Maiquel José Falcão Gonçalves (8 March 1981 – 23 January 2022) was a Brazilian professional mixed martial artist who competed in the Light Heavyweight division.

A professional competitor since 2004, Falcão was perhaps best known for his stint in Bellator, winning the Season Six Middleweight Tournament; he also fought for the UFC, KSW, Fight Nights Global, and M-1 Global.

Mixed martial arts career

Early career

Falcão compiled a record of 25-3 (1) with 21 wins by knockout, fighting exclusively in his native Brazil. Two of his early losses came at the hands of former UFC Light Heavyweight Fábio Maldonado.

Ultimate Fighting Championship

On 20 November 2010, Falcão made his UFC debut at UFC 123, beating Gerald Harris by a controversial unanimous decision. The bout was controversial for multiple reasons. First, after dominating the opening round, Falcão sunk in a rear-naked choke. However, the round buzzer went off at least five seconds early. This was arguably costly for Falcão, as Dana White speculated that had the round expired at the correct time, Harris would have succumbed to the submission. Falcão's initial momentum waned, with the third round seeing a virtual stop to his attacks. After a strong crowd reaction, the bout ended with Falcão winning via unanimous decision (29-27, 29–28, 29–28).

Following the fight (and criticism from Dana White), Falcão stated that the lack of action in the third round was because he was waiting for Harris to attack, however he later conceded that White's criticism was fair. The bout's heavy criticism cost Harris his job shortly afterwards. Falcão remarked on his opponent's behavior during the fight, stating "[h]e tapped out in three different occasions, hiding it. It was a new thing for me, it was the first time I got three wins on the same bout. On the first round, he tapped out the first time when he was on the four points position, then he tapped out again in the end of the first round, when I got him on the rear-naked choke with his body turned up, and on the third round he tapped out again on a rear-naked choke."

Just days later, Falcão was arrested in Brazil for assaulting a woman outside a nightclub back in 2002. In 2002 Falcão had been sentenced to 24 months in prison, but following 8 months of the sentence he moved to house arrest on the assurance from his lawyer.

Falcão was expected to return at UFC Live: Sanchez vs. Kampmann against Alessio Sakara. However, in January 2011, he pulled out of the fight due to injury.

Falcão was expected to face Tom Lawlor on 27 August 2011, at UFC 134. However, the UFC abruptly released him on 11 May. According to one of Falcão's agents, the move came after fans and media bombarded the UFC with demands that he be removed from the UFC 134 card. In 2013, UFC president Dana White confirmed that he'd cut Falcão two years earlier because the UFC has zero tolerance for assault on women. He said, "Sexual assault, hitting a woman or anything like that, you're gone from the roster. It doesn't matter if you're a winner or a champion or anything like that. You're gone. Keep your hands off women."

Personal life and death

Falcão married a Ukrainian woman named Nataliia Tandarina in Kiev on 10 January 2020. In the early hours of 23 January 2022, Falcão was stabbed outside of a bar in his hometown of Pelotas, Brazil. He was rushed to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead, at the age of 40.