Watch BJJ world champion Renato Canuto win his MMA debut at Tuff-N-Uff 144.
Decorated Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and submission grappling standout Renato Canuto hardly broke a sweat in his long-awaited professional MMA debut.
On Thursday, May 22, 2025, at Tuff-N-Uff 144 in San Diego, California, the 28-year-old BJJ black belt needed less than one minute to score a TKO win over American Corey “The Hitman” Stewart.
An IBJJF world champion in both gi and no-gi, Canuto immediately becomes one of the most accomplished grapplers currently competing in MMA. He posted a cage-side video of his one-round decimation of Stewart.
Perhaps surprisingly, Canuto hardly needed to use his grappling at all. After just a few moments on the feet, Stewart shot in for a takedown. The Brazilian defended, landed several elbow strikes to his opponent’s head, and continued to pour on strikes, including a soccer kick to the head, before the referee called an end to the contest after just 51 seconds of action.
Canuto has long been teasing a transition to MMA, and if his debut fight was any indication, he seems to be taking to the all-around sport well, displaying excellent striking in the short amount of time the bout was standing.
In terms of grappling, Canuto is widely recognized among the sport’s most entertaining competitors. He is renowned for his flying armbar, explosive takedown game, incredible scrambling ability, and dynamic outside guard passing. After losing to Tommy Langaker in the first round of last year’s inaugural Craig Jones Invitational, he has since bounced back with a trio of impressive grappling victories over PJ Barch, Jason Nolf, and Oliver Taza.
Canuto joins a number of other elite grapplers currently making waves in their burgeoning MMA careers, including ADCC and CJI champion Kade Ruotolo (3-0), ADCC and multiple-time IBJJF world champion Bia Mesquita (4-0), and IBJJF world champion Mahamed Aly (4-0).
