Brad Blackburn

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1 Profile
2 Early Career
3 IFL
4 UFC
5 Mixed martial arts record
6 Gallery
7 External links

Profile

"Bad" Brad Blackburn (born May 25, 1977) is an American professional mixed martial artist and IFL veteran.

He stands 5 ft. 10 in. (178 cm) tall and fights in the welterweight division (170 lbs.).

Blackburn currently competes as a welterweight for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

Early Career

Brad Blackburn made his professional mixed martial arts debuts on August 15, 2001 for the PPKA organization. He knocked out his opponent, Pat Healy, in 39 seconds to take victory.

Ten days later, Blackburn returned to the ring against Matt Wurstner. After two rounds the bout was ruled a draw.

The two clashed again two months later with Blackburn submitting Wurstner with a triangle choke in the first round.

After picking up two more victories, Blackburn suffered his first professional loss when found himself on the losing end of a split decision to Grady Hurley.

Blackburn rebounded well from the loss stopping Quenton Pongracz but lost the two following bouts to Ryan Healy and Brad Gumm by decision.

Victories over Ronny Morales (rear naked choke) and Steve Legault (TKO) would delay the losing slide as he went on to lose his next four bouts. Amongst those bouts were defeats to future TUF 5 contestant, Brandon Melendez (decision) and future UFC star, Roger Huerta (TKO).

IFL

Although he had lost six of his last eight bouts, Blackburn was given a call up to fight in the International Fight League. He made his IFL debut in April of 2006 against Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt, Gustavo Machado. Blackburn snapped his four fight losing streak in the bout as he got the favor of two of the three judges to earn himself a split decision win.

His joy was shortlived however as he returned for his second IFL bout two months later and was knocked cold by Rory Markham in the second round.

Three months later, Blackburn picked up an impressive decision win over Team Quest's Chris Wilson.

Blackburn continued his recent run of win/loss/win/loss as he was defeated by future TUF 9 contestant, Mark Miller via unanimous decision at an IFL event held in Moline.

Two months later, Blackburn picked up the most impressive win of his career to date as he stopped UFC veteran, Jay Hieron with punches in just 40 seconds.

After a No Contest with Travis Cox in September of 2007, Blackburn had his final bout for the IFL which he won decisively with a third round knockout of Delson Heleno.

UFC

Following the demise of the IFL, Blackburn found himself quickly picked up by the UFC and placed on UFC Fight Night 14 - a card created on short notice to directly compete with Affliction Entertainment's first offering, Affliction: Banned.

Blackburn was matched up against fellow UFC debutant, James Giboo on the show's undercard. Bad Brad dominated the bout as he outclassed the tired Giboo on the feet eventually finishing him with a flying knee and punches midway through the second round.

At UFC 92, Blackburn faced grizzled PRIDE veteran, Ryo Chonan. Blackburn controlled the first two rounds of the contest but found himself fighting for his life in the third as Chonan poured it on. The fight went to the judges and Blackburn was given credit for controlling the first two rounds and was thus awarded the unanimous decision 29-28 on all three cards.

Blackburn will return on the undercard of The Ultimate Fighter 9 Finale when he faces UFC newcomer, Edgar Garcia.