Alessio "Legionarius" Sakara (born September 2, 1981 in Rome, Italy) is an Italian mixed martial arts fighter, currently competing in the Ultimate Fighting Championship's (UFC) Middleweight division. Sakara is a former world junior boxing contender and pro boxer.
When Sakara was five, he began to play football (Soccer) as a midfielder. Sakara began training in boxing after realizing that, in order to be a football player on a professional level, he needed to know how to defend himself in case of a confrontation on the field. Initially, Sakara continued to play football and box, but after being penalized for fighting during a football tournament, he decided that he couldn't continue boxing and football.
After two years of training, Sakara competed in his first boxing tournament and won. Several years after turning professional in boxing, a friend showed him a video of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, and Sakara drew inspiration. To supplement his training, he traveled to Brazil where he met Roberto Almeida Meneguetti, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt.The two athletes cross-trained together, with Sakara teaching Meneguetti boxing and Meneguetti teaching Sakara jiu-jitsu.He recently signed with American Top Team in Miami. Sakara has great hands, due to his boxing days, and he's primarily a striker.
Alessio has amassed a 17-7-1 record, with one no contest ruling, in mixed martial arts . He was part of UFC 80 in Newcastle,England , where he won via TKO in the first round against PRIDE FC veteran James Lee. Following his victory over Lee, Sakara announced that he would be moving down to the middleweight division. Sakara lost by TKO to middleweight Chris Leben at UFC 82.He defeated Joe Vedepo in the first round by KO at UFC Fight Night.







Quarterly Rankings
Click here to Register!