George Sotiropoulos

From CageWiki

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

Profile

George Sotiropoulos (born July 9, 1977) is an Australian professional mixed martial artist and black belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu under John Will.

He stands 5 ft. 10 in. (178 cm) tall and fights in the lightweight division (155 lbs.).

Sotiropoulos was a contestant on The Ultimate Fighter: Team Hughes vs. Team Serra and currently competes as a lightweight for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

Early Career

George Sotiropoulos made his professional mixed martial arts debut for the Australia based, Xtreme Fighting Championships on November 20, 2004. He submitted his opponent, Gavin Murie with an armbar in 1:28 of round 1.

Following that victory, Sotiropoulos fought twice in December winning both fights via submission in the first round.

In July of 2005, Sotiropoulos faced the late Steve Irwin's former bodyguard, Kyle Noke at a Warriors Realm event. Sotiropoulos suffered defeat for the first time in his career as he wound up on the losing end of a unanimous decision.

He bounced back with a decision win over Sergio Lourenco and then went onto claim the Warriors Realm welterweight championship with a five round decision win over Noke in a rematch.

Heading over to Japan, Sotiropoulos defeated Shigetoshi Iwase via unanimous decision before suffering his second career defeat when he was disqualified against Shinya Aoki at a Shooto event in October of 2006. After a competitive first round, Sotiropoulos landed a kick to Aoki's groin to begin the second round that left Aoki unable to continue.

Travelling to Korea, Sotiropoulos rebounded from the loss with an armbar victory over Jung Hwan Cha at a Spirit MC event.

The Ultimate Fighter

Midway through 2007, Sotiropoulos qualified as one of 16 welterweight contestants for the sixth season of The Ultimate Fighter, The Ultimate Fighter: Team Hughes vs. Team Serra.

Sotiropoulos was acknowledged as one of the early favorites to take the show and got off to a great start as he knocked out Jared Rollins with a punch 3:48 into the first round.

In the quarter final stage, Sotiropoulos picked up another quick victory as he scored an early takedown on Richie Hightower and quickly submitted him with a kimura.

Sotiropoulos squared off against Tommy Speer in episode 12 for a spot in the final. Speer continously through punches with an open hand early with Sotiropoulos constantly receiving fingers in his eye. A bad one left Sotiropoulos visibly wincing and although he was given time to recuperate he waved that right and continued fighting. With blurred vision on one side, Speer decked the Australian and finished him with punches on the ground to move into the final.

At The Ultimate Fighter 6 Finale, Sotiropoulos squared off against Billy Miles on the main card and submitted him with a rear naked choke in 1:36 of round 1.

UFC

In his first post-TUF, UFC bout Sotiropoulos faced fellow TUF 6 contestant, Roman Mitichyan on the undercard of UFC Fight Night 13. George put on a grappling clinic as he stopped the Armenian with punches from mount in the second round.

At UFC 87, Sotiropoulos was scheduled to fight another Armenian in Karo Parisyan but an injury forced him off the card. Sotiropoulos used the time off to decide to drop down to the lightweight division. He was matched up against Matt Grice at UFC Fight Night 17 but he was again forced off the card due to injury.

Sotiropoulos will attempt to make his lightweight debut at UFC 101 in August, 2009 when he meets TUF 5's Rob Emerson on the show's undercard.