Ben Nguyen or Nguyễn Ben, (born August 3, 1988) is an American

mixed martial artist Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incorp ...

who competed as a

flyweight Flyweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Flyweight is a class in boxing which includes fighters weighing above 49 kg (108 lb) and up to 51 kg (112 lb). Professional boxing The flyweight division was the last of bo ...

in the

Ultimate Fighting Championship 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 ...

(UFC), where he compiled a record of 4–3 with the organization. He is also a former Nitro Bantamweight Champion and K-Oz Bantamweight Champion.

MMA career

Early career

Nguyen began his professional mixed martial arts career while working during the day as a computer technician. In 2012 he went to Thailand to attend Tiger Muay Thai & MMA Scholar Athlete program. He then moved to Brisbane, Australia fighting from there. Nguyen made his professional MMA debut in December 2006, losing his first fight. Over the next nearly eight years, he amassed a record of 14 wins against 5 losses and in the process became the Nitro Bantamweight Champion, K-Oz Bantamweight Champion and the number one Bantamweight in Australia in 2015. Nguyen achieved internet fame when his March 8, 2014 fight versus Julian Wallace surfaced on YouTube. Wallace attempted to intimidate Nguyen at the pre-fight weigh-ins by forcefully putting his fist against Nguyen's chin and trying to put Nguyen off his game. This tactic, however, proved ineffective as Nguyen knocked Wallace out within 25 seconds of the first round. The video of this fight went viral and has amassed over 58 million views on YouTube, and over a 100 million views on Facebook and other social network platforms.

Ultimate Fighting Championship

Nguyen made his promotional debut, facing Alptekin Özkılıç on May 10, 2015, at

UFC Fight Night 65 ''UFC Fight Night: Miocic vs. Hunt'' (also known as ''UFC Fight Night 65'') was a mixed martial arts event held on 10 May 2015 at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre in Adelaide, South Australia. Background The event was the first that the promot ...

. He won the fight via KO in the first round. Nguyen faced

Ryan Benoit Ryan Michale Benoit (born August 25, 1989) is an American mixed martial artist Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a fu ...

on November 15, 2015, at

UFC 193 ''UFC 193: Rousey vs. Holm'' was a mixed martial arts event held on 14 November 2015, at Etihad Stadium in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was the most attended UFC event in the history of the company at the time, with 56,214 people filling th ...

. He won the fight via submission in the first round. Nguyen was expected to face

Justin Scoggins Justin Craig Scoggins (born May 2, 1992) is an American mixed martial artist and former full-contact kickboxer currently competing in the Rizin Fighting Federation. A professional mixed martial artist since 2010, Scoggins has previously competed ...

on March 20, 2016, at

UFC Fight Night 85 ''UFC Fight Night: Hunt vs. Mir'' (also known as ''UFC Fight Night 85'') was a mixed martial arts event held on March 20, 2016, at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Background The event was the second that th ...

. However, Scoggins pulled out of the fight in the week leading up to the event citing injury. As a result, Nguyen was pulled from the card entirely. Nguyen next faced

Louis Smolka Louis Smolka (born July 16, 1991) is an American mixed martial artist who competes in the bantamweight division. A professional competitor since 2010, he has previously fought for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, California Xtreme Fighting, Kin ...

on July 13, 2016, at

UFC Fight Night 91 ''UFC Fight Night: McDonald vs. Lineker'' (also known as ''UFC Fight Night 91'') was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship held on July 13, 2016, at Denny Sanford Premier Center in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. Ba ...

. He lost the fight via TKO in the second round. Nguyen faced

Geane Herrera Geane Carlos Herrera (; born May 27, 1990) is an American mixed martial artist competing in the Flyweight division. He is probably best known for his stint in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Background Herrera was born in Duarte, Calif ...

on November 27, 2016, at

UFC Fight Night 101 ''UFC Fight Night: Whittaker vs. Brunson'' (also known as ''UFC Fight Night 101'') was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship held on November 27, 2016, at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Back ...

