Frank Trigg

From CageWiki

1 Profile
2 Early Career
3 UFC
4 Icon, PRIDE and Strikeforce
5 UFC Return
6 Commentary
7 Mixed martial arts record
8 Gallery
9 External links

Profile

Frank "Twinkle Toes" Trigg (born May 7, 1972) is an American professional mixed martial artist training out of Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas, Nevada.

He stands 5 ft. 9 in. (173 cm) tall and fights in the welterweight division (170 lbs.).

Trigg is a former two-time UFC welterweight title challenger and has fought for many other notable organizations such as PRIDE, Strikeforce and Sengoku. He currently competes as a welterweight for the UFC.

Early Career

Frank Trigg made his professional mixed martial arts debut on October 18, 1997 as part of a one night, eight man tournament held by the United Shoot Wrestling Federation. In his debut bout and the opening round of the tournament, Trigg knocked out Ali Elias with a knee 10:36 into the fight.

Trigg collected the tournament belt with submission victories over Javier Buentello (rear naked choke) and Dan Gilbert (forearm choke) to improve his record to 3-0 after one night of competition.

After two TKO victories in 1998, Trigg made his PRIDE debut at PRIDE 8 in November of 1999. He faced UFC veteran, Fabiano Iha and demolished him with strikes 5:00 into the first round.

In August, 2000, Trigg submitted Ray Cooper with a forearm choke at a WEF event.

Following the Cooper victory, Trigg faced Shooto welterweight champion, Hayato Sakurai. In an excellent bout, Sakurai came out on top in the second round as he landed a barrage of knees that put Trigg down and out.

Trigg rebounded from the first loss of his career to take the World Fighting Alliance welterweight title in his next three bouts for the organization. During his stint in the WFA he stopped LaVerne Clark, Jason Medina and Dennis Hallman with strikes.

UFC

With the impressive start to his career, Trigg signed with the UFC and earned himself an immediate shot at the UFC welterweight title, held by Matt Hughes. At UFC 45, Trigg met Hughes and had his moments early but was ultimately overwhelmed by the champ and was tapped out with a standing rear naked choke at 3:54 of round 1.

Seven months later, Trigg returned to the octagon at UFC 48 in a rematch against former UFC lightweight title challenger, Dennis Hallman. Hallman had disputed the stoppage in their first fight saying that it was due to an obvious low blow by Trigg. Trigg removed all doubt in the rematch though as he stopped Hallman with punches at 4:15 of round 1.

At UFC 50, Trigg faced Hawaiian grappler, Renato Verissimo. Trigg was almost submitted with a triangle choke in the bout but was just able to escape. He went on to take control and brutally hammed Verissimo out with elbows midway through the second round.

With two straight UFC victories, Trigg earned a second shot at Hughes' welterweight title. He faced Hughes again at UFC 52 and caught Hughes early with a knee to the groin that hurt the champion. The referee did not see the blow and Trigg continued to attack hurting Hughes with follow up shots and seizing his back on the ground. Trigg was unable to secure the rear naked choke and Hughes recoverd. The champ immediately went on the offense by picking up Trigg and slamming him down. Hughes then transitioned to Trigg's back and submitted him for the second time with a rear naked choke.

Four months later, Trigg met Georges St. Pierre at UFC 54. Trigg was dominated by the younger and faster St. Pierre, and eventually submitted with the move fans had dubbed the "rear naked Trigg".

Icon, PRIDE and Strikeforce

Trigg left the UFC after the GSP defeat and in January of 2006 entered an eight man, 177 lbs. tournament put on by the Hawaii based, Rumble on the Rock promotion. The tournament featured a number of highly ranked practioners in the forms of Anderson Silva, Yushin Okami, Jake Shields, Carlos Condit, Dave Menne, Renato Verissimo and Ronald Jhun.

Trigg faced Ronald Jhun in the opening round at ROTR 8 and defeated the UFC veteran via unanimous decision after three rounds.

Three months later, Trigg squared off against Carlos Condit in the tournaments semi-finals at ROTR 9. Condit scored the upset just over a minute in as he locked Trigg up in a triangle choke/armbar forcing him to submit.

Following the loss, Trigg announced a brief retirement from MMA and stated that his focus had shifted more to his commentary duty with the PRIDE Fighting Championships.

His retirement lasted all of seven and a half months as he returned to face Jason "Mayhem" Miller for his Icon Sport Middleweight title in December of 2006. In his first bout as a middleweight, Trigg impressively dispatched Miller with soccer kicks midway through the second round.

Trigg's next bout came in a return to the PRIDE organization when he faced 2006 PRIDE Welterweight Tournament Champion, Kazuo Misaki at PRIDE 33. Trigg notched his second surprise victory in as many bouts as he scored a unanimous decision win after three rounds.

Just over a month later, Trigg returned to Hawaii to defend his Icon Sport title against UFC veteran, Robbie Lawler. The bout ended just under two minutes into the fourth round as Lawler destroyed Trigg with a brutal combination against the ropes.

In December, 2007, Trigg scored a rebound victory over Edwin Dewees at HDNet Fights: Reckless Abandon. Dewees scored an early takedown on Trigg but was caught in a kimura which he eventually submitted to 1:40 into the fight.

In 2008, Trigg fought twice with a fight apiece in the Sengoku and Strikeforce promotions. He defeated both of his opponents (Makoto Takimoto and Falaniko Vitale) by lacklustre decision to improve his record to 18-6.

Trigg defeated unheralded, Danny Babcock via razor thin unanimous decision in February of 2009 and stated after the bout that he was going to have to drop back down to the welterweight division due to the size disadvantage he was constantly experiencing.

UFC Return

On May 27, 2009, it was announced that Trigg had re-signed with the UFC for a four fight deal. His new contract will begin at UFC 103 when he faces TUF 1's Josh Koscheck in a welterweight bout.

Commentary

In addition to his fighting career, Trigg has also done commentary for a number of promotions including the PRIDE Fighting Championships and Affliction.