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A tragic event has ended the life of former UFC bantamweight fighter Felipe Colares. Per Combate’s report, ‘Cabocao’ was hit by a bus while returning home from a training session in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Though Colares initially survived the impact, Rodrigo Babi, one his coaches, informed the media that the 29-year-old succumbed to his injuries and died on the way to the hospital.
Felipe Colares was noted for his community spirit
Most recently, Colares made the news when he used his Brazilian jiu-jitsu skills to stop a robber from mugging a woman in the streets of Rio de Janeiro. At the time, the UFC vet narrated the whole incident to Combate.
“I was returning from training with my friends. We were just talking about how violence against women was increasing and I saw this guy kind of arguing with a young woman and then he yanked the cellphone from her hand. She sat on ground, crying. He got on his bycicle and rode away. I thought he had assaulted her and went there to file him under the Maria da Penha law (a Brazilian law for violence against women),”
“The woman said he had mugged her so I gave chase,” Felipe sad. “We swept him and I immobilized him with a kimura. I stayed on the ground with him for a while, holding him in a rear-naked choke. People want to hit him, but I warned them not to, because he was under my custody. If something happened to him, he could say it had been men. We waited for the police to arrive, she recognized him and got her phone back. She said he wasn’t her boyfriend, he had really mugged her.”
Colares taught self-defense
In fact, the news went viral after more people in the fighting community learned about Felipe’s feat. The longtime martial artist used the opportunity to even talk about another project he was involved in, which served to teach self-defense to women.
“I work in a government project called Empoderadas (Empowered), which fights any kind of violence against women.” Felipe said. “I learn prevention techniques and verbalization to avoid it. Erica Paes, a jiu-jitsu champion, is responsible for the program. It was all very useful so I could make this arrest. I used verbalization to see if he was armed and then I stepped in to immbolize him. This program has saved the lives of many women. Erica has been working to dimish the numbers of cases of violence against women.”
Colares had six fights in the UFC
Born in the Northern region of Brazil, in the city of Macapa, Felipe Colares amassed a 4-0 record in his hometown, but moved to the Southeast region to look for bigger opportunities. While there, Cabocao won five more bouts and became the Jungle Fight featherweight champion before signing with the UFC.
Felipe Colares (11-4) was released from the UFC after dropping back-to-back losses to Chase Hooper and Chris Gutierrez, respectively in May 2022 and October 2021.
Overall, Cabocao left the promotion with a 2-4 record, having picked up wins over Luke Sanders and Domingo Pilarte, while losing two more to Geraldo de Freitas and Montel Jackson. In his last outing, Felipe Colares picked up a submission win over Alioune Nahaye at Ares Fighting Championship 12, in February 2023.
Felipe Colares had just turned 29 on March 31. He is survived by his wife, Jaqueline, and their six-month old son.
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