. He won the fight via unanimous decision. Nguyen was expected to face

Joseph Benavidez Joseph Rolando Benavidez (born July 31, 1984) is an American former professional mixed martial artist. He competed in the Flyweight division for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Background Benavidez was born on July 31, 1984, in San An ...

on June 11, 2017, at

UFC Fight Night 110 ''UFC Fight Night: Lewis vs. Hunt'' (also known as ''UFC Fight Night 110'') was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship held on 11 June 2017 at the Spark Arena in Auckland, New Zealand. Background The event was ...

. However, Benavidez pulled out of the fight on May 10 with a knee injury and was replaced by

Tim Elliott Timothy Samuel Elliott (born December 24, 1986) is an American mixed martial artist who currently competes in the Flyweight (MMA), Flyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He is the former Titan FC Titan Fighting Champions ...

. He won the fight by submission due to a rear-naked choke in the first round. The win also earned him his first ''Performance of the Night'' bonus award. Nguyen faced

Jussier Formiga Jussier da Silva Viera Formiga (born April 14, 1985) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist who competes in the Flyweight division. A professional competitor since 2005, Formiga most notably competed in the UFC and is the former Shooto South Ameri ...

on February 11, 2018, at

UFC 221 ''UFC 221: Romero vs. Rockhold'' was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that was held on February 11, 2018, at Perth Arena in Perth, Western Australia. Background While the UFC has hosted 11 previous events ...

. He lost the fight via technical submission in the third round due to a rear-naked choke. Nguyen faced

Wilson Reis Wilson Reis Monte Alto Gonçalves (born January 6, 1985, in Januária) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist who competes in the Flyweight division. Reis is the former EliteXC Bantamweight Champion and has also competed for UFC, Bellator, ShoXC a ...

on December 2, 2018, at

UFC Fight Night 142 ''UFC Fight Night: dos Santos vs. Tuivasa'' (also known as ''UFC Fight Night 142'') was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that was held on 2 December 2018 at Adelaide Entertainment Centre in Adelaide, Sou ...

. He lost the fight via unanimous decision and was subsequently released from the promotion.

Rizin Fighting Federation

On January 31, 2019

Rizin Fighting Federation Rizin Fighting Federation (Rizin FF or Rizin) is a Japanese mixed martial arts organization created in 2015 by the former Pride Fighting Championships and Dream Stage Entertainment president Nobuyuki Sakakibara. Rizin was founded to be the spir ...

announced Nguyen had signed for the promotion. He faced

Kyoji Horiguchi is a Japanese mixed martial artist currently competing in Bellator MMA and Rizin FF in the Flyweight division. He is the former bantamweight champion in both organizations. As of December 13, 2022, he is #6 in the Bellator Bantamweight Rankings ...

in a 132-pound catchweight bout on April 21, 2019, at Rizin 15. Nguyen lost the fight via TKO in the first round.

Personal life

Nguyen's hometown is Sioux Falls,

South Dakota South Dakota (; Sioux language, Sioux: , ) is a U.S. state in the West North Central states, North Central region of the United States. It is also part of the Great Plains. South Dakota is named after the Lakota people, Lakota and Dakota peo ...

. Nguyen said that he started

Taekwondo ''Taekwondo'', ''Tae Kwon Do'' or ''Taekwon-Do'' (; ko, 태권도/跆拳道 ) is a Korean form of martial arts involving punching and kicking techniques, with emphasis on head-height kicks, spinning jump kicks, and fast kicking techniques. T ...

when he was twelve years old after he was bullied in school by both

White American White Americans are Americans who identify as and are perceived to be white people. This group constitutes the majority of the people in the United States. As of the 2020 Census, 61.6%, or 204,277,273 people, were white alone. This represented ...

and

Black American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

students. After high school, he went to college to become an engineer but then he switched paths to follow his dream of becoming an MMA fighter. Nguyen met his wife, Brisbane kickboxer April Adams, while training in Thailand, eventually following her to make Brisbane his home. They married in late 2015. In a 2015 video, Nguyen said that he owns two cats which were both about a year old. Nguyen said that he likes cars and motorcycles. Ben is a fan of the anime ''

Hajime no Ippo is a Japanese boxing-themed manga series written and illustrated by George Morikawa. It has been serialized by Kodansha in the ''shōnen'' manga magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' since October 1989 and collected into 135 ''tankōb ...

