Fighter Bios and Highlights

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

2008-11-12T14:43:00.009-05:00

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.

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Chuck Liddell

2008-11-12T14:39:00.002-05:00

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.

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Andy Hug

2008-11-10T11:03:00.006-05:00

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.

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Yodsanklai Fairtex

2008-11-10T10:56:00.006-05:00

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.

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Buakaw Por. Pramuk

2008-11-06T15:41:00.004-05:00

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.

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Badr Hari

2008-10-10T10:47:00.003-04:00

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.

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Randy Couture

2008-09-29T16:20:00.005-04:00

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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Fedor Emelianenko

2008-09-26T15:40:00.002-04:00

Fedor Emelianenko (born September 28, 1976) is a Russian heavyweight mixed martial artist, the current World Alliance of Mixed Martial Arts heavyweight champion and the last holder of the PRIDE heavyweight championship.

Emelianenko has been considered the best heavyweight fighter in the world for the last five years by many major publications, including ESPN, the Orange County Register, The Fight Network, the Houston Chronicle, The Wrestling Observer, and Inside MMA. He has won numerous tournaments and accolades in multiple sports, most notably the PRIDE 2004 Grand Prix and the World Combat Sambo Championship on four occasions, as well as medaling in the Russian national judo championships.

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Ramon Dekkers

2008-09-26T10:36:00.004-04:00

Ramon "The Diamond" Dekkers (born September 4, 1969) is a Dutch former professional kickboxer famous for being an eight time Muay Thai and kickboxing world champion. He was the most famous foreign kickboxer in Thailand in the 1990s. He was also the first foreigner to be bestowed the "Muay Thai Fighter of the Year" award.

Ramon Dekkers is a skilled fighter with powerful punches and kicks, and has a tendency to go head-to-head with his opponents, which makes him a favorite with muay thai fight fans.

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Evan Tanner

2008-09-23T09:58:00.004-04:00

Evan Loyd Tanner (February 11, 1971 – c. September 8, 2008) was an American professional mixed martial arts fighter. He was a former UFC Middleweight and USWF Heavyweight champion with a professional record of 32 wins and 8 losses. He was also the first American to win the Pancrase Neo-Blood tournament in Tokyo, Japan.

He held notable wins over: Robbie Lawler, Heath Herring, Travis Fulton and David Terrell.

Tanner won his first championship when he defeated Heath Herring at USWF 7, and went on to successfully defend that title five times. Tanner then won the UFC Middleweight title at UFC 51, stopping David Terrell with strikes in the first round.

Evan Tanner passed away on September 8, 2008. Tanner had recently purchased a dirt bike, and on September 3 he rode into the desert-like region north of Brawley, California to go camping. According to Tanner's manager John Hayner, Tanner called that afternoon to say that his bike had run out of gas, and that he would accordingly walk back to his camp. Temperatures that day reached 118 degrees Fahrenheit (48C), and friends became concerned and reported Tanner missing after he failed to contact them.[8] His body was discovered by a Marine helicopter on September 8, and the Imperial County sheriff's office cited heat exposure as a preliminary cause of death.

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B.J. Penn

2008-09-23T09:51:00.002-04:00

Jay Dee "B.J." Penn (born December 13, 1978 in Kailua, Hawaii) is an American professional mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner who is currently the Ultimate Fighting Championship Lightweight Champion.

He is the first American-born winner of the World Jiu-Jitsu Championship (Mundial) in the black belt category (2000). Penn is also the former UFC welterweight champion and was a coach on the The Ultimate Fighter 5 reality show. After winning the lightweight title at UFC 80, he became the second man (after Randy Couture) to win UFC titles in two different weight classes. He is currently ranked by MMAWeekly and Sherdog as the #1 Lightweight fighter in the world.

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Anderson Silva

2008-09-23T09:45:00.002-04:00

Anderson "The Spider" Silva (born April 14, 1975) is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt and mixed martial artist. Since October 14, 2006 he has been the Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight champion. He has also competed in PRIDE Fighting Championships, Cage Rage, Shooto, and Rumble on the Rock.

Once a member of Chute Boxe Academy, he left to form the Muay Thai Dream Team. In late November 2006, he joined a new team called Black House with Lyoto Machida, Vitor Belfort, Assuerio Silva, and the Nogueira brothers. On May 16, 2008, Silva and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira opened the Team Nogueira MMA Academy in Miami, Florida.

MMAWeekly, Sherdog and Nokaut currently rank Anderson Silva as the number one middleweight in the world, while both Sherdog and Yahoo! Sports rank Silva as the top pound-for-pound fighter in the world.

Silva will coach alongside Lyoto Machida for Team Nogueira in The Ultimate Fighter: Team Nogueira vs. Team Mir.

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Kazushi Sakuraba

2008-09-23T09:31:00.005-04:00

Kazushi Sakuraba (Sakuraba Kazushi, born July 14, 1968 in present-day Katagami, Akita, Japan) is a Japanese professional mixed martial arts competitor and professional wrestler. He has competed for UWFi, Kingdom Pro Wrestling, the Ultimate Fighting Championship, PRIDE Fighting Championships, K-1 HERO'S and DREAM. He has the distinction of competing in the longest mixed martial arts bout on record, having beaten Royce Gracie in a 90-minute bout in 2000.

In Japan, he is known as "The IQ Wrestler", for his brilliance in the arts of catch wrestling and freestyle wrestling, as well as for his overall cerebral approach to fighting. He is also known as "Saku", which is frequently represented by the number "39" (the Japanese pronunciation of 3 being "san" and 9 "ku"). In the West, he is often referred to as the "Gracie Hunter," due to his victories over the famed Gracie family of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu practitioners. He also holds notable wins over Vitor Belfort, Quinton Jackson, Guy Mezger, Kevin Randleman, and Ken Shamrock.

Sakuraba
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