Renato Verissimo

Renato Verissimo de Oliveira (born August 3, 1973) is a Brazilian 5th degree Black belt in Brazilian Jiu jitsu under André Pederneiras and also a retired mixed martial artist, who has fought in the Ultimate Fighting Championship and Elite Xtreme Combat. He is known throughout the MMA community by the nickname of "Charuto", meaning "cigar" in Portuguese.

Life
He grew up in Brazil, where he trained in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and earned his black belt. After moving to Hawaii, he became involved in mixed martial arts through B.J. Penn, who he instructed.

After fighting in Rumble on the Rock, his UFC debut was a decision victory over Carlos Newton at UFC 46, which earned him the chance to face former UFC Welterweight Champion Matt Hughes at UFC 48, where Charuto lost by unanimous decision.

Charuto then returned to Hawaiian events, fighting for Rumble On The Rock and ICON Sport.

Charuto was featured in the August 8, 2007 episode of the Versus reality television series TapouT. In his last ever MMA fight, he lost to Jake Shields via TKO due to elbows in the first round on the September 15th card EliteXC: Uprising.

Charuto was also featured in Marshal D. Carper's 2010 book titled "The Cauliflower Chronicles", detailing Marshal's experience training at the BJ Penn Academy in Hilo, largely training under Charuto.

Charuto now resides in Wilmington, NC and teaches at Evolution Mixed Martial Arts in Wrightsville Beach.