''. He's said that the show had been an inspiration to him as long as he's been fighting. He uses "Inner Light," one of the anime's opening songs, as his intro song for his fights.

Championships and accomplishments

Performance of the Night UFC Bonus Awards are three separate cash bonuses usually awarded to four fighters after each UFC event, based on internal decisions by UFC management. More/fewer bonuses have been awarded at some events, especially when no knockouts or submissions ...

(One time) vs.

*Nitro MMA **Nitro MMA Bantamweight Champion (One Time) **One successful title defense

Mixed martial arts record

, - , Loss , align=center, 18–9 ,

, KO (punches) , Rizin 15 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 2:53 ,

Yokohama is the second-largest city in Japan by population and the most populous municipality of Japan. It is the capital city and the most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a 2020 population of 3.8 million. It lies on Tokyo Bay, south of To ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, , - , Loss , align=center, 18–8 ,

, Decision (unanimous) , UFC Fight Night: dos Santos vs. Tuivasa , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

Adelaide Adelaide ( ) is the capital city of South Australia, the state's largest city and the fifth-most populous city in Australia. "Adelaide" may refer to either Greater Adelaide (including the Adelaide Hills) or the Adelaide city centre. The dem ...

, Australia , , - , Loss , align=center, 18–7 ,

, Technical Submission (rear-naked choke) ,

, , align=center, 3 , align=center, 1:43 ,

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

, Australia , , - , Win , align=center, 18–6 ,

, Submission (rear-naked choke) , UFC Fight Night: Lewis vs. Hunt , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 0:49 ,

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

, New Zealand , , - , Win , align=center, 17–6 ,

, Decision (unanimous) , UFC Fight Night: Whittaker vs. Brunson , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Australia , , - , Loss , align=center, 16–6 ,

, TKO (punches and elbows) , UFC Fight Night: McDonald vs. Lineker , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 4:41 ,

Sioux Falls, South Dakota Sioux Falls () is the most populous city in the U.S. state of South Dakota and the 130th-most populous city in the United States. It is the county seat of Minnehaha County and also extends into Lincoln County to the south, which continues up ...

, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 16–5 ,

, Submission (rear-naked choke) ,

, , align=center, 1 , align=center, 2:35 ,

, Australia , , - , Win , align=center, 15–5 ,

Alp Ozkilic Alp Ozkilic, full name Alptekin Özkılıç (born March 27, 1986) is a Turkish-American mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist, who formerly competed as a Flyweight (MMA), Flyweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Background Born and ra ...

, TKO (punches) , UFC Fight Night: Miocic vs. Hunt , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 4:59 ,

, Australia , , - , Win , align=center, 14–5 , Reece McLaren , Decision (unanimous) , Nitro MMA 12 , , align=center, 5 , align=center, 5:00 ,

Logan City Logan City is a local government area situated within the south of the Brisbane metropolitan area in South East Queensland, Australia. Situated between the City of Brisbane to the north and the City of Gold Coast to the south, the City also bor ...

, Australia , , - , Win , align=center, 13–5 , Julian Wallace , KO (punch) , Nitro MMA 11 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 0:25 ,

, Australia , , - , Win , align=center, 12–5 , Shantaram Maharaj , Submission (rear-naked choke) , K-Oz Entertainment – Bragging Rights 6: Night of Titles , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 3:58 , Madeley, Australia , , - , Win , align=center, 11–5 , Luke Morris , Decision (unanimous) , K.O. Martial Arts: Adrenalin-Unleashed , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 , Eatons Hill, Australia , , - , Win , align=center, 10–5 , Kian Pham , TKO (punches) , Australia Regional , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 2:48 ,

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

, Australia , , - , Win , align=center, 9–5 , Greg Penaloza , TKO (doctor stoppage) , Roshambo MMA 1: In the Cage , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 5:00 ,

, Australia , , - , Win , align=center, 8–5 , Andrew Whitney , Submission (armbar) , The Cage Inc.: Battle at the Border 9 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 3:48 ,

Hankinson, North Dakota Hankinson is a city in Richland County, North Dakota, United States. The population was 921 at the 2020 census. Hankinson was founded in 1886. It is part of the Wahpeton, ND– MN Micropolitan Statistical Area. History A post office has been ...

