Nicolae Negumereanu (born September 4, 1994), commonly known as Nick Negumereanu, is a Romanian

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 ...

(MMA) who currently competes 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 in 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 ...

. A former Real Xtreme Fighting (RXF) Light Heavyweight champion, Negumereanu is known for making his entrance in a traditional

Dacia Dacia (, ; ) was the land inhabited by the Dacians, its core in Transylvania, stretching to the Danube in the south, the Black Sea in the east, and the Tisza in the west. The Carpathian Mountains were located in the middle of Dacia. It thus r ...

n hat called '' pileus.''

Background

Starting wrestling when he was 15 years old, he was able to become a national wrestling champion and a national kempo champion. He changed his mind and shifted his focus to MMA after seeing one of his friends compete at an RXF show.

Mixed martial arts career

Early career

He made his pro-MMA debut on October 10, 2016, against Alexandru Gavrila. Nicolae was victorious in his first MMA bout via a TKO. He went undefeated fighting mostly in Real Xtreme Fighting, with some of the opponents that he defeated being Marius Pîslaru, Constantin Pădure, Robert Orbocea, Yuri Gorbenko, and Kovács Kálmán. On November 19, 2018, he defeated Dan Konecke via Brabo Choke at RXF 32 to capture his first MMA title, the RXF Light Heavyweight Championship.

Ultimate Fighting Championship

Negumereanu, as a last-minute replacement for

Gökhan Saki Gökhan Saki (born 18 October 1983Saparbek Safarov Saparbek Dibirovich Safarov (russian: Сапарбек Сафаров; born 14 October 1986) is a Russian mixed martial artist, who competes in the light heavyweight division. He competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Mixed martial art ...

on March 16, 2019, at UFC Fight Night: Till vs. Masvidal in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, England. Negumereanu lost the fight by unanimous decision. Due to two surgeries, one on his back and one on his knee, he would miss the next two years. Negumereanu stated that he accepted the fight with Safarov only three weeks before, and he fought with a cracked hand and a cold. Later he also said that he was coming to the match with Villanueva after a meniscus operation but he did not want to cancel the match, entering unprepared again but this time winning the match. Negumereanu faced Aleksa Camur at UFC on ESPN: The Korean Zombie vs. Ige on June 19, 2021. He won the bout via split decision. This fight had its fair share of controversy after Negumereanu repeatedly illegally held holding Camur against the fence. Negumereanu faced

Ike Villanueva Isaac "Ike" James Villanueva (born April 4, 1984), is an American mixed martial artist who competed in the Light Heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Mixed martial arts career Early career Starting his career in 2008, Vi ...

on October 23, 2021, at UFC Fight Night: Costa vs. Vettori. He won the fight via knockout in round one. Negumereanu was scheduled to face Ihor Potieria on March 5, 2022, at

UFC 272 ''UFC 272: Covington vs. Masvidal'' was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on March 5, 2022, at the T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada, part of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Area, United States. ...

. However, Potieria pulled out of the bout and was replaced by

Kennedy Nzechukwu Kennedy Nzechukwu (born June 13, 1992) is a Nigerian professional mixed martial artist who competes in the Light Heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). Background Nzechukwu moved from Nigeria to the United States with ...

. Negumereanu won the fight via split decision. 8 out of 15 media scores gave it to Nzechukwu, while 6 scored it a draw, with only one giving it to Negumereanu. Negumereanu was scheduled to face

Alonzo Menifield Alonzo Menifield (born October 18, 1987) is an American mixed martial artist currently competing in the Light Heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). A professional since 2015, he has formerly fought in Bellator and the ...

on June 4, 2022, at

UFC Fight Night 207 ''UFC Fight Night: Volkov vs. Rozenstruik'' (also known as ''UFC Fight Night 207'' and ''UFC on ESPN+ 65'' or ''UFC Vegas 56'') was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on June 4, 2022, at the ...

. However, Negumereanu was removed from the event for undisclosed reasons and he was replaced by Askar Mozharov. Negumereanu faced Ihor Potieria on July 30, 2022 at

UFC 277 ''UFC 277: Peña vs. Nunes 2'' was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on July 30, 2022, at American Airlines Center in Dallas, Texas, United States. Background A UFC Women's Bantamweight Cha ...

. He won the fight via technical knockout in the second round. Negumereanu faced

Carlos Ulberg Carlos Sao Murry Ulberg (born 17 November 1990) is a New Zealand mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist who competes in the Light heavyweight (MMA), Light heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Background Ulberg was born ...

on November 12, 2022, at

UFC 281 ''UFC 281: Adesanya vs. Pereira'' was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship that took place on November 12, 2022, at the Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York, United States. Background A UFC Middle ...

