Cheick Kongo
Cheick Kongo is a French heavyweight Mixed Martial artist and former Kickboxer who fights in Bellator MMA. A professional MMA competitor since 2001, he has also competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship. As of May 10, 2022, he is #4 in the Bellator Heavyweight Rankings. Early life Born to a Burkinabé father and a Congolese mother, Kongo began training in martial arts when he was 5 years old, learning Kendo and Karate. As he grew older, he had already received black belt from both styles and began to expand his repertoire and trained in Boxing, Muay Thai, Savate, Wrestling and Shooto. at age of 19. At age 23, Silat, an Indonesian martial art, and was coached by Charles Joussot and Franck Ropers, men who brought Silat to France. He is also a cousin of rugby star Fulgence Ouedraogo, the French back-rower. Cheick is also a columnist for the French MMA magazine, Top Fight. Mixed martial arts career On June 10, 2001, Kongo began his professional career by knocking out Doog ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Paris
Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. Since the 17th century, Paris has been one of the world's major centres of finance, diplomacy, commerce, fashion, gastronomy, and science. For its leading role in the arts and sciences, as well as its very early system of street lighting, in the 19th century it became known as "the City of Light". Like London, prior to the Second World War, it was also sometimes called the capital of the world. The City of Paris is the centre of the Île-de-France region, or Paris Region, with an estimated population of 12,262,544 in 2019, or about 19% of the population of France, making the region France's primate city. The Paris Region had a GDP of €739 billion ($743 billion) in 2019, which is the highest in Europe. According to the Economist Intelli ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Shooto
Shooto is a combat sport and mixed martial arts organization that is governed by the ''Shooto Association'' and the ''International Shooto Commission''. Shooto was originally formed in 1985, first as a particular fighting system and then in 1989 as a mixed martial arts Promoter (entertainment), promotion. It is considered one of the first true mixed martial arts competitions, with its Vale Tudo Japan events being essential to the rise of Pride Fighting Championships, PRIDE Fighting Championships and the development of modern MMA. Many Japanese MMA fighters had their start at Shooto and the organization still holds both professional and amateur tournaments. The list of current and past MMA fighters to come from Shooto roots is quite impressive. As a fighting system, Shooto is considered a Hybrid martial arts, hybrid martial art derived from Shoot wrestling, Shoot Wrestling. It is focused on all aspects of fighting: Strike (attack), striking, Grappling, stand-up grappling and grou ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mirko Cro Cop
Mirko Filipović (; born 10 September 1974), better known by his ring name Mirko Cro Cop, is a retired Croatian professional mixed martial artist, kickboxer and amateur boxer. He is mostly known for his time in Pride Fighting Championships. Cro Cop fought in the UFC, K-1, RIZIN and Bellator. He is widely considered one of the greatest Heavyweight Kickboxers and MMA fighters of all time. Cro Cop is the 2006 Pride Open-Weight Grand Prix Champion, the 2012 K-1 World Grand Prix Champion and the 2016 Rizin Openweight Grand Prix Champion becoming the second fighter in the world to win mixed martial arts and kickboxing championships and tournaments. He is also a former IGF Champion. His nickname, Cro Cop, short for "Croatian Cop", comes from his employment in the Lučko Anti-Terrorist Unit, Croatia's elite Police Special Forces tactical unit. Cro Cop's signature move was his lightning-quick left high roundhouse kick, once famously described as "right leg, hospital; left leg, ce ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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UFC 75
''UFC 75: Champion vs. Champion'' was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship. The event was held September 8, 2007, at The O2 in London, United Kingdom. Background The event was the fourth event held by the UFC in United Kingdom, following ''UFC 38'' in London, ''UFC 70'' in Manchester, and '' UFC 72'' in Belfast. The event aired on Setanta Sports 1 in the United Kingdom, TV4 Sport in Sweden, PPV1 in Ireland, and presented via tape delay on Spike TV for North American audiences. The main event was a title unification match between UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Quinton Jackson and PRIDE Fighting Championships' 83 kg and 93 kg champion, Dan Henderson. There were some discussion on whether the title fight would be for both the UFC and PRIDE titles or just the UFC title. UFC president Dana White had remarked on July 2, 2007, "No. What we’re doing with that thing is we’re respecting both (the UFC and PRIDE) titles. The UFC title is the UFC cham ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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UFC 70
''UFC 70: Nations Collide'' was the second UFC event held in the United Kingdom, and the first in Manchester on Saturday, 21 April 2007. ''UFC 70'' was also only the seventh UFC event held outside the United States, and the first since ''UFC 38''. The card was broadcast live on pay-per-view in the United Kingdom and Ireland on Setanta Sports. The televised card on Spike TV drew a 1.84 overall rating (2.8 million viewers), and at its highest point, ''UFC 70'' drew 3.5 million viewers for the main event. Background 2006 PRIDE Open-Weight Grand Prix Champion, Mirko Cro Cop fought Heavyweight contender Gabriel Gonzaga in the main event to determine the top contender for the UFC Heavyweight Championship held by Randy Couture. The card also featured Michael Bisping fighting in England for the UFC for the first time against UFC veteran Elvis Sinosic and Andrei Arlovski taking on prize fighter and training partner of Mirko Cro Cop and future UFC Heavyweight Champion Fabr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Assuerio Silva
