Early career Sobral made his professional mixed martial arts debut on 27 September 1997 in his hometown of
Rio de Janeiro. He won all three of his fights on the same night by strikes and then had a one-fight stint in International Vale Tudo before fighting in Brazilian Vale Tudo on 24 July 1999. Sobral again won all three of his fights that night and then made his debut in the Japanese
RINGS organization.
RINGS Sobral made his RINGS debut against
Georgian wrestler
Zaza Tkeshelashvili and won via
kimura arm submission. He followed this up with a unanimous decision win over British
kickboxer Lee Hasdell. Still undefeated, he participated in the King of Kings 1999 Final, winning his first two fights of the day before being handed his first career loss by
Dan Henderson. Sobral lost the fight via minority decision, two judges scored the bout a draw while a third judge scored the bout in Henderson's favor. Sobral then won his next four consecutive fights before losing to
Valentijn Overeem by a
toe hold submission. After a one-fight stint in the UFC, he fought in RINGS three more times. He defeated
Kiyoshi Tamura via majority decision, followed this up with another majority decision win over
Tsuyoshi Kohsaka. Sobral then faced
Fedor Emilianenko at the 10th Anniversary show and lost via unanimous decision.
Ultimate Fighting Championship Sobral made his
UFC debut at
UFC 28 against former
UFC Heavyweight Champion Maurice Smith. Sobral won the fight via unanimous decision. Sobral next fought
Kevin Randleman at
UFC 35 on 11 January 2002. He lost via unanimous decision. Sobral's next fight was against
Elvis Sinosic at
UFC 38 on 13 July 2002. He won via unanimous decision. Sobral next fought
Chuck Liddell at
UFC 40 on 22 November 2002. He lost via head kick in the first round. He left the
UFC in early 2003 and fought for minor and local promotions until his return in 2005. Sobral returned to the
UFC at
UFC 52 against
Travis Wiuff on 16 April 2005. He won the fight via
armbar in the second round. Sobral next fought future
Middleweight and
Light Heavyweight title challenger
Chael Sonnen at
UFC 55 on 7 October 2005. He won the fight via
triangle choke in the second round. Sobral's next fight was at
UFC 57 against
Mike Van Arsdale on 4 February 2006. He won the fight via
rear naked choke in the first round. At
UFC 62, Sobral was defeated by
Chuck Liddell in a rematch for the
UFC Light Heavyweight Championship. The match was stopped as a
technical knockout at 95 seconds into the first round. Following his loss to Liddell, Sobral faced
Jason Lambert at
UFC 68. Sobral was knocked out in the second round.
UFC 74 controversy Sobral's next fight was at
UFC 74 against
David Heath. The first round consisted of Sobral ground and pounding Heath. In the second round, he opened a cut on Heath's forehead which bled profusely. Sobral secured another takedown and then worked to an
anaconda choke. Heath tapped out, but Sobral continued to hold the anaconda choke, ignoring referee Steve Mazzagatti's commands and resisting his attempts to break the hold. Sobral did not release the choke until Heath passed out from
hypoxia. During his post-fight interview, Sobral told UFC commentator
Joe Rogan that he was aware that Heath had tapped, but "he (Heath) has to learn respect. He deserved that. He called me motherfucker." It has since been revealed that he signed two more non-exclusive deals with Hardcore Championship Fighting and Xcess Fighting. Sobral also later competed in an event for the Ring of Fire promotion, defeating
K-1 veteran
Rodney Faverus by submission (arm triangle choke). Sobral was scheduled to fight fellow UFC veteran
Vernon "Tiger" White in a match to crown the first WCO Light Heavyweight Champion. However, because the show's promoters were unable to secure adequate funding to pay the fighters, the show was canceled at the last minute by the
California State Athletic Commission. Sobral then signed with
Affliction Entertainment's MMA promotion and appeared at
Affliction: Banned on 19 July, defeating
Mike Whitehead by unanimous decision. Sobral's next fight was against
Bobby Southworth in San Jose, California on 21 November for the Strikeforce promotion. Babalu defeated Southworth via TKO due to a cut over the right eye in between round one and two, making him the Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion. Sobral next fought his second fight for Affliction, this time against
Sokoudjou at
Affliction: Day of Reckoning on 24 January 2009 in a light heavyweight fight. The fight ended in the second round when Babalu submitted Sokoudjou with a D'arce choke. After his victory he showed an interest in fighting former
UFC Light Heavyweight Champion,
Tito Ortiz. Sobral was set to fight fellow Brazilian
Rafael "Feijao" Cavalcante at the past event Strikeforce Presents: Lawler Vs. Shields in St. Louis, Missouri on 6 June 2009, but the bout was scratched. The bout would have been for the Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Championship. Sobral was next set to make his third appearance for Affliction in a fight against
Gegard Mousasi at
Affliction: Trilogy, but the event was canceled after losing its main event. The fight was then moved to Strikeforce's 15 August card,
Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg and changed into a bout for the
Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Championship with Sobral as the titleholder. Sobral lost the title to Mousasi via knockout in the first round. Sobral last fought
Robbie Lawler in a 195 lbs
Catchweight bout on 16 June 2010 at
Strikeforce: Los Angeles. Renato Sobral won via unanimous decision. After defeating
Robbie Lawler it was believed that Sobral would face
Muhammed Lawal for the Strikeforce Light Heavyweight title. However, in his post-fight interview Sobral stated that he would not fight Lawal and instead requested a rematch with
Dan Henderson who he fought over ten years ago. Sobral's request was later fulfilled and he fought
Dan Henderson at
Strikeforce: Henderson vs. Babalu II on 4 December 2010. Sobral was knocked out in the first round.
ONE Championship In late December 2011, After one year of inactivity Sobral signed an exclusive deal with Singaporean MMA promotion
ONE Championship also known as ONE FC, ONE FC officials stated that Sobral has "global exclusivity" with the promotion. He lost the fight via TKO in the first round. Despite the loss, Sobral competed in Bellator's Light Heavyweight summer series tournament on
Spike. He faced
Jacob Noe in the opening round of a 4-man tournament at
Bellator 96 on 19 June 2013. Sobral lost when the referee stopped the fight for a standing TKO. After the fight, Sobral announced his retirement from MMA. == Submission grappling career ==