a friend showed him a video of the Ultimate Fighting Championship and Sakara drew inspiration. To supplement his training, he traveled to Brazil where he met Roberto Almeida Meneguetti, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt. The two athletes cross-trained together, with Sakara teaching Meneguetti boxing and Meneguetti teaching Sakara jiu-jitsu. He recently signed with American Top Team in Coconut Creek, Florida. Due to his boxing background, Sakara is primarily a striker.
He was part of UFC 80 in Newcastle, England, where he won via TKO in the first round against veteran James Lee. Following his victory over Lee, Sakara announced that he would be moving down to the middleweight division. Sakara lost by TKO to middleweight Chris Leben at UFC 82. He defeated Joe Vedepo in the first round with a head kick, which earned him honours for the Knockout of the Night. Most recently, Alessio defeated Thales Leites by split decision at UFC 101.
Sakara was scheduled to face Rousimar Palhares on December 5, 2009 at The Ultimate Fighter 10 Finale, but had to withdraw after suffering an undisclosed injury while training. He was replaced by Lucio Linhares.
Sakara is expected to face James Irvin on March 21, 2010 at UFC LIVE: Vera vs. Jones.
Alessio "Legionarius" Sakara Video (some pictures and fight footage)
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Juce9OyOeVc][/youtube]