Heath Herring (born March 2, 1978) is an American professional

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 ...

currently competing in the

Heavyweight Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling. Boxing Professional Boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 3 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation, the Wo ...

division of

Rizin 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 ...

. While perhaps best known for competing in

PRIDE Pride is defined by Merriam-Webster as "reasonable self-esteem" or "confidence and satisfaction in oneself". A healthy amount of pride is good, however, pride sometimes is used interchangeably with "conceit" or "arrogance" (among other words) wh ...

, he has also formerly competed for the

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 ...

and K-1.

Background

Herring was born in

Waco, Texas Waco ( ) is the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin. The city had a 2020 population of 138,486, making it the 22nd-most populous city in the ...

and was raised in

Amarillo, Texas Amarillo ( ; Spanish for "yellow") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the seat of Potter County. It is the 14th-most populous city in Texas and the largest city in the Texas Panhandle. A portion of the city extends into Randall County ...

. His mother is a psychologist working for the Texas prison system and his father is an attorney who owns two different law firms. Herring attended

Amarillo High School Amarillo High School is a school located in the city of Amarillo, Texas, United States and is one of four high schools in the Amarillo Independent School District and classified as a 5A school by the University Interscholastic League (UIL). In 2015 ...

and played competitive football while being pursued by the school's

wrestling Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat ...

coach to try wrestling. Herring initially resisted, but in his senior year Herring began wrestling and qualified as one of the top ten wrestlers in the state for the state championships. Soon after, he began practicing

sambo , aka = Sombo (in English-speaking countries) , focus = Hybrid , country = Soviet Union , pioneers = Viktor Spiridonov, Vasili Oshchepkov, Anatoly Kharlampiev , famous_pract = List of Practitioners , oly ...

. Herring began training to fight in mixed martial arts when he graduated high school at the age of 18, but also continued his football career as a defensive end for

West Texas A&M University West Texas A&M University (WTAMU or WT) is a public university in Canyon, Texas. It is the northernmost campus of the Texas A&M University System and accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS). It was established on Se ...

's Division II program, although he did not finish his college education.

Mixed martial arts career

Early career

Herring made his professional

mixed martial arts 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, inc ...

debut in 1997 and compiled a record of 13-5 before being signed by

. After reaching the final of the ''World Vale Tudo Championship 8'' tournament held in

Aruba Aruba ( , , ), officially the Country of Aruba ( nl, Land Aruba; pap, Pais Aruba) is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands physically located in the mid-south of the Caribbean Sea, about north of the Venezuela peninsula of ...

in July 1999, Herring was invited to learn kickboxing in the Netherlands by the show's Dutch promoter Bas Boone and he trained under

Cor Hemmers Cornelius "Cor" Hemmers (born August 24, 1956 in Breda) is a Dutch kickboxing trainer associated with the Golden Glory gym in Breda, Netherlands. Biography Hemmers began his Martial Arts training in Judo at the age of 6, which he studied ...

Golden Glory Golden Glory was a Muay Thai, kickboxing and mixed martial arts camp and management team, based in the Netherlands. Description Golden Glory was founded in 1999 by Bas Boon, and Frederico Lapenda. Golden Glory's professional MMA and kickboxin ...

for a number of years.

PRIDE Fighting Championships

Herring is a longtime veteran in

, where he participated in 17 fights. Herring was very popular with the Japanese crowd for his unique hairstyles and colors, as well as sporting a

duster coat A duster is a light, loose-fitting long coat. The original dusters were full-length, light-colored canvas or linen coats worn by horsemen to protect their clothing from trail dust. These dusters were typically slit up the back to hip level for ...

and

cowboy hat The cowboy hat is a high-crowned, wide-brimmed hat best known as the defining piece of attire for the North American cowboy. Today it is worn by many people, and is particularly associated with ranch workers in the western and southern United S ...

to the ring during his entrances. Herring made his promotional debut at

PRIDE 9 Pride is defined by Merriam-Webster as "reasonable self-esteem" or "confidence and satisfaction in oneself". A healthy amount of pride is good, however, pride sometimes is used interchangeably with "conceit" or "arrogance" (among other words) wh ...

against

wrestler Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat sport ...

