Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, aka "Minotauro" (born June 2, 1976 in Vitoria da Conquista, Brazil) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist known for his technical mastery of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. He competes in the heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, where he is the current UFC interim heavyweight champion. A testament to his durability as a mixed martial artist is the fact he has never been finished in a bout.
Charles David 'Chuck' Liddell (born December 17, 1969), also known as "The Iceman" is an American mixed martial artist (MMA) who fights for the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
A former UFC light heavyweight champion, Liddell has an extensive background in kickboxing and collegiate wrestling. He is noted within the MMA community for his exceptional takedown defense and knockout ability. He is generally regarded as a stand-up fighter, relying primarily on his background in Kempo karate and Koei-Kan karate, while using his wrestling skills to defend against takedowns. He is also regarded as an unorthodox striker due to his relaxed hands-down stance and the angles at which he throws punches.
Along with Randy Couture, Liddell is widely credited for bringing mixed martial arts into the mainstream of American sports and entertainment.
Andy Hug (September 7, 1964–August 24, 2000) was a renowned Kyokushin Karate fighter from Wohlen, Switzerland. Andy Hug was the first Karate-fighter to win the K-1 World Grand Prix Championship in 1996 and was runner up in 1997 and 1998.Andy Hug was one of the smallest fighters in K-1. Hug is widely credited for helping K-1's popularity world-wide, and is one of the most respected and idolized figures in combat sports history. In Japan he was given the name "Blue-Eyed Samurai", even though he had brown eyes. This had a symbolic meaning and referred to Andy's Swiss heritage and the fact that he was a "gaijin", which is a term foreigners in Japan commonly are referred to as. He was the only K-1 fighter ever to be rewarded an honorary samurai title by K-1 founder Kazuyoshi Ishii and was widely considered to be the bravest K-1 fighter of all by the Japanese public.
Yodsanklai Fairtex a.k.a. Yod (Thai: born, July 1, 1985) is the reigning Light-Middleweight WBC Muay Thai World champion and former three time Lumpinee Stadium champion in 112, 147 and 154 lb weight classes. He trains out of Fairtex Gym in Pattaya, Thailand and is the first champion of The Contender Asia.
Born as Sombat Banchamek in Surin, Thailand, Buakaw started his fighting career at the young age of 8 in his home province of Surin in the northeastern Thailand, before moving to Por. Pramuk gym at the age of 15. His first fight name was Damtamin Kiat-anan.
Buakaw has collected several belts to his name since fighting in Bangkok. The Omnoi Stadium featherweight title was his first belt, after that he would go on to take the featherweight champion of Thailand title. Buakaw then proceeded to win another Omnoi Stadium title belt, this time at in lightweight division. In December 2002, Buakaw won the Toyota Marathon 140 lb. tournament at Lumpinee Boxing Stadium, beating the highly regarded Kobayashi of Japan in the final.
In July 2004 Buakaw became the K-1 MAX World champion beating John Wayne Parr, Takayuki Kohiruimaki and previous champion Masato in the finals. In 2005 he nearly repeated his run for tournament champion, but lost a the extra round decision to Dutch shoot-boxer, Andy Souwer in the finals. In the 2006 K-1 MAX World Grand Prix, Buakaw again faced Andy Souwer in the finals, but this time defeated Souwer by KO with a flurry of punches, thereby winning his second K-1 World MAX title and becoming the first man to win that title twice.
Buakaw lost to Masato by unanimous decision at the K-1 World MAX 2007 quarterfinals. Despite Buakaw being able to land vicious leg kicks throughout the match, Masato scored a knockdown on the first round and continued to land numerous punch combinations throughout the fight which earned Masato an unanimous decision victory.
Badr "The Golden Boy" Hari (born December 8, 1984) is a Moroccan Heavyweight kickboxer. He entered the K-1 with a spinning-heel kick KO over Stefan Leko in a reserve fight at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2005.
On April 28, at K-1 World GP 2007 in Hawaii, Badr Hari was crowned the first K-1 World Heavyweight Champion winning his title by high kick KO at 0'56" in 1st round over Yusuke Fujimoto from Japan.
Randy Couture (born June 22, 1963), also known as "The Natural" and "Captain America," is an American actor and mixed martial artist, Greco-Roman wrestler, and former collegiate wrestler. Couture is one of only two MMA fighters to have held a championship title in two different divisions (heavyweight and light heavyweight) while in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (the other fighter being BJ Penn), as well as the only five-time champion in UFC history. Many consider him to be the most popular fighter in MMA history,and is a member of the UFC Hall of Fame. Along with Chuck Liddell, Couture is widely credited for bringing mixed martial arts out of the Dark Ages and into the mainstream of American Pop Culture and sports.
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