Fábio Maldonado (born 17 March 1980) is a Brazilian professional mixed martial artist and boxer. A professional MMA competitor since 2000, he has also competed for the UFC.

Simultaneous to becoming a mixed martial arts fighter, Maldonado also competed professionally as a boxer in his native Brazil, making his professional boxing debut in April 2002, after an amateur career of 40-5 with 27 knockouts. After his release from the UFC, Maldonado returned to professional boxing. He won his return fight with a round 1 TKO over Robson Bambu. Within less than a month, he proceeded to knock out Alessandro Bernardo in the first round with one punch.

Maldonado made his professional mixed martial arts debut in September 2000 and also began training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu the same year. During the first eight years of his career, he competed exclusively in his native Brazil, and made his North American debut in November 2008.^{[citation needed]}

In the decade previous to his debut with the Ultimate Fighting Championship, Maldonado compiled a record of 17-3. Notable victories from this period include Vitor Miranda and two TKO victories over Maiquel Falcão.^{[citation needed]}

Maldonado made his UFC debut at UFC 120 against James McSweeney and won by TKO after 48 seconds of round 3.

Maldonado lost to Kyle Kingsbury via unanimous decision on 4 June 2011 at The Ultimate Fighter 13 Finale. Despite the loss, Maldonado won the Fight of the Night bonus.

Maldonado was expected to face Aaron Rosa at UFC Live: Cruz vs. Johnson. but he was forced to pull out of the bout due to an injury.

Maldonado was expected to face UFC newcomer Caio Magalhaes on 14 January 2012 at UFC 142, but had to pull out from this bout due to a rib injury.