Willie Peeters Willie Peeters (born October 26, 1965) is a Dutch mixed martial artist. He competed in the Heavyweight division. Biography Peeters started his career in amateur wrestling at the age of ten, training with famed champion Freddy Winters and winni ...

and won via rear-naked choke submission in the first round. Herring then followed this up with three more wins before being handed his first defeat in the promotion at the hands of

Vitor Belfort Vítor Vieira Belfort (; born 1 April 1977) is a Brazilian mixed martial artist who competes in the Heavyweight and Middleweight divisions. Belfort previously competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he fought in the Heavywe ...

via unanimous decision at PRIDE 14. Herring followed this up with an impressive TKO win over Mark Kerr before receiving a shot for the inaugural

PRIDE Heavyweight Championship Below is a list of Pride Fighting Championships champions and title defenses: World champions Heavyweight Championship :Weight limit: Over Middleweight Championship :Weight limit: to Welterweight Championship :Weight limit: to Light ...

. Herring took part in the first

fight against

Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira (, born 2 June 1976), better known as Minotauro or Big Nog, is a Brazilian retired mixed martial artist. He competed in the heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is a former Inter ...

where he lost by unanimous decision. Despite his earlier championship loss to Nogueira, he was widely considered the number one contender until his first round loss to

Fedor Emelianenko Fedor Vladimirovich Emelianenko ( rus, Фёдор Влади́мирович Емелья́ненко, r=Fyodor Vladimirovich Yemelyanenko, p=ˈfʲɵdər vlɐˈdʲimʲɪrəvʲɪtɕ jɪmʲɪˈlʲjænʲɪnkə, IPA; born ...

. After the loss to Emelianenko, Herring fought

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 ...

PRIDE 26 The year 2003 is the 7th year in the history of the Pride Fighting Championships, a mixed martial arts promotion based in Japan. 2003 had 6 events beginning with, ''Pride 25 - Body Blow''. Title fights Debut Pride FC fighters The follow ...

and was defeated in the first round via TKO. Herring then bounced back, winning his next four consecutive fights before facing

in a rematch at PRIDE Critical Countdown 2004. Herring lost the rematch via anaconda choke submission in the second round. Herring would make his last appearance for the promotion at

PRIDE 28 The year 2004 is the 8th year in the history of the Pride Fighting Championships, a mixed martial arts promotion based in Japan. 2004 had 10 events beginning with, ''Pride 27 - Inferno''. Title fights Debut Pride FC fighters The followi ...

on October 31, 2004 against

Hirotaka Yokoi (born June 8, 1978) is a Japanese former mixed martial artist and professional wrestler. A professional MMA competitor from 2000 until 2007, Yokoi fought for PRIDE, Shooto, RINGS, and DEEP, while in professional wrestling he wrestled mainly for P ...

and won via first-round TKO in under two minutes. Herring parted ways with PRIDE in late 2004 because of management disputes.

New Year's Eve kiss

On December 31, 2005, Herring was involved in a memorable MMA moment during K-1's Dynamite 2005 show. During the pre-fight staredown, his opponent,

Yoshihiro Nakao (born June 25, 1972) is a Japanese semi-retired professional mixed martial artist and former K-1 kickboxer and PRIDE FC fighter who has defeated the likes of Don Frye, Choi Mu-Bae, Jim York, Wesley Correira and Edson Draggo. Nakao is a World ...

