Apostolis "Smealinho" Rama (born April 30, 1992) is a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

mixed martial artist Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incorpo ...

currently competing in the

Light Heavyweight Light heavyweight, also referred to as junior cruiserweight or light cruiserweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the division is above and up to , falling between super middleweight and cruis ...

division. He competed in the

Professional Fighters League The Professional Fighters League (PFL) is an American mixed martial arts league founded by venture capitalist Donn Davis in 2017 and launched in 2018, following the acquisition and restructuring of the former World Series of Fighting (WSOF) promo ...

, where he was the promotion's inaugural

Heavyweight Champion At boxing's beginning, the heavyweight division had no weight limit, and historically the weight class has gone with vague or no definition. During the 19th century many heavyweights were 170 pounds (12 st 2 lb, 77 kg) or less, thoug ...

, and also competed in the MFC.

Mixed martial arts career

Maximum Fighting Championship

Rama made his MFC debut against Canadian Lee Mein at MFC 34: Total Recall. Rama was superior and won by technical knockout in the first round. Then Rama made a fight in the BFTB, facing Jordan Tracey, in Battle for the Border 1: Blue Plates Vs. Red Plates, and won with a kimura in the first round. His return to MFC was against Canadian Ryan Fortin at MFC 35: Explosive Encounter. Rama won the first round finals. At MFC 36, Rama faced Mike Hackert, and knocked him out in the first round. With a six-game winning streak in MMA, three in MFC, Rama played MFC's Heavyweight Heavyweight belt against future

UFC The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

fighter Anthony Hamilton. Rama was knocked out early in the second round with a kick in the head, losing his unbeaten record.

World Series of Fighting/Professional Fighters League

Rama made his debut on WSOF against

Steve Mocco Iowa Hawkeyes Oklahoma State Cowboys Steve Mocco (born December 28, 1981) is an American former amateur wrestler, judoka and mixed martial artist. As a collegiate wrestler, he was a two-time NCAA national ch ...

on February 21, 2014 at WSOF Canada 1: Ford vs. Powell. Rama dominated the fight and won by unanimous decision. Rama won a fight in the Unified MMA against

veteran

Tim Hague Timothy Edward Lee Hague (May 9, 1983 – June 18, 2017) was a Canadian mixed martial artist and boxer who competed in the heavyweight division, most recently for Absolute Championship Berkut. He became a professional fighter in 2006, and former ...

and returned to the WSOF to contest the

WSOF Heavyweight Championship Professional Fighters League (formerly the World Series of Fighting, or "WSOF") is an American mixed martial arts promotion, and the following is a history of its champions in each weight class. As well as championship history for their Internation ...

on October 11, 2014 against

Derrick Mehmen Derrick Mehmen (born May 30, 1985) is an American professional mixed martial artist currently competing in the Heavyweight division for the Titan Fighting Championships. A professional competitor since 2006, Mehmen has also made appearances in St ...

. He knocked out the American with 51 seconds of fighting and won the title. His first defense was against

Blagoi Ivanov Blagoy Ivanov ( bg, Благой Александров Иванов; born October 9, 1986) is a Bulgarian mixed martial artist and Sambo practitioner. He is currently signed to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he competes ...

, on

WSOF 21 World Series of Fighting 21: Palmer vs. Horodecki was a mixed martial arts event held on in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. This event aired on NBCSN in the U.S and on Fight Network in Canada. Background The main event was originally scheduled to fe ...

, on June 5, 2015. Rama was submitted with a guillotine in the third round and lost his belt. After the loss, Rama decided to go down to light heavyweight, and succeeded, as in his next bout he knocked out Jake Heun in the second round on December 31, 2016 at WSOF 34. Rama faced the Brazilian

Ronny Markes Ronny Markes (born April 21, 1988), is a Brazilian mixed martial artist currently competing in the Heavyweight division. A professional competitor since 2007, Markes has formerly competed for the UFC, King of the Cage, PFL, Bellator MMA, and M- ...

PFL Daytona PFL Fight Night was mixed martial arts event promoted by the Professional Fighters League that was held on June 30, 2017 at the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. It was the first event to be promoted under the PFL name ...

on June 30, 2017, event that marked the debut of the

, which was formerly known as World Series of Fighting. Rama lost by unanimous decision. In June 2018, Rama entered the PFL Light Heavyweight Tournament. He faced

Brandon Halsey Brandon Halsey (born September 16, 1986) is an American professional mixed martial artist currently competing in the Light Heavyweight division of the Professional Fighters League. A professional competitor since 2012, he has formerly competed for ...

in the opening round at PFL 2 on June 21, 2018. He lost the fight via TKO in the third round when the fight was stopped by the cage side doctor due to a cut Rama suffered. In his second fight in the tournament, Rama faced Jamie Abdallah at PFL 7 on August 30, 2018. He won the fight via TKO between the second and third rounds when the doctor deemed Abdallah unable to continue due to swelling under his left eye. The win allowed Rama to advance to the next phase of the tournament. Rama was set to face Bellator vet Jordan Young on April 29, 2021 at PFL 2 as the start of the 2021 PFL Light Heavyweight tournament. At the beginning of April, Rama was replaced by

Vinny Magalhães Vinicius "Vinny" de Magalhães (; born July 2, 1984) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist who competes in the Light heavyweight division. A professional competitor since 2006, he was a finalist in '' The Ultimate Fighter: Team Nogueira vs. Team M ...

for the whole season.

