Mike Brown (fighter) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Mike Thomas Brown is an American mixed martial artist

Mixed martial arts

Mixed Martial Arts is a full contact combat sport that allows the use of both striking and grappling techniques, both standing and on the ground, including boxing, wrestling, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, muay Thai, kickboxing, karate, judo and other styles. The roots of modern mixed martial arts can be...

. He currently fights as a featherweight

Featherweight (MMA)

The featherweight division in mixed martial arts can refer to a number of different weight classes:*UFC's & Pancrase's featherweight division, which groups competitors within 136 to 145 lb...

in the Ultimate Fighting Championship

Ultimate Fighting Championship

The Ultimate Fighting Championship is the largest mixed martial arts promotion company in the world that hosts most of the top-ranked fighters in the sport...

organization and is a former WEC Featherweight Champion.
Mike trains full-time at the main American Top Team

American Top Team

American Top Team is one of the leading teams in mixed martial arts. It was founded by former members of Brazilian Top Team, Ricardo Liborio, Marcus Silveira and Marcelo Silveira but there is no formal affiliation between the two teams. ATT's main academy is in Coconut Creek, Florida but has...

academy located in Coconut Creek, Florida

Coconut Creek, Florida

Coconut Creek is a city in Broward County, Florida , nestled between Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties. It had a population of 52,909 at the 2010 census...

Wrestling background

Mike Brown wrestled

Scholastic wrestling

Scholastic wrestling, sometimes known in the United States as Folkstyle wrestling, is a style of amateur wrestling practised at the high school and middle school levels in the United States. This wrestling style is essentially Collegiate wrestling with some slight modifications. It is currently...

at Bonny Eagle High School

Bonny Eagle High School

Bonny Eagle High School is a public high school located in Standish, Maine, United States. The school is a part of Maine School Administrative District 6, which serves the towns of Buxton, Hollis, Limington, Frye Island, Bar Mills Steep Falls and Standish...

in Standish, Maine

Standish, Maine

Standish is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The population was 9,874 at the 2010 census. It includes the villages of Standish Corner, Sebago Lake Village and Steep Falls, and the localities known as Richville, Standish Neck and Two Trails...

where he won a state championship in 1992, his junior year. He went on to wrestle

Collegiate wrestling

Collegiate wrestling, sometimes known in the United States as Folkstyle wrestling, is a style of amateur wrestling practised at the collegiate and university level in the United States. Collegiate wrestling emerged from the folk wrestling styles practised in the early history of the United States...

at Norwich University

Norwich University

Norwich University is a private university located in Northfield, Vermont . The university was founded in 1819 at Norwich, Vermont, as the American Literary, Scientific and Military Academy. It is the oldest of six Senior Military Colleges, and is recognized by the United States Department of...

where he was known for his ability to focus. Although he was an average student in high school, he was able to apply his focus to academics and excelled as a scholar-athlete in college. According to Norwich wrestling Coach Rich Hasenfus, Brown was one of the smartest athletes and strongest wrestlers at Norwich.

MMA career

Brown had fought in several MMA events including most recently WEC

World Extreme Cagefighting

World Extreme Cagefighting was an American mixed martial arts promotion. It was purchased by Zuffa, LLC, the parent company of Ultimate Fighting Championship , in 2006. In its final incarnation, it was made up of 3 weight classes: 135, 145 and 155 lbs. To accommodate the smaller...

, where he was the (145 lb.) champion. In 2005, Brown suffered a near career-ending loss at Deep 22nd in Japan. Brown's opponent, noted leg-lock expert Masakazu Imanari

Masakazu Imanari

is a Japanese mixed martial artist best known for his leglocks. He fights out of Team Roken in Kanagawa, Japan. He currently has a professional MMA record of 24–9–2 with notable victories over Danny Batten, Jorge Gurgel, Mike Brown, Robbie Olivier, Jean Silva and Yoshiro Maeda. He is a veteran...

