John Alessio
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John "The Natural" Alessio (born July 5, 1979) is a Canadian professional mixed martial artist training out of Xtreme Couture.
He stands 5 ft. 9 in. (175 cm) tall and fights in the welterweight division (170 lbs.).
Alessio is a former UFC and WEC welterweight title challenger and is a veteran of both PRIDE and DREAM.
Early Career and UFC Debut
John Alessio made his professional mixed martial arts debut on May 17, 1998 as part of a one night, four man tournament held by the Ultimate Battle promotion. He defeated Mike Headley in his debut and went on to win the tournament by stopping Derek McClinton.
Just under a year later, Alessio would suffer his first professional defeat when he was submitted with a rear naked choke at the second Bas Rutten Invitational.
After taking out an Extreme Challenge four-man tournament in his next outing, Alessio would suffer defeat again this time in the Pancrase organization via kimura to Kosei Kubota.
Alessio closed out 1999 with a decision win over Jason Meaders and a rear naked choke defeat to Egan Inoue.
In 2000, Alessio opened the year with victory in a four man tournament put on by SuperBrawl. That victory earned Alessio his UFC debut and an immediate shot at the welterweight title held by Pat Miletich. Alessio was outmatched in the bout and was submitted with an armbar shortly into the second round.
A loss to Joe Doerksen via rear naked choke would end Alessio's 2000 in disappointing fashion.
Ten months after the Doerksen defeat, Alessio got back on track as he keylocked Thomas Denny and earned himself the UCC welterweight championship with a head kick nockout of Sean Pierson.
Two victories followed before Alessio earned himself another title as he picked up the King of the Cage Superfight championship with a TKO over Chris Brennan.
A victory over Eiji Mitsuoka at PRIDE: The Best Vol. 2 made it six straight victories and improved his record to 13-5.
The win streak would come to an end in his next bout as he would lose his UCC championship to Jason Black via split decision.
He would replace that lost title with the King of the Cage welterweight title though as he defeated Ronald Jhun to claim it in his next bout.
In 2004 and 2005, Alessio went 3-1 which included a defense of his KOTC title over Shannon Ritch and a submission win over Savant Young as well as a disappointing unanimous decision loss to Jonathan Goulet.
UFC
Just under six years since his lone UFC performance, Alessio earned himself a call back to the organization to face TUF 1 winner, Diego Sanchez at UFC 60. Alessio used good takedown defense to frustrate Sanchez but could not capitalize while the fight was on the feet and thus the judges announced Sanchez had done enough and gave him the unanimous nod.
Alessio headed to the WEC for his next bout where he choked out Alex Serdyukov in the third round.
That win earned Alessio another go in the UFC and thus he met Thiago Alves at UFC: The Final Chapter. Alessio was battered for three rounds with vicious leg kicks and lost a wide a unanimous decision.
WEC
With his second successive UFC loss, Alessio was moved over to ZUFFA's other promotion, the WEC. He met another UFC castoff, Brian Gassaway at WEC 25 and submitted him with a rear naked choke.
His second WEC victory was enough to earn Alessio a crack at the vacant welterweight championship against Carlos Condit at WEC 26. Condit was all over Alessio on the mat and with just one second left in the second round he had him tapping to a rear naked choke.
Three straight wins followed in the WEC - including another victory over Serdyukov - before Alessio met fellow failed title contender, Brock Larson at WEC 33. The bout was said to be for the No.1 contendership but ended in disappointment when Alessio landed an illegal knee and was disqualified.
Recent Career (2008 - Present)
The Larson bout marked his last for the WEC and three months later he began his career outside of a major promotion when he met UFC veteran, Pete Spratt. Despite having his jaw broken, Alessio managed to seize Spratt's back and choke him out in the second round.
A 45 second TKO over TUF 4's Gideon Ray followed four months later before Alessio ran into another road block in the form of British banger, Paul Daley. Daley pounced on Alessio and stopped him for the first time of his career with punches in the second round.
Alessio's 2009 campaign began with an appearance in DREAM's 2009 8-man Welterweight Grand Prix. He faced jiu-jitsu ace, Andre Galvao in the opening round at DREAM 8 and was submitted with an armbar three quarters of the way through the first round.
He recorded his first win of 2009 a month later when he submitted Andrew Buckland with a rear naked choke midway through the first round.