Assuério Silva (born June 18, 1974) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist and professional boxer, having competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship and Pancrase. He became the Heavyweight King of Pancrase on May 30, 2007, defeating Tatsuya Mizuno. Mixed martial arts career Silva holds a professional fight record of 15–8–01, the majority of his wins coming via submission. He fought three times in Pride FC in 2001, winning twice. However, after signing a three-fight contract with UFC, he was less successful, losing all his fights to Tim Sylvia, Brandon Vera and Cheick Kongo. His height is 6 ft 1 in and he weighs 241 pounds. In addition to training Muay Thai, he holds a black belt in karate. Silva is also a Black Belt in Jiu Jitsu under Cristiano Marcello. He fights out of Curitiba, Brazil with Total Punch Mixed Martial Arts Academy. Silva bounced back from a loss to Cheick Kongo by becoming the King of Pancrase after a 2nd-round TKO win over Tatsuya Mizuno. He wo ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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UFC 64
The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA promotion company in the world as of 2011. It produces events worldwide that showcase 12 weight divisions (eight men's and four women's) and abides by the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts. , it had held over 600 events. Dana White has been its president since 2001. Under White's stewardship, it has grown into a global multi-billion-dollar enterprise. The UFC was founded by businessman Art Davie and Brazilian martial artist Rorion Gracie, and the first event was held in 1993 at the McNichols Sports Arena in Denver, Colorado. The purpose of the early Ultimate Fighting Championship competitions was to identify the most effective martial art in a contest with minimal rules and no weight classes between competitors of different fighting d ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Carmelo Marrero
Carmelo Marrero (born January 26, 1981) is an American former professional mixed martial artist who competed in the Heavyweight and Light Heavyweight divisions. He has competed for the UFC, WEC, Bellator Fighting Championships, the IFL, and the XFC. Background Marrero was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and raised in Douglassville, Pennsylvania. He was diagnosed with cancer at a young age and eventually was able to overcome the illness. Marrero began wrestling for Daniel Boone High School in Berks County, Pennsylvania and placed sixth in the state tournament as a Heavyweight. Marrero had originally wanted to attend Rider University after graduating from high school, decided to attend Gloucester County College for two and a half years where he set multiple records. Marrero was sidelined by a near-fatal car accident which took him six months to recover, but later came back to win over 40 matches and qualify for the Junior College National Tournament. Marrero later transferred t ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Christian Wellisch
Christian Wellisch (born September 13, 1975) is a Hungarian-American former professional mixed martial artist. A professional competitor from 2001 until 2009, he competed for the UFC, WEC, and King of the Cage. Mixed martial arts career Wellisch began his professional career in 2001 as a Heavyweight fighting in smaller promotions. In 2006, he scored a stoppage victory over the undefeated Dan Evensen. With a record of 6–2, Wellisch made his Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) debut against Cheick Kongo at ''UFC 62''. He lost by knockout due to a knee strike in the first round. Wellisch followed up with two victories against Anthony Perosh and Scott Junk at ''UFC 66'' and ''UFC 76'' respectively. His streak ended at ''UFC 84'', where undefeated rising star Shane Carwin knocked him out with a punch in 44 seconds of the first round, knocking his mouthguard out as well. In November 2008, the UFC released Wellisch from his contract along with Jon Fitch and other American Kickboxing ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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UFC 61
''UFC 61: Bitter Rivals'' was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on Saturday, July 8, 2006. The event took place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center, in Las Vegas, Nevada and was broadcast live on pay-per-view in the United States. Background The main event was a Heavyweight Championship match between champion Tim Sylvia and former champion Andrei Arlovski. This was the third time these fighters had met, they had split the first two meetings. The co-main event was the highly anticipated rematch of TUF 3 coaches Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock. It was announced during the event that Chuck Liddell would fight PRIDE star Wanderlei Silva in November if Liddell won his upcoming match against Renato "Babalu" Sobral at ''UFC 62''. Negotiations between the UFC and PRIDE failed however and the Liddell-Silva fight never occurred in November 2006. The two would eventually meet in December 2007 at UFC 79. The number of pay-per-view buys for UFC 61 in the Unite ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Pride Fighting Championships
PRIDE Fighting Championships (Pride or Pride FC, founded as KRS-Pride) was a Japanese mixed martial arts promotion company. Its inaugural event was held at the Tokyo Dome on October 11, 1997. Pride held more than sixty mixed martial arts events, broadcast to about 40 countries worldwide.What is Pride? , Official Pride site. Last retrieved December 5, 2006 PRIDE was owned by the (DSE). For the ten years of its existence, PRIDE was one of the most popular MMA organizations in the world. Pride broadcast its event ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Gilbert Yvel
Gilbert Ramon Yvel (born 30 June 1976) is a Dutch professional mixed martial artist. A professional competitor since 1997, Yvel competed in the PRIDE Fighting Championships, Affliction, the UFC, Road FC, the RFA, RINGS, M-1 Challenge, Cage Rage, K-1, and Showtime promotions. He is the former RINGS Openweight Champion. Background Yvel was born in the Netherlands of Surinamese descent. He was raised as an orphan in the neighborhood of the Bijlmermeer in Amsterdam. As of 2010 he held a Brazilian jiu-jitsu purple belt under John Lewis. Mixed martial arts career RINGS Yvel came into contact with kickboxing and MMA through his brother, and after only two years of training he made his debut at 17 years of age, representing Vos Gym. Gilbert was off to a flying start winning his first 9 fights, primarily fighting for the Fighting Network RINGS promotion, initially only in events hosted by its Dutch brand. One of his first opponents would be Bas Rutten's apprentice Leon Dijk, who ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |