Chris Sanford (born March 12, 1968) is an American retired mixed martial artist who has competed 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 ...

and

World Extreme Cagefighting World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) was an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion founded in 2001. It was purchased by Zuffa, LLC, the parent company of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), in 2006. In its final incarnation, it was mad ...

. He appeared on the first season of ''

The Ultimate Fighter ''The Ultimate Fighter'' is an American reality television series and mixed martial arts (MMA) competition produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and Pilgrim Media Group currently airing on ESPN+. It previously aired for fourteen s ...

''.

Background

Sanford was born in Roxbury, Boston. He lived in Japan as a high school exchange student and also studied

Japanese language is spoken natively by about 128 million people, primarily by Japanese people and primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language. Japanese belongs to the Japonic or Japanese- Ryukyuan language family. There have been ...

and

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analyzes ...

at the

University of Massachusetts, Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts and the sole public land-grant university in Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded in 1863 as an agricultural college, i ...

. He practiced various forms of martial arts, like

taekwondo ''Taekwondo'', ''Tae Kwon Do'' or ''Taekwon-Do'' (; ko, 태권도/跆拳道 ) is a Korean martial arts, Korean form of martial arts involving punching and kicking techniques, with emphasis on head-height kicks, spinning jump kicks, and fast k ...

kung fu Chinese martial arts, often called by the umbrella terms kung fu (; ), kuoshu () or wushu (), are multiple fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in Greater China. These fighting styles are often classified according to commo ...

and

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...

Mixed martial arts career

Early career: World Extreme Cagefighting

Sanford started his mixed martial arts career in 2001. He fought mainly for California–based promotions as

and ''Gladiator Challenge''. He amassed a perfect record of four victories and no defeats before being signed to compete on the original season of ''

''.

''The Ultimate Fighter''

Sanford signed in to compete as a middleweight and was the last middleweight pick of Team

Couture Couture may refer to: People * Couture (surname) Places Belgium * Couture-Saint-Germain, a village in the municipality of Lasne, Belgium Canada * Couture crater and Lac Couture, an impact crater and the lake that covers it in Quebec, Canada ...

. However, he never fought on the show, as he was sent home by Couture in the second episode after his team lost the team challenges.

Ultimate Fighting Championship

Despite being eliminated early on the show, he was awarded a chance to fight at

The Ultimate Fighter 1 Finale The debut season of The Ultimate Fighter (later designated ''The Ultimate Fighter 1'') premiered on January 17, 2005. Sixteen mixed martial arts fighters (eight light heavyweights weighing from 186 to 205 lb and eight middleweights weighing from ...

against fellow housemate

Josh Koscheck Edinboro Fighting Scots Josh D. Koscheck (born November 30, 1977) is an American retired mixed martial artist who fought at Welterweight for the UFC and Bellator MMA. Koscheck made his debut with the UFC on the first season of the realit ...

. He was knocked out at 4:21 in the first round and was subsequently released from the promotion.

Return to WEC

Sanford faced Josh Green on August 18, 2005 at

WEC 16 WEC 16: Clash of the Titans 2 was a mixed martial arts event promoted by World Extreme Cagefighting on August 18, 2005 at the Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino in Lemoore, California. The main event saw Ron Waterman take on Ricco Rodriguez for the WE ...

. He won via submission due to a guillotine choke in the very first round. Sanford never fought again since 2005.

Mixed martial arts record

, - , Win , align=center, 5–1 , Josh Green , Submission (guillotine choke) ,

: Clash of the Titans 2 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 2:30 , Lemoore, California, United States , , - , Loss , align=center, 4–1 ,

, KO (punch) ,

, , align=center, 1 , align=center, 4:21 ,

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vega ...

, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 4–0 , Desi Miner , Submission (choke) , Fearless 1 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, N/A ,

Pasig, Metro Manila Pasig, officially the City of Pasig ( fil, Lungsod ng Pasig), is a 1st class highly urbanized city in the National Capital Region of the Philippines. According to the 2020 census, it has a population of 803,159 people. It is located along the ...

, Philippines , , - , Win , align=center, 3–0 , Jack Cardenas , Submission (armbar) , WEC 6: Return of a Legend , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 2:45 , Lemoore, California, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 2–0 , Travis Robinson , Submission (heel hook) , Gladiator Challenge 6: Caged Beasts , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:54 ,

Colusa, California Colusa is a city and county seat of Colusa County, California, located in the Sacramento Valley region of the Central Valley. The population was 5,971 at the 2010 census, up from 5,402 at the 2000 census. Colusi originates from the local Coru N ...

, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 1–0 , Bobby Martin , KO (punch) ,

WEC 1 ''WEC 1: Princes of Pain'' was a mixed martial arts event held on June 30, 2001, at the Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino in Lemoore, California. ''WEC 1s main event was a fight between Dan Severn and Travis Fulton. Results See also ...

: Princes of Pain , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 0:29 , Lemoore, California, United States ,

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sanford, Christopher 1968 births Living people Sportspeople from Boston American male mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists from Massachusetts Light heavyweight mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists utilizing wushu Mixed martial artists utilizing boxing Mixed martial artists utilizing taekwondo People from Roxbury, Boston American wushu practitioners American male taekwondo practitioners