, dislocated Brown's leg to the point that his leg was pulled out and to the side of his knee joint. His only other Pre-WEC losses were to world-class fighters; besides Imanari, only Joe Lauzon

Joe Lauzon

Joseph E. Lauzon Jr. is an American mixed martial artist from Brockton, Massachusetts. He currently lives in Massachusetts and is training at Lauzon MMA in Bridgewater, Massachusetts.-Early life and background:...

, Genki Sudo

Genki Sudo

is a retired Japanese mixed martial artist and a kickboxer who, up until December 31, 2006 competed in the Japanese fighting organization HERO'S and before that, the Ultimate Fighting Championship and Pancrase. He is notable for his elaborate ring entrances and unorthodox fighting style. His...

, and Hermes Franca

Hermes Franca

Hermes França Barros is a Brazilian mixed martial artist who competes as a lightweight.-Early career:França made his professional MMA debut in November 2001. He quickly earned an undefeated streak of 6-0, drawing the attention of the UFC.-First UFC run:...

(all UFC veterans) had defeated Brown en route to Brown's 18-4 record.

World Extreme Cagefighting

Riding a six fight win streak, Mike Brown signed with the WEC's 145 pounds division. His first fight in the WEC was against jiu-jitsu

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu is a martial art, combat sport, and a self defense system that focuses on grappling and especially ground fighting...

expert Jeff Curran

Jeff Curran

Jeffrey M. Curran is an American mixed martial artist. He fights at a number of different weight classes for a large number of organizations, including: Ultimate Fighting Championship , Strikeforce, PRIDE Fighting Championship, World Extreme Cagefighting , International Fight League , and King of...

at WEC 34

WEC 34

WEC 34: Faber vs. Pulver was a mixed martial arts event held by World Extreme Cagefighting that took place on June 1, 2008 at the ARCO Arena in Sacramento, California. The main event, announced on WEC 33, was a bout between Jens Pulver and Urijah Faber for the WEC Featherweight Championship. WEC 34...

. In each round, Brown matched Curran's stand-up and then took him down and scored from the top with elbows and punches. Brown won all three rounds en route to a unanimous decision victory.

Brown was then offered a shot at the WEC Featherweight Championship with a fight against Urijah Faber

Urijah Faber

Urijah Christopher Faber is an American mixed martial artist currently fighting as a bantamweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship organization. Faber won the WEC featherweight championship at WEC 19 on March 17, 2006 and held the title for over two years until his loss to Mike Brown at WEC...

at WEC 36

WEC 36

WEC 36: Faber vs. Brown was a mixed martial arts event held by World Extreme Cagefighting that took place on November 5, 2008 at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida...

. The fight was originally set to take place in Hollywood

Hollywood, Florida

-Demographics:As of 2000, there were 59,673 households out of which 24.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.5% were married couples living together, 11.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.2% were non-families. 34.4% of all households were made up of...

, Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

on September 10, 2008, but it was postponed to November 5, 2008 due to Hurricane Ike

Hurricane Ike

Hurricane Ike was the second-costliest hurricane ever to make landfall in the United States, the costliest hurricane ever to impact Cuba and the second most active hurricane to reach the Canadian mainland in the Great Lakes Region after Hurricane Hazel in 1954...

. At the time, Faber had held the title for over two and a half years and was widely considered to be the best fighter at 145 pounds in the world. Brown welcomed the opportunity to fight the best in the world and felt that his training with American Top Team had prepared him well. When the heavily favored Faber attempted a risky elbow strike, Brown countered with a right hook to the jaw, knocking down the champion. Brown then followed with a flurry of unanswered punches and the fight was called off at 2:23 of the first round. Brown won by technical knockout and was declared the new WEC featherweight champion.