. He lost the fight via knockout in the first round.

Personal life

He has 3 brothers, their father died when Nicolae was 10 years old. Negumereanu worked from the age of 14-15 to support his family. He declared that if he had had better performances in wrestling than being national champion, he probably would not have started MMA. He was active in wrestling for only 4-5 years and already after 2 years he started defeating opponents with 10 years of experience. Later, Negumereanu also studied

BJJ Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ; pt, jiu-jitsu brasileiro ) is a self-defence martial art and combat sport based on grappling, ground fighting (ne-waza) and submission holds. BJJ focuses on the skill of taking an opponent to the ground, control ...

in Brașov, Romania. He also said that MMA is not developed in Romania, unlike the much more popular

kickboxing Kickboxing is a combat sports, combat sport focused on kicking and punch (strike), punching. The combat takes place in a boxing ring, normally with boxing gloves, mouthguards, shorts, and bare feet to favour the use of kicks. Kickboxing is pract ...

, and that it has only been practiced for 5 years. At one point, Negumereanu trained only on the striking part of kickboxing, and the former coach did not manage to improve his ground part. He also trained at the

UFC Performance Institute The UFC Performance Institute is the official mixed martial arts (MMA) facility for American promotion Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). The building is located in Enterprise, Nevada opposite the UFC Apex, and serves as the company headquar ...

. Nicolae Negumereanu is an

Eastern Orthodox Christian Eastern Orthodoxy, also known as Eastern Orthodox Christianity, is one of the three main branches of Chalcedonian Christianity, alongside Catholicism and Protestantism. Like the Pentarchy of the first millennium, the mainstream (or "canonical") ...

. He said his idol is

Lucian Bute Lucian Bute (born February 28, 1980) is a Romanian-Canadian former professional boxer who competed from 2003 to 2017. He held the International Boxing Federation, IBF super-middleweight title from 2007 to 2012, successfully making nine consecutiv ...

, and that he was also inspired by Leonard Dorin Doroftei and Alexandru Lungu. He would like to end up like

Conor McGregor Conor Anthony McGregor ( ga, Conchúr Antóin Mac Gréagóir; born 14 July 1988) is an Irish professional mixed martial artist. He is a former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) featherweight and lightweight double-champion. He is the first ...

and have a match with

Jon Jones Jonathan Dwight Jones (born July 19, 1987) is an American professional mixed martial artist currently signed to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), in which he has competed in the light heavyweight division. He is a former two-time UFC L ...

. Nicolae says that he is passionate about

Dacian culture The Dacians (; la, Daci ; grc-gre, Δάκοι, Δάοι, Δάκαι) were the ancient Indo-European inhabitants of the cultural region of Dacia, located in the area near the Carpathian Mountains and west of the Black Sea. They are often consid ...

(Dacology) and listens to Subcarpați's music. He worked for many years as a security guard.

Championships and accomplishments

Mixed martial arts

* Real Xtreme Fighting ** RXF Light Heavyweight Championship (One Time)

Mixed martial arts record

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Saparbek Safarov Saparbek Dibirovich Safarov (russian: Сапарбек Сафаров; born 14 October 1986) is a Russian mixed martial artist, who competes in the light heavyweight division. He competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Mixed martial art ...

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Brașov Brașov (, , ; german: Kronstadt; hu, Brassó; la, Corona; Transylvanian Saxon: ''Kruhnen'') is a city in Transylvania, Romania and the administrative centre of Brașov County. According to the latest Romanian census (2011), Brașov has a popu ...

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Ludwigshafen Ludwigshafen, officially Ludwigshafen am Rhein (; meaning " Ludwig's Port upon Rhine"), is a city in the German state of Rhineland-Palatinate, on the river Rhine, opposite Mannheim. With Mannheim, Heidelberg, and the surrounding region, it form ...

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Piatra Neamț Piatra Neamț (; german: Kreuzburg an der Bistrița (Siret), Bistritz; hu, Karácsonkő) is the capital city of Neamț County, in the historical region of Western Moldavia, in northeastern Romania. Because of its privileged location in the Easter ...

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Ploiești Ploiești ( , , ), formerly spelled Ploești, is a city and county seat in Prahova County, Romania. Part of the historical region of Muntenia, it is located north of Bucharest. The area of Ploiești is around , and it borders the Blejoi commu ...

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References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Negumereanu, Nicolae 1994 births Romanian male mixed martial artists Light heavyweight mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists utilizing Kenpo Mixed martial artists utilizing wrestling Romanian male sport wrestlers Living people Sportspeople from Brașov Eastern Orthodox Christians from Romania