Vicente Catta Preta Luque (aka “The Silent Assassin”), born November 27, 1991, is an American-born Brazilian MMA fighter who is currently ranked no.5 in the UFC’s welterweight division.
The 29 year-old Luque fights out of Sanford MMA under Henri Hooft alongside fighters such as Michael Chandler, Gilbert Burns and Anthony Johnson. Luque holds notable wins over Tyron Woodley, Niko Price and Belal Muhammad.
Vicente’s fighting style is very well-rounded and he has a high 90% finish rate, with 18 of his 20 wins being stoppages. These stoppages are fairly evenly spread, with 11 wins by TKO/KO and 7 via submission.
Luque does well to combine his technical striking and stunning power alongside his impressive brown belt-level jiu-jitsu skill that has served him well throughout his career. Furthermore, “The Silent Assassin” is a very good opener, with 12 of his finishes being first-round ones.
After 13 fights, Luque held an underwhelming record of 7-5-1, after losing his debut fight in the UFC in 2015, however, since then, he has complied an impressive 13-2 record in his last 15 fights losing only (via decision) to the division’s elite; Leon Edwards and Stephen Thompson.
Currently, Luque is on a 3-fight win streak and, in 5 of his last 7 fights, he has received 4 ‘Fight of the Night’ and 1 ‘Knockout of the Night’ bonuses.
Having just recently submitted former champion Tyron Woodley two weeks back, (March 27, at UFC 260) this leaves the question of who’s next for Luque? Is a rematch with either Thompson or Edwards on the cards, or perhaps bouts vs Michael Chiesa, or Gilbert Burns? Any of these would be exhilarating matchups.
As the Covington vs. Usman title fight has been confirmed, would a win over the four above-mentioned fighters be enough to secure a shot at UFC gold?
Now that you have a brief background into “The Silent Assassin’s” career, let’s take a look at Vicente Luque’s Top 5 MMA Finishes! (in descending order)
5. Vs. Hayder Hassan – UFC on Fox 17 (Dec. 19, 2015)
This was a rematch after Hassan took the first fight by split decision on The Ultimate Fighter TV show, with Luque looking to get revenge.
In round 1, at 35 seconds in,Luque lands a straight right hitting Hassan and bouncing him off the cage, whilst Vicente continues to mount the pressure.
At 1:45, Hassan shoots for a takedown, but Luque sprawls and wraps up Hassan’s head and arm, dropping down to secure an anaconda choke thereby putting Hassan to sleep for the fight stoppage at 2:13 of round 1.
This impressive submission gave Luque the revenge he sought and a welcome ‘Performance of the Night’ bonus worth $50,000.
4. Vs. Chad Laprise – UFC Fight Night 129 (May 19, 2018)
After getting back on track against Niko price after previously losing to Leon Edwards the fight before, Luque looked to continue rebuilding back up the UFC rankings against Chad Laprise.
Significant action starts at 1:40 of round 1, as Laprise clinches Luque against the cage and does well to control Vicente, but is unable to land anything major.
Shortly after, Luque begins to switch on his forward pressure, and at 4:10 in, lands a blistering straight left, dropping Laprise followed by quick ground strikes causing the fight stoppage.
3. Vs. Belal Muhammad – UFC 205 (Nov. 12, 2016)
After a 3-fight streak of finishing his opponents, Luque looked to make that 4 against Belal Muhammad in one of the biggest events the UFC ever held, being the first UFC event hosted in New York City.
In round 1, Luque comes out, and noticeably, starts to continuously switch stances whilst firing off debilitating leg kicks. Luque’s footwork and pressure visibly gives Muhammad a tough time, as he’s unable to read Luque’s moves.
As Muhammad enters the pocket, he’s greeted by a short-left hook dropping him, whereupon Luque quickly finishes the fight at 1:19 of round 1.
This fight gave Luque back-to-back, first-round finishes in a combined time of just 2:29.
2. Vs. Héctor Urbina – UFC Fight Night 95 (Sept. 24, 2016)
In 2016 Luque took on the vastly more experienced Urbina in his rise up the UFC ranks, and it only took a minute for Luque to show, in this case, that fighting is a young man’s game.
In round 1, Urbina fires out a whipping head kick right from the off, but Luque lands a sharp left hook that hurts Urbina just 10 seconds in. This triggers Urbina to shoot for a takedown which is stuffed by Luque.
At 45 seconds, Héctor begins to exchange with Luque getting the better of the situation, landing his jab first – then a huge flurry from both fighters ensues, ending with a massive right hook from Luque which immediately renders Urbina unconscious. The fight is stopped at 1:00 of round 1.
This speedy K.O. won Luque a ‘Performance of the Night’ bonus worth $50,000, not bad for 60 seconds of work!
1. Vs. Tyron Woodley – UFC 260 (March 27, 2021)
In Luque’s most recent fight to date, he took on his toughest test against former UFC Welterweight Champion Tyron Woodley; a win here would significantly boost Luque’s stock and get him one step closer to UFC gold.
In round 1, Woodley explodes forward, firing a missile of a right hand that just misses, and he falls into a clinch which he uses to force Luque up to the cage.
At 1:25, they separate from the clinch and again, Woodley unleashes a monstrous right hand, that’s blocked by Vicente.
At 2:45, Woodley’s right hand finally lands and wobbles Luque; however, Woodley is over-aggressive in looking for the finish and he gets caught with a counter left hook, causing his legs to betray him.
With Woodley’s legs failing to scaffold beneath him, he falls to the canvas as he throws a right hand at 3:30 giving Luque the perfect opportunity to sink in a D’Arce (or Brabo) choke, finishing the fight at just 3:56 of round 1.
Despite only being a 1-round fight, the back and forth war was enough to earn both competitors the ‘Fight of the Night’ award and a $50,000 bonus each; it was also named MMA Junkie’s ‘Fight of the Month’ for March 2021.
