Punahele Soriano biography: 13 things about UFC fighter born in Wailua, Hawaii

Who is Punahele Soriano?

Punahele Michael Soriano is a Hawaiian wrestler and professional mixed martial artist of Filipino descent. His parents were born in the United States while his grandparents were born in the Philippines.

Soriano and his friend Dan Ige are alumni of Kahuku High School in Laie, Hawaii, USA and Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa, USA where they both competed as wrestlers. They later trained at Xtreme Couture Mixed Martial Arts in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA.

Currently, Soriano is signed with the Ultimate Fighting Championship, which is based in Las Vegas. Here are 13 more things about the former:

1. He was born in Wailua, Kauai County, Hawaii.
2. He is a brown belt in judo.
3. He is fighting out of Oahu, Hawaii.
4. He became interested in MMA after Ige invited him to help train MMA fighters in wrestling.
5. Before joining the UFC, he competed in X-1 World Events, Professional Fighters League, Legacy Fighting Alliance and V3 Fights.
6. He is 6’0″ tall and he competes in the welterweight, middleweight and heavyweight divisions.
7. He holds a professional MMA record of 11 wins and 4 losses.
8. While attending Kahuku High School, he competed in the 171-pound bracket of Hawaii’s high school wrestling tournament where he placed third as a junior and was the champion as a senior.
9. While attending Wartburg College, he placed seventh in the 197-pound bracket at the 2014 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I Wrestling Championships.
10. On January 28, 2017, he made his professional MMA debut.
11. On September 17, 2017, he and Aarica Barcina got engaged.
12. On December 14, 2019, he made his UFC debut.
13. On November 22, 2024, he turned 32.

Punahele Soriano’s professional MMA career timeline

From 2017 to 2025, Punahele Soriano fought 15 professional MMA opponents. Here are the results:

2017

• On January 28, 2017, he submitted Jon Ferrell at “X-1 World Events 45” in Honolulu, Hawaii.
• On July 29, 2017, he defeated Jon Gover via technical knockout at “PFL Everett” in Everett, Washington, USA.

2018

• On April 6, 2018, he knocked out Rafael Celestino at “Titan FC 49” in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA.
• On June 16, 2018, he defeated James Horne via TKO at “V3 Fights 69” in Memphis, Tennessee, USA.
• On October 19, 2018, he submitted Jhonoven Pati at “Legacy Fighting Alliance 52” in Belton, Texas, USA.

2019

• On June 18, 2019, he defeated Jamie Pickett via unanimous decision at “Dana White’s Contender Series 17” in Enterprise, Nevada.
• On December 14, 2019, he knocked out Oskar Piechota at “UFC 245” in Las Vegas.

2020

• _{He was supposed to fight Eric Spicely at “UFC on ESPN 8” on March 28, 2020 and Anthony Fernandez at “UFC on ESPN 8” on May 16, 2020 but both bouts were cancelled.}

2021

• On January 24, 2021, he defeated Duško Todorović via TKO at “UFC Fight Island 7” in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
• On July 24, 2021, he lost to Brendan Allen via unanimous decision at “UFC Vegas 32” in Enterprise.

2022

• On February 5, 2022, he lost to Nick Maximov via split decision at “UFC Vegas 47” in Enterprise.
• On July 16, 2022, he knocked out Dalcha Lungiambula at “UFC on ABC 3” in Elmont, New York, USA.

2023

• On January 14, 2023, he defeated Roman Kopylov via TKO at “UFC Vegas 67” in Enterprise.
• On December 2, 2023, he was submitted by Dustin Stoltzfus at “UFC on ESPN 52” in Austin, Texas.

2024

• On June 8, 2024, he defeated Miguel Baeza via unanimous decision at “UFC on ESPN 57” in Louisville, Kentucky, USA.

2025

• On January 11, 2025, he knocked out Uros Medic at “UFC Vegas 101” in Enterprise.