Brian Rogers (born February 15, 1984) is an American mixed martial artist currently competing in the

Light Heavyweight Light heavyweight, also referred to as junior cruiserweight or light cruiserweight, is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the division is above and up to , falling between super middleweight and cruise ...

division. A professional competitor since 2008, Rogers has formerly competed for

Bellator Bellator, warrior in Latin, may refer to: * Bellator MMA, a mixed martial arts promotion based in the United States * Bishop Bellator of Archaeological site of Sbeitla, Sufetula (5th century) Taxonomy * Bellator (fish), ''Bellator'' (fish), a fis ...

and

Strikeforce Strike Force may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Games * ''Strike Force'' (video game), a 1991 arcade game *'' Commandos: Strike Force'', a 2006 video game *'' Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce'', a 2009 video game *''Marvel Strike Force'', ...

Background

Rogers was born and grew up in

Kent, Ohio Kent is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the largest city in Portage County. It is located along the Cuyahoga River in Northeast Ohio on the western edge of the county. The population was 28,215 at the 2020 Census. The city is counted as pa ...

. He attended Theodore Roosevelt High School where he wrestled, played football and threw the shot disc. After high school, he was a four-year letter winner and a three-year starter as inside linebacker for the Walsh University Cavaliers between 2002 and 2005. Rogers was named All-Conference by the Mid States Football Association twice and left Walsh University second all time in career tackles. Rogers graduated with undergraduate degree in education and started training mixed martial arts in 2006. He later graduated with master's degree in education from

University of Akron The University of Akron is a public research university in Akron, Ohio. It is part of the University System of Ohio. As a STEM-focused institution, it focuses on industries such as polymers, advanced materials, and engineering. It is classified ...

Mixed martial arts career

Early career

Rogers started his professional MMA career at 1–2 with both losses coming by decision. He followed the slow start to his professional MMA career with 7 consecutive victories, all by first round KO/TKO which included wins in both his Strikeforce and Bellator debuts.

Strikeforce

Rogers made his

debut on March 5, 2011 at Strikeforce: Feijao vs. Henderson where he defeated Ian Rammel by TKO in the first round.

Bellator MMA

On May 21, 2011 it was announced that Rogers will be taking part in the Bellator Season Five Middleweight Tournament which begins on September 17, 2011. Rogers defeated Victor O'Donnell via TKO in the quarterfinal round at

Bellator 50 2011 in Bellator MMA was the fourth installment of the Bellator Fighting Championships. Mixed martial arts tournaments were held in multiple weight classes, including three of the original tournament classes: Welterweight, Lightweight and Feather ...

. In the semifinal round, Rogers lost to

Alexander Shlemenko Alexander Pavlovich Shlemenko (russian: Александр Павлович Шлеменко, born 20 May 1984) is a Russian mixed martial artist currently fighting in the Middleweight (MMA), Middleweight division. He is most notable for fighti ...

via TKO in the second round at

Bellator 54 2011 in Bellator MMA was the fourth installment of the Bellator Fighting Championships. Mixed martial arts tournaments were held in multiple weight classes, including three of the original tournament classes: Welterweight, Lightweight and Feather ...

. On January 9, 2012 Rogers was announced as the first of eight participants in Bellator's Season 6 Middleweight Tournament. In the opening round, he faced Vitor Vianna on March 16, 2012 at

Bellator 61 2012 in Bellator MMA was the sixth installment of the Bellator Fighting Championships, which began on March 9, 2012. The sixth season of Bellator was originally scheduled to begin on March 2, 2012. However, the debut was pushed back a week so i ...

and won via KO in the first round. The knockout received incredible media and fan attention and has since had over 400,000 views on YouTube as one of Bellator's most popular videos in the promotion's short history. Rogers was scheduled to face Bruno Santos in the semifinal round of the Middleweight Tournament at

Bellator 66 2012 in Bellator MMA was the sixth installment of the Bellator Fighting Championships, which began on March 9, 2012. The sixth season of Bellator was originally scheduled to begin on March 2, 2012. However, the debut was pushed back a week so i ...

. However, on April 16, 2012, it was revealed that Santos had to withdraw due to a shoulder injury and was replaced by Bellator newcomer

Andreas Spang Andreas ( el, Ἀνδρέας) is a name usually given to males in Austria, Greece, Cyprus, Denmark, Armenia, Estonia, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Finland, Flanders, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, Romania, the Netherlands, and Indonesia. The name ...

. After dominating most of the first two rounds, he was caught by a counter left hook which resulted in a KO loss. In January 2013, Bellator announced Rogers as a competitor in the Season Eight Middleweight tournament. His Quarterfinal fight took place at

Bellator 89 2013 in Bellator MMA was the eighth installment of the Bellator MMA, which began on January 17, 2013 and ended on April 4, 2013. Mixed martial arts tournaments were held in five weight classes and all of the champions, except the heavyweight ch ...

against

Dan Cramer Daniel John Cramer (born October 31, 1985) is an American retired mixed martial artist. A professional from 2009 until 2014, Cramer made his professional debut with the Ultimate Fighting Championships (UFC) and was a competitor on SpikeTV's '' T ...

