Elite grappler Renato Canuto has just won his MMA debut in very impressive fashion at Tuff-N-Uff 144 on May 22nd, 2025. It’s been quite a long time in the making in fact, as Canuto has been open about wanting to pursue MMA for a while now. After battling through contract issues and having trouble finding willing opponents, things finally turned around just a few months ago when his debut was announced. It was still postponed but he had finally found an opponent willing to step into the cage against him, and Corey Stewart was coming into the fight with an 0-3 professional record.
Although Stewart had a losing record, that experience is still worth something. He started out as an amateur fighter in 2022 and after going 6-8 there, became a professional in 2024. Canuto is an ADCC veteran and one of the most exciting grapplers in the world, so naturally he was coming into this fight as the favorite on paper. He came out aggressively and looked like he was going to work his striking, but Stewart shot in for a takedown off the first kick he threw. Stewart drove Canuto into the cage but Canuto landed several elbows to the head from there, before hitting a beautiful uchi mata counter-throw.
Stewart tried to stand back up but Canuto continued landing shots, eventually transitioning to a bodylock and hitting a mat return. Canuto kept up the strikes while remaining heavy on Stewart’s hips and they were clearly starting to have an effect. Canuto started mixing it up, landing punches to the head and both kicks and knees to the body for several seconds. Stewart shelled up to try to survive the onslaught but the referee intervened eventually and waved the fight off, with the finish coming after just 50 seconds of action in total. Renato Canuto must be happy with such an impressive finish in his MMA debut and with no damage sustained, there’s a good chance he returns pretty quickly too.
