MMA Roots: The Man They Call ‘Shoe Face’

After repeated setbacks over the last two years, Antonio Carlos Jr.—the man known as “Shoe Face”—could have stepped back from his mixed martial arts career, especially after he won $1 million as a 2021 Professional Fighters League champion, yet the obstacles are precisely what keep him going. He will face Karl Moore in a PFL 2025 World Tournament 4 light heavyweight quarterfinal this Thursday at Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida, where he sets out in search of a second championship.

“Being able to get through all this just makes me want to win this tournament even more,” Carlos Jr. said. “I haven’t felt 100% in a long time. I’m bringing the best version of me to this season.”

After four dominant victories on the way to his PFL championship, it was only natural that Carlos Jr. would enter 2022 as the favorite. However, while training for the first fight of the season against Delan Monte, he suffered a partial ACL tear in his right knee.

“According to the doctor, I had 20% of the ligament left,” Carlos Jr. said. “My knee was very floppy, but with a lot of discipline and physiotherapy, I managed to win the first fight quickly.” The American Top Team mainstay reduced his training load ahead of his next two bouts in hopes he could pocket his second million-dollar payday before undergoing surgery. “In my second fight, I fought three rounds and won, but my movement was already very restricted; and while training for the semifinals, I suffered a total rupture of the anterior cruciate ligament, as well as the meniscus and cartilage, which forced me to leave the tournament and go straight to the surgery.”

Carlos Jr. wound up missing almost two years.

“Because I forced my left leg to do too much during this recovery process, I was subsequently forced to operate on the cruciate ligament and meniscus in my left knee, as well,” he said. “In the end, from 2022 onwards, I had four surgeries, three on the right and one on the left.”

Nevertheless, Carlos Jr. returned in 2024 and scored a first-round submission of Simon Biyong before losing on points to Alex Polizzi.

“When you can’t train 100%, it reflects on your performance,” he said, “but after many months of physiotherapy and strengthening, I feel that I have finally recovered the best version of myself for the 2025 season.”

Fighters only get one shot! Watch the PFL World Tournament LIVE Thursday, May 1 at 10 p.m. ET on ESPN2 and ESPN+.

Anyone who thinks that undergoing four knee surgeries was the most difficult challenge for Carlos Jr. would be mistaken. When he was 7 years old, his parents—university professor Antonio Carlos Coelho de Figueiredo and housewife Wilma Teresa Coelho Monteiro—grew concerned with his hyperactivity and nervous tics. It resulted in his being bullied at school. A doctor diagnosed him with ADHD and Tourette’s syndrome. His father thought sports would be the best path to personal and professional fulfillment for Carlos Jr. “Everyone has a talent that must be respected,” he said. “I soon realized that he wouldn’t be happy behind an office desk or teaching like me, so we started to encourage his development in sports.” They enrolled him in swimming but soon discovered that their son found true fulfillment in jiu-jitsu.

“I felt very lonely in the pool, which was not good for my mind,” Carlos Jr. said. “In jiu-jitsu, I found myself.” Professor Yuri Carlton was pivotal in the process. “In addition to being physically privileged, he had the hyperfocus that led him to learn very quickly,” Carlton said. “He also really liked to compete.” While competing in a submission wrestling tournament as a blue belt at the age of 15, Carlos Jr. mapped out his future alongside training partner Junior dos Santos. “When I became champion that day,” he said, “I decided I wanted to be an MMA fighter.”

Carlos Jr. won several jiu-jitsu championships before he debuted in mixed martial arts, including a national title in the heavyweight and absolute divisions in 2009. The following year, he struck double gold again, this time at the World Jiu-Jitsu Championships. He did so without having to face training partner Marcus Almeida.

“He won gold in the ultra-heavyweight division, [and] I won gold in the heavyweight division,” Carlos Jr. said. “We shared the absolute division final together, but we didn’t fight.”

Carlos Jr. in November 2011 watched dos Santos stop Cain Velasquez to win the Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight title and decided it was time to make his move to MMA. With the help of dos Santos’ boxing instructor, Luiz Dorea, Carlos Jr. started his standup education. Then, in 2013, he learned that the UFC was planning a third season of “The Ultimate Fighter Brazil” with heavyweights and middleweights. However, to make it through the selection process, Carlos Jr. would need to have a least three MMA fights under his belt.

Carlton and Dorea sprang into action and managed to get him on three regional cards in four months. Carlos Jr. did his part, securing three first-round submissions to nail down his spot on the cast for “The Ultimate Fighter Brazil 3,” which featured Wanderlei Silva and Chael Sonnen as coaches. He went on to defeat Edgard Castaldelli Filho and Marcos Rogerio de Lima to reach the heavyweight final, where he took a unanimous decision from Vitor Miranda to earn a UFC contract. Carlos Jr. spent seven years in the organization and compiled a 7-5 record with one no contest across his 13 appearances. He then signed with the Professional Fighters League, winning the 2021 PFL light heavyweight championship and a $1 million prize in his first season with the organization.

After suffering his knee injury before the 2022 PFL semifinals, Carlos Jr. used the long recovery period to boost his mainstream profile further by appearing on “Big Brother Brasil,” the most-watched television program in his home country. The obstacles he has already overcome have only made Carlos Jr. more self-assured ahead of the 2025 season. It starts with his quarterfinal against Moore.

“After everything I’ve been through, finally being able to have a perfect training camp without injuries only makes me more confident and want to win this tournament even more,” he said. “Karl is a solid opponent who seems to be very strong and tactical, but I don’t see him being very good in any of the three areas. My goal is to work the mix well to impose my game.”

In a grand prix that features Moore, Phil Davis, Rob Wilkinson, Karl Albrektsson, Simeon Powell, Sullivan Cauley and Marcelo Nunes, Carlos Jr. knows he must overcome three more obstacles to become champion again.