. He lost the fight via unanimous decision. Rogers then participated in Bellator's Season Nine Middleweight tournament. The Quarterfinal bout took place on September 7, 2013 at

Bellator 98 2013 in Bellator MMA was the eighth installment of the Bellator MMA, which began on January 17, 2013 and ended on April 4, 2013. Mixed martial arts tournaments were held in five weight classes and all of the champions, except the heavyweight cha ...

against

Mikkel Parlo Mikkel Parlo (born May 3, 1990) is a Danish retired mixed martial artist who last competed in the Middleweight division of Bellator MMA. Mixed martial arts career Early career Parlo began competing as an amateur in 2008, compiling a record of 3- ...

. Rogers lost via unanimous decision. Rogers was scheduled to face Gary Tapusoa on March 21, 2014 at Bellator 113, however, the bout was cancelled when Tapusoa could not meet the requirements to fight. Rogers was set to face Johan Romming at

Bellator 119 2014 in Bellator MMA was the tenth season for Bellator MMA, a mixed martial arts promotion. It began on February 28, 2014 and aired on Spike TV. The season included tournaments for the Heavyweight, Welterweight, Featherweight, Light Heavyweight, ...

on May 9, 2014, however, the bout was cancelled when Romming pulled out due to undisclosed reasons. Rogers faced Adrian Miles at

and won via flying knee KO in the second round. Rogers was expected to face James Irvin on September 19, 2014 at

Bellator 125 2014 in Bellator MMA was the tenth season for Bellator MMA, a mixed martial arts promotion. It began on February 28, 2014 and aired on Spike TV. The season included tournaments for the Heavyweight, Welterweight, Featherweight, Light Heavyweigh ...

. However, Irvin pulled out of the bout due to injury and was replaced with Brett Cooper. Cooper then suffered a foot injury and pulled out of the bout, so Rogers faced promotional newcomer

Rafael Carvalho Rafael Carvalho de Souza (born 27 July 1986) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist who most recently competed in the light heavyweight and middleweight divisions of Bellator MMA, where he was a former Bellator Middleweight World Champion. As o ...

. He lost the fight via TKO in the first round. Rogers faced Joey Beltran at

Bellator 136 2015 in Bellator MMA was the seventh year in the history of Bellator MMA, a mixed martial arts promotion based in the United States. Bellator held 16 events in 2015. Background In June 2014, Founder and CEO Bjorn Rebney parted with the company. ...

on April 10, 2015. He lost the fight by split decision. Rogers next moved to the Light Heavyweight division and faced Virgil Zwicker on December 4, 2015 at

Bellator 147 2015 in Bellator MMA was the seventh year in the history of Bellator MMA, a mixed martial arts promotion based in the United States. Bellator held 16 events in 2015. Background In June 2014, Founder and CEO Bjorn Rebney parted with the company. ...

. He won the fight via submission in the second round. Rogers faced

UFC 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 ...

vet

Alessio Sakara Alessio Sakara (born September 2, 1981) is an Italian professional mixed martial artist, former professional boxer and Sanshou kickboxer, currently competing in the Light Heavyweight division. A professional competitor since 2002, Sakara has al ...

at Bellators first event in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

on April 16, 2016 at

Bellator 152 2016 in Bellator MMA was the eighth year in the history of Bellator MMA, a mixed martial arts promoter based in the United States. Bellator held 23 events in 2016. Background 2016 is notable for the launch of sibling promotion Bellator Kickboxin ...

. He lost via knockout in the second round.

Personal life

Rogers spent the majority of his mma career training in Independence Ohio at Strong Style MMA. Strong Style MMA is home to the current UFC Heavyweight Champion Stipe Miocic. Other Strong Style UFC Veteran's include Jessica Eye, Forrest Petz, Jeff Cox and Dan Bobish. Rogers , an Ohio Native moved from his home state to Denver Colorado in January 2014 to further his mma career. Rogers has not competed since March 2017. Rogers is now a business development and marketing professional.

Mixed martial arts record

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Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

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Dominique Steele Dominique Steele (born January 25, 1988) is an American professional mixed martial artist currently competing in the Middleweight division. A professional competitor since 2011, he has also competed for the UFC, Strikeforce, Bellator, Fight Ni ...

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Dayton, Ohio Dayton () is the sixth-largest city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Montgomery County. A small part of the city extends into Greene County. The 2020 U.S. census estimate put the city population at 137,644, while Greater Day ...

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References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rogers, Brian 1984 births Living people American male mixed martial artists Middleweight mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists from Ohio Mixed martial artists utilizing Isshin-ryū Mixed martial artists utilizing wrestling Mixed martial artists utilizing Brazilian jiu-jitsu Sportspeople from Kent, Ohio African-American mixed martial artists American male sport wrestlers American male karateka American practitioners of Brazilian jiu-jitsu People from Independence, Ohio 21st-century African-American sportspeople 20th-century African-American people