, United States , , - , Loss , align=center, 7–5 , Chavalit Sityodtong , TKO (punches) , Martial Combat 7 , , align=center, 2 , align=center, N/A ,

Sentosa Sentosa Island, known mononymously as Sentosa, and formerly ''Pulau Belakang Mati'', is an island located off the southern coast of Singapore's main island. The island is separated from the main island of Singapore by a channel of water, the K ...

, Singapore , , - , Win , align=center, 7–4 , Laramie Shaffer , TKO (doctor stoppage) , OFC: Battle at Huset's Speedway , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 5:00 ,

Brandon, South Dakota Brandon is a city in Minnehaha County, South Dakota, United States. Brandon is located five miles east of Sioux Falls. The population was 11,048 as of the 2020 census. History A post office called Brandon has been in operation since 1878. The c ...

, United States , , - , Loss , align=center, 6–4 , Josh Phillips , TKO (punches) , The Cage Inc.: Battle at the Border 5 , , align=center, 4 , align=center, 3:51 ,

, United States , , - , Loss , align=center, 6–3 , Eric Perez , TKO (punches) , Canadian Fighting Championship 3 , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 4:20 ,

Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

, Canada , , - , Loss , align=center, 6–2 , Alexis Vila , KO (punch) , PFC: Best of Both Worlds , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 0:34 ,

Lemoore, California Lemoore (formerly, La Tache and Lee Moore's) is a city in Kings County, California, United States. Lemoore is located west-southwest of Hanford, at an elevation of . It is part of the Hanford-Corcoran Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA Code 2 ...

, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 6–1 , Danny Schroder , TKO (corner stoppage) , TCI: Fight Hunger , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 2:07 ,

, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 5–1 , Nate Hansen , Submission (triangle choke) , The Cage Inc.: Summer Slam 4 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:30 ,

, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 4–1 , Nick Holbrook , KO (punches) , Fury Fights: Battle in Brookings 3 , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 2:36 ,

Brookings, South Dakota Brookings is a city in Brookings County, South Dakota, Brookings County, South Dakota, United States. Brookings is South Dakota's List of cities in South Dakota, fourth largest city, with a population of 23,377 at the 2020 United States census, 20 ...

, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 3–1 , Mitch Wisner , TKO (punches) , Fury Fights: Temple Fight Night 2 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 2:00 ,

, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 2–1 , Chuck Page , KO (elbows) , Fury Fights: Temple Fight Night 1 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 3:12 ,

, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 1–1 , Jess Fuhriman , KO (punches) , Fury Fights: Battle in Brookings 2 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 0:34 ,

, United States , , - , Loss , align=center, 0–1 , Austin Peterson , Submission (rear-naked choke) , Fury Fights: Battle in Brookings 1 , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 0:58 ,

, United States , , -

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Nguyen, Ben Living people 1988 births American male mixed martial artists Flyweight mixed martial artists American practitioners of Brazilian jiu-jitsu People awarded a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu American Muay Thai practitioners American people of Vietnamese descent American male taekwondo practitioners Mixed martial artists from South Dakota Mixed martial artists utilizing Muay Thai Mixed martial artists utilizing taekwondo Mixed martial artists utilizing judo Mixed martial artists utilizing Brazilian jiu-jitsu Sportspeople from Sioux Falls, South Dakota American expatriate sportspeople in Australia American male kickboxers American male judoka American emigrants to Australia Sportspeople of Vietnamese descent Ultimate Fighting Championship male fighters