, leaned in and kissed him on the lips. Herring reacted, delivering a

right hook A hook is a punch in boxing. It is performed by turning the core muscles and back, thereby swinging the arm, which is bent at an angle near or at 90 degrees, in a horizontal arc into the opponent. A hook is usually aimed at the jaw, but it can ...

to the jaw of Nakao, knocking him down. Herring was immediately disqualified and Nakao was carried from the ring. Shortly thereafter, Nakao's cornermen attacked Herring and a brief fight ensued. Herring's trainers, Ricardo Pires and Sergio Penha fought with Nakao's trainers until security stopped the fight. The fight result has since been changed by K-1 from a disqualification loss for Herring to a no contest, as K-1 judges ruled that Nakao's kiss and Herring's subsequent

knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, muay thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, a ...

punch were both fouls.

Transition to the UFC

Heath Herring debuted in the

for UFC Fight Night 8 and lost on decision against

Jake O'Brien Jake O'Brien may refer to: *Jake O'Brien (basketball), American basketball player *Jake O'Brien (fighter), American martial artist *Jake O'Brien (footballer) Jake O'Brien (born 15 May 2001) is an Irish professional footballer who plays as a de ...

after deciding to fight after being injured. On Saturday, April 7, 2007, at

UFC 69 ''UFC 69: Shootout'' was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on Saturday, April 7, 2007, at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas. UFC 69 is most remembered for the main event, in which Matt Serra shocked the UFC W ...

Heath faced off against

The Ultimate Fighter 2 ''The Ultimate Fighter 2'' was the second season of the mixed martial arts reality television series ''The Ultimate Fighter''. The season featured a heavyweight and a welterweight division, with 9 fighters initially in each division. The UFC coa ...

Heavyweight finalist

Brad Imes Bradley Imes "Brad" Smith (born March 13, 1977), better known as Brad Imes, is a retired American mixed martial artist. He appeared on The Ultimate Fighter 2, and has competed as a Heavyweight in the UFC, WEC, IFL, PFC, Titan FC, and King of th ...

. Herring won the match by unanimous decision after 3 rounds. At

UFC 73 ''UFC 73: Stacked'' was a mixed martial arts (MMA) event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). It took place on July 7, 2007, at the ARCO Arena in Sacramento, California and featured a total of nine bouts: four on the Undercard, prelim ...

, Herring lost via unanimous decision to

, but not before he landed a left high kick to Nogueira's head late in the first round. Nogueira was sent to the ground, visibly stunned, but Herring did not engage him and attempt to finish the fight, opting to stand up shortly after the kick and beckoned Nogueira to stand as well. The referee motioned Noguiera to stand up after the brief flurry on the ground, giving Herring the advantage but Herring was not able to finish the fight in the first round. At

UFC 82 ''UFC 82: Pride of a Champion'' was a mixed martial arts (MMA) event that took place on March 1, 2008, at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. Background The main event was a UFC & Pride FC middleweight title unification match between UFC mid ...

Heath won a three round split-decision against rising contender

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 ...

. While both are considered strikers, much of the fight took place on the ground. After the fight Heath said he was not happy with the fight, he wanted to give the fans a stand-up fight and Kongo refused to stand with him. Herring also said after the fight that he did not even train at all for the ground game. Herring fought

Brock Lesnar Brock Edward Lesnar ( ; born July 12, 1977) is an American-Canadian professional wrestler, former mixed martial artist (MMA), amateur wrestler, and professional American football player who holds both American and Canadian citizenship. He is ...

UFC 87 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 ...

after

Mark Coleman Mark Daniel Coleman (born December 20, 1964) is an American retired mixed martial artist, professional wrestler and amateur wrestler. Coleman was the UFC 10 and UFC 11 tournament champion, the first UFC Heavyweight Champion, and the Pride Fig ...

was forced to withdraw due to a knee injury. The fight went the full 3 rounds and Lesnar was declared winner by unanimous decision. Herring was knocked down early in the first round with a straight right. According to Heath Herring's official

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

profile in a note titled "6 Months To Rest", Herring is said to have suffered a broken

orbital bone In anatomy, the orbit is the cavity or socket of the skull in which the eye and its appendages are situated. "Orbit" can refer to the bony socket, or it can also be used to imply the contents. In the adult human, the volume of the orbit is , of ...

from the first punch of the fight. Herring was scheduled to fight

Cain Velasquez Caín Ramirez Velasquez (born July 28, 1982) is an American professional wrestler and retired mixed martial artist, currently appearing for Lucha Libre AAA Worldwide (AAA). He is widely known for his time in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, ...