Championships and accomplishments

World Series of Fighting The Professional Fighters League (PFL) is an American mixed martial arts league founded by venture capitalist Donn Davis in 2017 and launched in 2018, following the acquisition and restructuring of the former World Series of Fighting (WSOF) promo ...

(One time) *

2017 Top Prospect (Light-Heavyweight) Seventeen or 17 may refer to: *17 (number), the natural number following 16 and preceding 18 * one of the years 17 BC, AD 17, 1917, 2017 Literature Magazines * ''Seventeen'' (American magazine), an American magazine * ''Seventeen'' (Japanese ...

** https://www.flocombat.com/articles/5967168-flocombat-rankings-light-heavyweight-smealinho-rama-leads-way *

2012 Rookie of the Year 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

** https://www.fightmatrix.com/fightmatrix-awards/

Mixed martial arts record

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Sean O'Connell Sean O'Connell was a Gaelic football manager and player who featured for the Derry county team in the late 1950s, 1960s and 1970s and was on the Derry side that finished runners-up to Dublin in the 1958 All-Ireland Championship – winning an ...

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Long Beach, California Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporate ...

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Maxim Grishin Maxim Anthony Grishin (born May 2, 1984) is a Russian mixed martial artist and kickboxer who competes in the Light Heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Grishin was the former M-1 Global Eastern Europe Heavyweight Champion. ...

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Atlantic City, New Jersey Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, Boardwalk (entertainment district), boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020 United States censu ...

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, Decision (unanimous) , PFL: Daytona , June 30, 2017 , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 , Daytona Beach, Florida, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 10-2 , Jake Heun , TKO (punches) , World Series of Fighting 34: Gaethje vs. Firmino , December 31, 2016 , align=center, 2 , align=center, 3:30 ,

New York City, New York New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

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Blagoy Ivanov Blagoy Ivanov ( bg, Благой Александров Иванов; born October 9, 1986) is a Bulgarian mixed martial artist and Sambo practitioner. He is currently signed to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he competes ...

, Submission (guillotine choke) , World Series of Fighting 21: Palmer vs. Horodecki , June 5, 2015 , align=center, 3 , align=center, 1:17 , Edmonton, Alberta, Canada , Lost

, - , Win , align=center, 9-1 ,

, TKO (punches) , World Series of Fighting 14: Ford vs. Shields , October 11, 2014 , align=center, 1 , align=center, 0:51 , Edmonton, Alberta, Canada , Won

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, TKO (punches) , Unified - MMA 19 , May 23, 2014 , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:41 , Edmonton, Alberta, Canada , , - , Win , align=center, 7-1 ,

, Decision (unanimous) , World Series of Fighting Canada 1: Ford vs. Powell , February 21, 2014 , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 , Edmonton, Alberta, Canada , , - , Loss , align=center, 6-1 , Anthony Hamilton , KO (head kick) , MFC 38: Behind Enemy Lines , October 4, 2013 , align=center, 2 , align=center, 0:12 , Edmonton, Alberta, Canada , For MFC Heavyweight Championship , - , Win , align=center, 6-0 , Mike Hackert , KO (punches) , MFC 35: Reality Check , February 15, 2013 , align=center, 1 , align=center, 2:28 , Edmonton, Alberta, Canada , , - , Win , align=center, 5-0 , Ryan Fortin , Submission (rear-naked choke) , MFC 35: Explosive Encounter , October 26, 2012 , align=center, 1 , align=center, 2:02 , Edmonton, Alberta, Canada , , - , Win , align=center, 4-0 , Jordan Tracey , Submission (kimura) , Battle for the Border 1 , September 8, 2012 , align=center, 1 , align=center, 3:24 ,

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, Canada , , - , Win , align=center, 2-0 , Craig Hudson , Submission (rear-naked choke) , AFC 10 - Rise , June 15, 2012 , align=center, 1 , align=center, 3:50 ,

Calgary, Alberta Calgary ( ) is the largest city in the western Canadian province of Alberta and the largest metro area of the three Canadian Prairies, Prairie Provinces. As of 2021, the city proper had a population of 1,306,784 and a metropolitan population ...

, Canada , , - , Win , align=center, 1-0 , Demetrius Seguin , TKO (punches) , HKFC - School of Hard Knocks 20 , February 24, 2012 , align=center, 1 , align=center, 0:13 ,

Medicine Hat, Alberta Medicine Hat is a city in southeast Alberta, Canada. It is located along the South Saskatchewan River. It is approximately east of Lethbridge and southeast of Calgary. This city and the adjacent Town of Redcliff to the northwest are with ...

, Canada , Pro Debut.

References