Brown's first title defense came against Texas-native Leonard Garcia

Leonard Garcia

Leonard Garcia is an American mixed martial artist who currently competes in the featherweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He previously fought for the UFC in the lightweight division before moving down to the featherweight division in the World Extreme Cagefighting...

in Corpus Christi, Texas

Corpus Christi, Texas

Corpus Christi is a coastal city in the South Texas region of the U.S. state of Texas. The county seat of Nueces County, it also extends into Aransas, Kleberg, and San Patricio counties. The MSA population in 2008 was 416,376. The population was 305,215 at the 2010 census making it the...

as the main event of WEC 39

WEC 39

WEC 39: Brown vs. Garcia was a mixed martial arts event held by World Extreme Cagefighting that took place on March 1, 2009 in Corpus Christi, Texas. The event aired live on the Versus Network....

. Garcia came out very aggressively, but he made a mistake and circled in the wrong direction. Brown capitalized on the mistake, knocking Garcia down with a big right hand. He followed with a barrage of punches and elbows, one of which opened up a cut on Garcia's forehead. Brown took Garcia's back and worked unsuccessfully for a rear naked choke

Rear naked choke

The Rear naked choke is a chokehold in martial arts applied from an opponent's back. Depending on the context, the term may refer to one of two variations of the technique, either arm can be used to apply the choke in both cases...

. Garcia got Brown back in his guard, but Brown passed into a full mount and secured an arm triangle choke

Arm triangle choke

Arm triangle choke, side choke, or head and arm choke are generic terms describing blood chokeholds in which the opponent is strangled in between his or her own shoulder and the practitioner's arm. This is as opposed to the regular triangle choke, which denotes a chokehold using the legs, albeit...

. Garcia tapped out at 1:57 of the first round. Brown said that he did not really feel like the champion after the Faber fight, but he was happy he established himself as the champion with his victory over Garcia.

Brown's second defense came in a rematch against former champ Urijah Faber

Urijah Faber

as the main event

Main Event

Main Event is Australia's only pay-per-view channel. It transmits through Foxtel, Optus Television and Austar, which jointly own the channel...

of WEC 41: Brown vs. Faber 2
WEC 41
WEC 41: Brown vs. Faber 2 was a mixed martial arts event held by World Extreme Cagefighting on June 7, 2009 at the Arco Arena in Sacramento, California. It was the most successful show in the WEC's history....

. The bout took place at ARCO Arena

ARCO Arena

Power Balance Pavilion is an indoor arena, located in the Natomas area of Sacramento, California. It is the home of the NBA's Sacramento Kings.-Background:...

on June 7, 2009 in Sacramento

Sacramento

Sacramento is the capital of the state of California, in the United States of America.Sacramento may also refer to:- United States :*Sacramento County, California*Sacramento, Kentucky*Sacramento – San Joaquin River Delta...

, California

California

California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...

.

Urijah Faber was defeated a second time by Brown via unanimous decision in front of his hometown crowd in Sacramento. During the middle of the 1st round, Faber injured and broke his right hand. Brown later admitted his corner failed to recognize the correct broken hand and was not aware of the severity but knew Faber was injured. Sherdog and ESPN.com in a post-fight summary noted that Faber's "right hand was no match for the top of Mike Brown's head."

Brown lost his WEC Featherweight Championship against Jose Aldo

Jose Aldo

José Aldo is a Brazilian mixed martial artist, who competes as a featherweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship where he is the first and current UFC Featherweight Champion...

on November 18, 2009 at WEC 44

WEC 44

WEC 44: Brown vs. Aldo was a mixed martial arts event held by World Extreme Cagefighting. It took place on November 18, 2009 at The Pearl at The Palms in Las Vegas, Nevada.The event drew an estimated 414,000 viewers on Versus.-Preliminary card:...

. Brown lost by knockout in the second round.

Brown defeated WEC newcomer Anthony Morrison

Anthony Morrison

Anthony Morrison is an American mixed martial artist who currently fights out of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at Daddis Fight Camps. He has recently been signed by WEC in the featherweight division.-Mixed martial arts career:...

on January 10, 2010 at WEC 46

WEC 46

WEC 46: Varner vs. Henderson was a mixed martial arts event held by World Extreme Cagefighting on January 10, 2010. It took place at the ARCO Arena in Sacramento, California.-Background:...

via first round submission.