UFC 99 ''UFC 99: The Comeback'' was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) on June 13, 2009 in Cologne, Germany. Background This event was the first UFC event held in Germany, as well as the first in mainland Europe ...

, but was forced to withdraw due to an undisclosed illness. Herring stated in November 2010 that he wants to fight as soon as possible. He was still under contract with the

and was expected to make his return. In September 2011, responding to a question asked via

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

, UFC President

Dana White Dana Frederick White Jr. (born July 28, 1969) is an American businessman who serves as president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), a global mixed martial arts organization. In August 2019, White's net worth was estimated at $500 milli ...

commented that Herring "...retired after the Lesnar fight". Herring has taken up the hobby of playing poker since his retirement from

MMA 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 strike (attack), striking, grappling and ground f ...

and is also a commentator for

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 ...

Joining Rizin FF Openweight tournament

After eight years away from the sport, the 38-year-old Herring ended his retirement and signed with the Japanese promotion

. He faced

Amir Aliakbari Amir Aliakbari ( fa, امير على‌اكبرى, born 11 December 1987) is an Iranian mixed martial artist signed to ONE Championship, where he competes in the Heavyweight division. He has also competed for Absolute Championship Berkut (ACB) and ...

, an Iranian wrestling standout, in the quarter-final round of the openweight grand prix, replacing fellow former UFC fighter

Shane Carwin Western Colorado Mountaineers Shane Bannister Carwin (born January 4, 1975) is an American former mixed martial artist who competed in the Heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He is a former Interim UFC Heav ...

. Herring lost the bout by unanimous decision.

Film career

Heath Herring starred in '' Never Surrender'', released by

Lions Gate Entertainment Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, doing business as Lionsgate, is a Canadian-American entertainment company. It was formed by Frank Giustra on July 10, 1997, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is currently headquartered in ...

in 2009 as well as ''Circle of Pain''. He has also appeared in ''Hell's Chain'', ''Unrivaled'', ''Beatdown'', and ''Division III: Football's Finest''.

Personal life

Herring was married when he was 18 years old and has a daughter, but the marriage ended in divorce. In August 2014 he remarried, to TV presenter Sarah Grant. They had a daughter in 2019. Herring's brother also competed in

, holding an undefeated 5-0 record before attending

Baylor University Baylor University is a private Baptist Christian research university in Waco, Texas. Baylor was chartered in 1845 by the last Congress of the Republic of Texas. Baylor is the oldest continuously operating university in Texas and one of the fir ...

to play football as an offensive tackle. Herring currently lives in Las Vegas. Before becoming a professional fighter, he worked as a computer programmer. In the last eight years, all through his thirties, Herring has dabbled in stunt work in Hollywood, tried his hand at professional poker and launched a mixed martial arts promotion in Argentina.

Championships and accomplishments

Mixed martial arts

*World Vale Tudo Championship **WVC 9 Heavyweight Tournament Winner **WVC 8 Heavyweight Tournament Runner Up *Superbrawl **Superbrawl 13 Heavyweight Tournament Semifinalist *Bas Rutten Invitational **Bas Rutten Invitational 3 Tournament Winner

Mixed martial arts record

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Satoshi Ishii is a Japanese-born judoka, mixed martial artist, kickboxer and submission grappler who has held Croatian citizenship since 2019. Ishii won the gold medal in Olympic Judo at the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics, a silver medal at the ...

