Patrick Smith (August 28, 1963 – June 18, 2019) was an American

Kickboxer Kickboxing is a combat sport focused on kicking and 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 practiced for self-defense, general ...

and

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 ...

. He started his mixed martial arts career by participating in the first two

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 ...

events. He was a 3rd degree black belt in

Tae Kwon Do ''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 ...

and also held a black belt in

Hapkido Hapkido ( , , also spelled ''hap ki do'' or ''hapki-do''; from Korean 합기도 ''hapgido'' ) is a hybrid Korean martial art. It is a form of self-defense that employs joint locks, grappling, throwing techniques, kicks, punches, and other stri ...

American Kenpo American Kenpo Karate (), also known as Ed Parker's Kenpo Karate, American Kenpo and Kenpo Karate, is an all-inclusive system of martial arts based on ancient martial arts methods applied to solve modern-day violent scenarios using logic and pract ...

, and

Tang Soo Do Tang Soo Do (Hangul: 당수도, Hanja: 唐手道 ) refers to a Korean martial art based on Karate and may include fighting principles from subak (as described in the Kwon Bup Chong Do), as well as northern Chinese martial arts. Before the Ni ...

. In 1993, Smith was ranked No. 1 as a Super Heavyweight

in the United States and held a ranking of No. 5 internationally. He was the 1993

Enshin Karate is a style of " full contact karate", or Knockdown karate, founded in 1988 with dojo and students in various countries around the world. Overview The core emphasis in Enshin is use of the Sabaki Method, a system of techniques employed with ...

Sabaki Challenge Heavyweight champion, an annual full contact karate tournament held in Denver which allows grabs, sweeps and throws, and competed in the 1993

Seidokaikan is a traditional full contact karate derived from Kyokushin by Kazuyoshi Ishii. Seidokaikan organized the first professional full contact karate tournament named the Karate World Cup. The Karate World Cup had special extension rounds; if the j ...

full contact Karate World Cup tournament in Japan.

Kickboxing career

Patrick Smith first rose to fame in the US for his kickboxing prowess. In 1994 he entered the

K-1 Grand Prix '94 This is a list of events held and scheduled by the K-1, a kickboxing promotion based in Hong Kong. The first event, K-1 Sanctuary I, took place on March 30, 1993 at Kōrakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. 2023 events 2022 events 2021 events ...

where he caused one of the biggest upsets in K-1 history by flooring three times and subsequently knocking out legendary karateka and future K-1 star

Andy Hug Andreas "Andy" Hug (7 September 1964 – 24 August 2000) was a Swiss karateka and kickboxer who competed in the heavyweight division. Considered to be one of the greatest heavyweight kickboxers of all time, Hug was renowned for his ability t ...

with an uppercut after just 19 seconds of the first round in their quarterfinal match. Smith was unable to build on this success as he was soundly defeated by eventual champion

Peter Aerts Peter Aerts (born 25 October 1970) is a Dutch semi-retired kickboxer. Known for his devastating high kicks, which earned him the nickname "The Dutch Lumberjack", he is widely considered to be one of the greatest heavyweight kickboxers of all time ...

in the semifinals. Some pundits, most notoriously

Dave Meltzer David Allen Meltzer (born October 24, 1959) is an American journalist who reports on professional wrestling and mixed martial arts. Since 1983, he has been the publisher and editor of the ''Wrestling Observer Newsletter'' (''WON''). He has als ...

, have expressed their belief that Hug's loss was a fight fixed in order to increase Smith's popularity. After the Hug victory, Smith's K-1 career never took off. He lost to Andy Hug in a rematch at the K-1 Revenge event and then failed to qualify for the following year's K-1 Grand Prix at K-1 Grand Prix '95 Opening Battle. His last match in K-1 was against rising local star Musashi, a match he lost by KO, and he was released from his K-1 contract, finishing 1 and 4 with the organization. Despite little international success, Smith had more success at home, accumulating an overall 66-8 kickboxing record by the time he retired in 2000.

Mixed martial arts career

Ultimate Fighting Championship

Smith participated the first

event,

UFC 1 ''The Ultimate Fighting Championship'' (later renamed ''UFC 1: The Beginning'') was the first mixed martial arts event by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), held at the McNichols Sports Arena in Denver, Colorado, United States, on November ...

, in November 1993. The event featured an eight-man single-elimination tournament with very few rules, awarding $50,000 to the winner.

Art Davie Art Davie (born April 5, 1947) is a business executive and entrepreneur formerly active in Southern California advertising circles. In 1993, he created and co-produced the tournament which became the televised Ultimate Fighting Championship. In 19 ...

, the promoter, placed advertisements in martial arts magazines and sent letters to anyone in any martial arts directory he could find to recruit competitors for the event. With the event being held in Smith's hometown of Denver, he was an easy addition. Smith's first and only match was 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 Champ ...

, who took Smith down easily and submitted him with a

heel hook Heel hook may refer to: * Heel hook, in grappling * A climbing technique {{disambig