Raphael Assunção (born 19 July 1982) is a Brazilian former professional mixed martial artist who competed in the Bantamweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
Born in Recife in Northeast Brazil, Assunção moved to United States with his immigrant parents when he was a child.
[20] Assunção faced Issei Tamura on 11 July 2012 at UFC on Fuel TV: Munoz vs.
[22] Assunção faced Mike Easton on 8 December 2012, at UFC on Fox 5, replacing an injured Bryan Caraway.
[27] However, the pairing was delayed and was rescheduled for a future event due to a minor medical issue for Assunção.
[38] Assunção faced Bryan Caraway on 4 October 2014 at UFC Fight Night: MacDonald vs.
[39] He doubled the numbers of strikes Caraway threw and caught him with knees to win a unanimous decision victory.
[40] On 22 December 2014, Assunção announced that he had suffered a broken ankle during training that would not require surgery, but is expected to be sidelined for up to 10 weeks.
[41] A rematch with perennial contender Urijah Faber was expected to headline UFC Fight Night 62 on 21 March 2015.
[42] However, Assunção was forced out of the bout as an ankle first injured in mid-December 2014 was slow to heal and that he was unable to resume the proper training to prepare for the fight in that time frame.
[43][44] Subsequently, in August 2015, Assunção's management team announced that he would undergo surgery on the ankle and hoped to return by the end of the year.
[47] Assunção was expected to face Aljamain Sterling on 9 December 2016 at UFC Fight Night 102.
[60] Assunção faced Marlon Moraes in a rematch on 2 February 2019 in the main event at UFC Fight Night 144.
[65] Assunção was scheduled to face Cody Garbrandt as the co-main event on 28 March 2020 at UFC on ESPN 8.
[70] Assunção was scheduled to face Raoni Barcelos on 27 February 2021 at UFC Fight Night 186.
[72][73] Assunção was scheduled to face Kyler Phillips on 24 July 2021 at UFC on ESPN: Sandhagen vs.
[75] Assunção faced Ricky Simón on 18 December 2021 at UFC Fight Night: Lewis vs.
[81] He lost the fight via an inverted triangle choke technical submission in the third round, and announced his retirement during the post-fight interview.