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Gary Goodridge Gary Henry Goodridge (born January 17, 1966), nicknamed "Big Daddy", is a Trinidadian-Canadian former heavyweight kickboxer and mixed martial artist fighting out of Barrie, Ontario. Prior to kickboxing and MMA, he was also one of the top ranked ...

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K-1 PREMIUM 2005 Dynamite!! ''K-1 PREMIUM 2005 Dynamite!!'' was an annual kickboxing and mixed martial arts event held by K-1 and Hero's on New Year's Eve, Sunday, December 31, 2005 at the Osaka Dome in Osaka, Japan. It featured 7 HERO'S MMA rules fights, and 4 K-1 rules ...

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Sam Greco Salvatore "Sam" Greco (born 3 May 1967) is an Australian retired full contact karateka, heavyweight K-1 kickboxer, mixed martial artist. He was the 1994 Karate World Cup champion and holds notable kickboxing victories over Branko Cikatic, Ern ...

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Kazuo Takahashi , ring name , is a Japanese retired mixed martial artist. A professional competitor from 1993 until 2013 (and then once again in 2018), he competed for the UFC, PRIDE Fighting Championships, Pancrase, RINGS, K-1 HERO'S, and World Victory Road. ...

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PRIDE Total Elimination 2004 The year 2004 is the 8th year in the history of the Pride Fighting Championships, a mixed martial arts promotion based in Japan. 2004 had 10 events beginning with, ''Pride 27 - Inferno''. Title fights Debut Pride FC fighters The followi ...

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Gan McGee Gan McGee (born November 20, 1976) is an American mixed martial artist who has competed for the UFC, PRIDE, WEC and the XFC. Background McGee was born in Bismarck, North Dakota to Marguerite McGee (nee Ohde) and Curtis Warren McGee. McGee domi ...

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Paulo Cesar Silva Paulo César da Silva (born July 21, 1962) is a Brazilian former national basketball player for the Brazilian national basketball team and later mixed martial artist and professional wrestler, better known by his ring name Giant Silva. He stands ...

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Yuriy Kochkine Yuriy Kochkine is a Russian mixed martial artist. He competed in the Heavyweight division. Mixed martial arts record , - , Win , align=center, 7-4-1 , Milco Voorn , Submission (kimura) , Rings Russia: CIS vs. The World , , align=c ...

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Igor Vovchanchyn Igor Yaroslavovych Vovchanchyn (, uk, Ігор Ярославович Вовчанчин; born August 6, 1973) is a retired Ukrainian mixed martial artist and kickboxer, who competed in early no holds barred MMA contests. After making his profess ...

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Enson Inoue Enson Shoji Inoue (; born April 15, 1967) is a Japanese-American jiu-jitsu practitioner and retired professional mixed martial artist. A professional competitor from 1995 until 2010, he fought for the PRIDE Fighting Championships, the UFC, Shooto ...

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, Japan , , - , Loss , align=center, 13–5 , Ramazan Mezhidov , TKO (doctor stoppage) , IAFC: Pankration World Championship 2000 Day 2 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 4:55 ,

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 million ...

, Russia , , - , Win , align=center, 13–4 ,

Rene Rooze Rene Rooze (born 26 January 1969) is a Dutch former kickboxer and mixed martial artist. Biography and career As a member of Team Aerts, he was an active fighter competing in mainly European events and accumulating (as of 2004) a kickboxing rec ...

, DQ (excessive fouling) , 2 Hot 2 Handle 1 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 3:20 ,

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

, The Netherlands , , - , Win , align=center, 12–4 ,

Bob Schrijber Robert Schrijber (born 3 March 1965) is a Dutch former mixed martial artist and kickboxer. He currently runs his own MMA and Muay Thai team in Krommenie, Netherlands called Sports Academy Schreiber. His most famous students at the moment are UFC ...

