Fili's mother raised her kids alone, as her husband was serving jail time on multiple occasions and was not living in the house.
The violent and unstable upbringing left its mark on Fili, and he started seeking out street brawls as a teenager.
In 2009, Fili moved to Sacramento and while still under probation, he joined Team Alpha Male and began training mixed martial arts.
Fili suffered his first loss, by knee injury, against Strikeforce vet Derrick Burnsed.
[7] Fili, who was in the middle of a training camp for a welterweight bout in another promotion, took the featherweight fight on short notice (two weeks) to replace an injured Charles Oliveira.
[10] Fili was expected to face Sean Soriano on September 5, 2014, at UFC Fight Night 50.
[18] Fili faced Gabriel Benítez on November 21, 2015, at The Ultimate Fighter Latin America 2 Finale.
[23] Fili faced Hacran Dias on October 1, 2016, at UFC Fight Night 96, filling in for an injured Brian Ortega.
[46] Early in round two, Fili accidentally poked Pineda in the eye and he was deemed unable to continue.
[49] Fili was scheduled to face Lando Vannata on September 17, 2022, at UFC Fight Night 210.
[50] However, Vannata was forced to pull from the event due to injury[51] and was replaced by Bill Algeo.
[53] Fili was scheduled to face Lucas Almeida on February 25, 2023, at UFC Fight Night 220.
[59] Fili faced Dan Ige, replacing injured Lerone Murphy, on February 10, 2024, at UFC Fight Night 236.
[65] Fili is scheduled to face Melquizael Costa on February 22, 2025 at UFC Fight Night 252.
[66] Fili made his professional grappling debut against Shane Shapiro at UFC Fight Pass Invitational 2 on July 3, 2022.