Christophe Leininger, is an American former judoka who was 1984, 1988, and 1992 US Olympic Judo Team Alternate. He was born in 1959. His brother Bryan Leininger was also a judo competitor. While his father Maurice was a French Judo champion. He is a two time US National Judo Champion and a two time US Judo open champion. He competed in a number of mixed martial arts fights included in

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 ...

Career

Ultimate Fighting Championship

Leininger made his debut in

UFC 3 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 ...

event, being billed as the second ranked American judoka in his weight class at the time. Going against shoot wrestler

Ken Shamrock Kenneth Wayne Shamrock (''né'' Kilpatrick; born February 11, 1964) is an American bare-knuckle boxing promoter and semi-retired professional wrestler, mixed martial artist, and kickboxer. He is best known for his time in Ultimate Fighting Cha ...

, Leininger started by trying a

morote gari is a double leg takedown (grappling) , takedown adopted later by the Kodokan into their List of Kodokan judo techniques, ''Shinmeisho-no-waza'' (newly accepted techniques) list. It is categorized as a hand technique, '' List_of_judo_techniques#Te ...

, but Shamrock protected against it and ended up in Christophe's

guard Guard or guards may refer to: Professional occupations * Bodyguard, who protects an individual from personal assault * Crossing guard, who stops traffic so pedestrians can cross the street * Lifeguard, who rescues people from drowning * Prison ...

. The judoka then tried an

armbar An armlock in grappling is a single or double joint lock that Anatomical terms of motion#General motion, hyperextends, hyperflexes or hyperrotates the elbow, elbow joint or glenohumeral joint, shoulder joint. An armlock that hyper-extends the ...

, only for Shamrock to turn him over and stack him against the fence, raining

punch Punch commonly refers to: * Punch (combat), a strike made using the hand closed into a fist * Punch (drink), a wide assortment of drinks, non-alcoholic or alcoholic, generally containing fruit or fruit juice Punch may also refer to: Places * Pun ...

es and

headbutt A headbutt is a targeted strike with the head, typically (when intentional) involving the use of robust parts of the headbutter's cranium as the area of impact. The most effective headbutts strike the most sensitive areas of an opponent, such as ...

s on him for the tap out. Shamrock crossfaced Leininger so hard into the mat that Leininger admitted to being knocked out for a second, and he later was revealed to have suffered a mild concussion. He returned at

UFC 13 ''UFC 13: The Ultimate Force'' was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on May 30, 1997 in Augusta, Georgia. The event was seen live on pay-per-view in the United States, and later released on home video. History ...

against Ken Shamrock's teammate Guy Mezger. Leininger tried to take the fight to the ground, at one point scoring a

tomoe nage is one of the traditional forty throws of jujutsu and Judo. It belongs to the third group (Sankyo) of the traditional throwing list, the traditional Gokyo (no waza), and the current 67 Throws of Kodokan Judo. Tomoe nage is categorized as a fron ...

and transitioning it into a mount position, but Mezger was able to return to his feet every time. After a restart, Mezger hit a clearly tired Leininger with kicks to the legs and head, but the affair was inconclusive and the match went to overtime. There Mezger continued punishing Leininger with strikes, finally earning a decision win.

Mixed martial arts record

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Edwin Dewees Edwin Stanton Dewees (born August 7, 1982 in Florence, South Carolina) is an American mixed martial artist who most recently competed in the Heavyweight division. A professional competitor from 2000 to 2014, he was featured on ''The Ultimate Fi ...

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Phoenix, Arizona Phoenix ( ; nv, Hoozdo; es, Fénix or , yuf-x-wal, Banyà:nyuwá) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Arizona, with 1,608,139 residents as of 2020. It is the fifth-most populous city in the United States, and the on ...

, United States , , - , Loss , align=center, 3–3 ,

Allan Sullivan Allan Edmund Sullivan, (June 23, 1932 – June 19, 1982) was a Canadian politician. He represented the electoral district of Cape Breton West in the Nova Scotia House of Assembly from 1970 to 1976. He was a member of the Nova Scotia Liberal Pa ...

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Augusta, Georgia Augusta ( ), officially Augusta–Richmond County, is a consolidated city-county on the central eastern border of the U.S. state of Georgia. The city lies across the Savannah River from South Carolina at the head of its navigable portion. Georgi ...

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Charlotte, North Carolina Charlotte ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. Located in the Piedmont region, it is the county seat of Mecklenburg County. The population was 874,579 at the 2020 census, making Charlotte the 16th-most populo ...

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, TKO (submission to punches) ,

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References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Leininger, Christophe 1975 births Sportspeople from Scottsdale, Arizona American male judoka American male mixed martial artists Light heavyweight mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists utilizing judo Living people Pan American Games medalists in judo Pan American Games silver medalists for the United States Judoka at the 1991 Pan American Games Medalists at the 1991 Pan American Games Ultimate Fighting Championship male fighters 20th-century American people