, TKO (punches) , rowspan=3, World Vale Tudo Championship 9 , rowspan=3, , align=center, 1 , align=center, 2:19 , rowspan=3,

, , - , Win , align=center, 11–4 , Sean McCully , Submission (kimura) , align=center, 1 , align=center, 0:43 , , - , Win , align=center, 10–4 , Michael Tielrooy , Submission (americana) , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:14 , , - , Loss , align=center, 9–4 ,

Bobby Hoffman Bobby "The Truth" Hoffman (born October 28, 1966) is a retired American mixed martial artist who competed in the heavyweight division. He is the former King of the Cage super heavyweight champion as well as the former King of the Cage heavywei ...

, Decision (unanimous) , rowspan=2, SuperBrawl 13 , rowspan=2, , align=center, 2 , align=center, 5:00 , rowspan=2,

Honolulu, Hawaii Honolulu (; ) is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Hawaii, which is in the Pacific Ocean. It is an unincorporated county seat of the consolidated City and County of Honolulu, situated along the southeast coast of the island o ...

, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 9–3 , Rocky Batastini , Submission (rear-naked choke) , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:00 , , - , Loss , align=center, 8–3 , Alexandre Ferreira , Decision (split) , rowspan=3, World Vale Tudo Championship 8 , rowspan=3, , align=center, 1 , align=center, 30:00 , rowspan=3,

, , - , Win , align=center, 8–2 , Kavkaz Soultanmagomedov , TKO (submission to punches) , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:18 , , - , Win , align=center, 7–2 , Erwin van den Steen , TKO (submission to punches) , align=center, 1 , align=center, 4:33 , , - , Win , align=center, 6–2 , Gabe Beauperthy , Submission (armlock) , rowspan=2, Bas Rutten Invitational 3 , rowspan=2, , align=center, 1 , align=center, 4:43 , rowspan=2,

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 5–2 , Hoss Carter , Submission (americana) , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:07 , , - , Loss , align=center, 4–2 ,

Travis Fulton Travis Jon Fulton (May 29, 1977 – July 10, 2021) was an American mixed martial artist and a professional boxer in the heavyweight division of both sports. Known as a longtime veteran in mixed martial arts, he competed in over 300 sanctioned ...

, Decision (unanimous) , Extreme Challenge 24 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 12:00 ,

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the Capital (political), capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the county seat, seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Sal ...

, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 4–1 , Phil Deason , Submission (americana) , rowspan=2, WVF: Durango , rowspan=2, , align=center, 1 , align=center, 0:13 , rowspan=2,

Durango, Colorado Durango is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of La Plata County, Colorado, United States. The city population was 19,071 at the 2020 United States Census. Durango is the home of Fort Lewis Coll ...

, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 3–1 , Nik Bickle , TKO (submission to punches) , align=center, 1 , align=center, 0:32 , , - , Win , align=center, 2–1 ,

Evan Tanner Evan Lloyd Tanner (February 11, 1971 – September 5, 2008) was an American professional mixed martial arts fighter. He was a former UFC Middleweight Championship, UFC Middleweight Champion and was the first American to win the Pancrase N ...

, Submission (rear-naked choke) , PSDA , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 8:20 ,

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, United States , , - , Loss , align=center, 1–1 ,

, TKO (exhaustion) , Unified Shoot Wrestling Federation 7 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 6:19 ,

, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 1–0 , Chris Guillen , Submission (rear-naked choke) , Unified Shoot Wrestling Federation 4 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 2:10 ,

, United States ,

References

External links

*
Official UFC Profile
* *
Weekly Radio Show featuring Herring as co-host
{{DEFAULTSORT:Herring, Heath Living people 1978 births American male mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists from Texas Heavyweight mixed martial artists Amarillo High School alumni American sambo practitioners American expatriates in the Netherlands West Texas A&M Buffaloes football players Ultimate Fighting Championship male fighters Mixed martial artists utilizing wrestling Mixed martial artists utilizing sambo