Why is Vicente Luque called 'The Silent Assassin'? Unveiling reason behind UFC nickname 

UFC welterweight contender Vicente Luque has an interesting story as to how he got his nickname 'The Silent Assassin'.

In April 2022, Luque did an interview with Cageside Press, where he discussed various things like life as a father and his love for motorsports. During the chat, the Brazilian also shared the origin story of his moniker.

Luque revealed that it was his manager Glen Robinson, who passed away in 2018, that gave him the nickname 'The Silent Assassin'. Luque said that his manager observed how he had a silent demeanor in general but would put on exciting fights when inside the octagon.

"That style [of fighting], Glenn looked at it and said, ‘hey, you’re like The Silent Assassin because you don’t talk much, but when you get in there, you just kill your opponents. You go out there, and you do work. So that’s gonna be your nickname.'”

Luque was not very fond of the moniker in the beginning as he thought his real name was sufficient. The Brazilian said that he had left the nickname column blank in a UFC form but Robinson wrote 'The Silent Assassin' on it before submitting it to the UFC. And thus, he got his nickname from Robinson.

"I didn’t want it at first. I was like, ‘no, man, I don’t like nicknames. You know, Vicente Luque is good enough. When we get into the UFC, they give us a lot of paperwork to fill out. And then there is your name or nickname, where you come from, and the city you represent. I left the nickname blank; I put nothing. Before [Glenn Robinson] sent that back to the UFC, he put the Silent Assassin.”

Check out Vicente Luque's comments from the 2:50 mark below:

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The Silent Assassin UFC: Vicente Luque is set to fight after making a triumphant return in August 2023 following a life-threatening injury

Vicente Luque suffered a serious brain injury in his fight against Geoff Neal in August 2022. Neal won the fight via a vicious third-round KO and the nature of the injury threatened to end the Brazilian's career.

After being out of action for a year to make a full recovery, Luque returned to action at UFC Vegas 78 against Rafael dos Anjos on August 12, 2023. The fight was a five-round main event that took place at the UFC Apex Facility in Enterprise, Nevada and ended with a unanimous decision victory for Luque.

Luque is set to return to action at the UFC Atlantic City event on March 30. The 32-year-old was expected to headline the event against wrestling powerhouse Sean Brady. However, the American was forced to pull out of the fight due to an injury and was replaced by Joaquin Buckley.

'New Mansa' dropped to welterweight after a long 9-fight tenure in the UFC middleweight division. He is currently 2-0 as a welterweight under the UFC umbrella and Luque will put his No. 11 spot in rankings on the line against the divisional newcomer this weekend.