Brown took on Manvel Gamburyan

Manvel Gamburyan

Manvel "Manny" Gamburyan is an Armenian American mixed martial artist. He was a cast member of Spike TV's The Ultimate Fighter 5. Besides The Ultimate Fighter, Gamburyan has fought for notable promotions such as King of the Cage and the Ultimate Fighting Championship.Gamburyan is fighting in the...

on April 24, 2010 at WEC 48

WEC 48

UFC Presents: Aldo vs. Faber, also referred to as WEC 48: Aldo vs. Faber was a mixed martial arts event held by World Extreme Cagefighting that took place on April 24, 2010 at ARCO Arena in Sacramento, California...

.
Gamburyan defeated Brown via KO in the first round.

Mike Brown's next fight was against Cole Province at WEC 51

WEC 51

WEC 51: Aldo vs. Gamburyan was a mixed martial arts event held by World Extreme Cagefighting that took place on September 30, 2010 at the 1stBank Center in Broomfield, Colorado. The event was the first that the WEC hosted in Colorado.-Background:...

. He won the fight via TKO (punches) in the first round.

Return to Ultimate Fighting Championship

On October 28, 2010, World Extreme Cagefighting

World Extreme Cagefighting

merged with the Ultimate Fighting Championship

Ultimate Fighting Championship

The Ultimate Fighting Championship is the largest mixed martial arts promotion company in the world that hosts most of the top-ranked fighters in the sport...

. As part of the merger, all WEC fighters were transferred to the UFC.

Brown first faced Diego Nunes on January 1, 2011 at UFC 125

UFC 125

UFC 125: Resolution was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on January 1, 2011 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States.-Background:...

. He lost the fight via split decision.

Brown jumped right back into action to face Rani Yahya

Rani Yahya

Rani Ahmad Yahya is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner and mixed martial artist. Yahya won the 66 kg division of the prestigious ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship in April 2007...

on January 22, 2011 at UFC Fight Night 23, replacing an injured Chan Sung Jung. He lost the fight via unanimous decision.

Brown was out until mid 2011 recovering from surgery on his hand that was injured during the Yahya bout. On August 6, 2011, Brown faced Nam Phan

Nam Phan

Nam Phan is an American mixed martial artist who competes in the featherweight and lightweight divisions. He was a competitor on The Ultimate Fighter: Team GSP vs. Team Koscheck...

at UFC 133

UFC 133

UFC 133: Evans vs. Ortiz was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on August 6, 2011 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.-Background:...

. He won the fight via unanimous decision, earning him his first UFC victory.

Brown is expected to face Vagner Rocha

Vagner Rocha

Vagner Rocha is a Brazilian-American Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner and professional mixed-martial artist, currently competing as a lightweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.-Mixed martial arts career:...

on January 20, 2012 at UFC Fight Night 26.

Mixed martial arts

World Extreme Cagefighting
World Extreme Cagefighting
World Extreme Cagefighting was an American mixed martial arts promotion. It was purchased by Zuffa, LLC, the parent company of Ultimate Fighting Championship , in 2006. In its final incarnation, it was made up of 3 weight classes: 135, 145 and 155 lbs. To accommodate the smaller...
- WEC Featherweight Championship (One time)
- Two successful title defenses
- Fight of the night (One time)
- Knockout of the Night (One time)
- Submission of the Night (One time)

Mixed martial arts record

|-
| Win
|align=center|25-8
|

Nam Phan

Nam Phan is an American mixed martial artist who competes in the featherweight and lightweight divisions. He was a competitor on The Ultimate Fighter: Team GSP vs. Team Koscheck...

| Decision (unanimous)
| UFC 133

UFC 133

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Philadelphia is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the county seat of Philadelphia County, with which it is coterminous. The city is located in the Northeastern United States along the Delaware and Schuylkill rivers. It is the fifth-most-populous city in the United States,...

Wrestling background

MMA career

World Extreme Cagefighting

Return to Ultimate Fighting Championship

Mixed martial arts

Mixed martial arts record

External links