Mixed martial arts record
| 38 matches | 25 wins | 13 losses |
| By knockout | 8 | 1 |
| By submission | 10 | 7 |
| By decision | 5 | 4 |
| Draws | 0 | |
*Alessio has two unknown ways of victory in 1998 and a disqualification loss to Brock Larson in 2008
Record
| Result | Opponent | Method | Event Title | Date | Round | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Win | Andrew Buckland | Submission (Rear Naked Choke) | MFC 21: Hard Knocks | 5/15/2009 | 1 | 2:53 | - |
| Loss | Andre Galvao | Submission (Armbar) | DREAM 8: Welterweight Grand Prix 2009 Opening Round | 4/05/2009 | 1 | 7:34 | DREAM 2009 Welterweight Grand Prix Opening Round |
| Loss | Paul Daley | TKO (Punches) | MFC 19: Long Time Coming | 12/05/2008 | 2 | 2:18 | - |
| Win | Gideon Ray | TKO (Punches) | SuperFights MMA: Night of Combat 2 | 10/11/2008 | 1 | 0:45 | - |
| Win | Pete Spratt | Submission (Rear Naked Choke) | Banner Promotions: Night of Combat | 6/20/2008 | 2 | 2:07 | - |
| Loss | Brock Larson | DQ (Knee to Downed Fighter) | WEC 33: Marshall vs. Stann | 3/26/2008 | 1 | 1:50 | - |
| Win | Todd Moore | Decision (Unanimous) | WEC 31: Faber vs. Curran | 12/12/2007 | 3 | 5:00 | - |
| Win | Marcelo Brito | Decision (Unanimous) | WEC 32: McCullough vs. Crunkilton | 9/05/2007 | 3 | 5:00 | - |
| Win | Alex Serdyukov | Submission (Guillotine Choke) | WEC 28: Faber vs. Farrar | 6/03/2007 | 1 | 1:17 | - |
| Loss | Carlos Condit | Submission (Rear Naked Choke) | WEC 26: Condit vs. Alessio | 3/24/2007 | 2 | 4:59 | For vacant WEC Welterweight Championship |
| Win | Brian Gassaway | Submission (Rear Naked Choke) | WEC 25: McCullough vs. Cope | 1/20/2007 | 1 | 4:50 | - |
| Loss | Thiago Alves | Decision (Unanimous) | UFC: The Final Chapter | 10/10/2006 | 3 | 5:00 | - |
| Win | Alex Serdyukov | Submission (Rear Naked Choke) | WEC 23: Hot August Fights | 8/17/2006 | 3 | 1:52 | - |
| Loss | Diego Sanchez | Decision (Unanimous) | UFC 60: Hughes vs. Gracie | 5/27/2006 | 3 | 5:00 | - |
| Win | Savant Young | Submission (Rear Naked Choke) | KOTC: Shock and Awe | 10/01/2005 | 3 | 2:09 | - |
| Win | Shannon Ritch | TKO (Punches) | KOTC: Prime Time | 8/05/2005 | 1 | 0:41 | Defended KOTC Welterweight Championship |
| Loss | Jonathan Goulet | Decision (Unanimous) | TKO 18: Impact | 11/26/2004 | 3 | 5:00 | - |
| Win | Brandon Olsen | Submission (Armbar) | ETV: Enter the Beast | 3/06/2004 | 1 | 2:59 | - |
| Win | Ronald Jhun | Decision (Unanimous) | KOTC 29: Renegades | 9/05/2003 | 3 | 5:00 | Won KOTC Welterweight Championship |
| Loss | Jason Black | Decision (Split) | UCC 12: Adrenaline | 1/25/2003 | 3 | 5:00 | Lost UCC World Welterweight Championship |
| Win | Eiji Mitsuoka | TKO (Cut) | PRIDE: The Best Vol. 2 | 7/20/2002 | 2 | 3:13 | - |
| Win | Chris Brennan | TKO | KOTC 15: Bad Intentions | 6/12/2002 | 1 | 2:20 | Won KOTC Super Fight Championship |
| Win | John Delao | TKO | WFF 1: World Freestyle Fighting 1 | 4/13/2002 | 1 | 1:22 | - |
| Win | Nassor Lewis | Submission (Rear Naked Choke) | KOTC 12: old Blood | 2/09/2002 | 1 | 2:07 | - |
| Win | Sean Pierson | KO (Head Kick) | UCC 7: Bad Boyz | 1/25/2002 | 2 | 1:14 | Won UCC Welterweight Championship |
| Win | Thomas Denny | Submission (Keylock) | KOTC 11: Domination | 9/29/2001 | 1 | 1:55 | - |
| Loss | Joe Doerksen | Submission (Rear Naked Choke) | Superbrawl: Futurebrawl 2000 | 11/14/2000 | 2 | 3:48 | - |
| Loss | Pat Miletich | Submission (Armbar) | UFC 26: Ultimate Field of Dreams | 6/09/2000 | 2 | 1:43 | For UFC Welterweight Championship |
| Win | John Chrisostomo | TKO (Strikes) | SB 16: SuperBrawl 16 | 2/08/2000 | 2 | 3:04 | - |
| Win | Jay R. Palmer | Submission (Rear Naked Choke) | SB 16: SuperBrawl 16 | 2/08/2000 | 1 | 1:20 | - |
| Loss | Egan Inoue | Submission (Rear Naked Choke) | SB 15: SuperBrawl 15 | 12/07/1999 | 1 | 2:41 | - |
| Win | Jason Meaders | Decision | NG 13: Neutral Grounds 13 | 11/20/1999 | N/A | N/A | - |
| Loss | Kosei Kubota | Submission (Kimura) | Pancrase: Breathrough 9 | 10/25/1999 | 1 | 10:53 | - |
| Win | Ben Earwood | Decision | EC 28: Extreme Challenge 28 | 10/09/1999 | 1 | 13:00 | - |
| Win | Fritz Borchardt | TKO | EC 28: Extreme Challenge 28 | 10/09/1999 | 1 | 2:12 | - |
| Loss | David Harris | Submission (Rear Naked Choke) | BRI 2: Bas Rutten Invitational 2 | 4/24/1999 | 1 | 8:32 | - |
| Win | Dereck McClinton | N/A | UB: Ultimate Battle | 5/17/1998 | 1 | 1:44 | - |
| Win | Mike Headley | N/A | UB: Ultimate Battle | 5/17/1998 | 1 | 5:28 | - |
Gallery
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External links
http://www.sherdog.com/fighter/John-Alessio-259 - Professional MMA Record
http://www.sherdog.com/pictures/gallery/fighter/259/ - Sherdog Photo Gallery
--Wrldchmpnabrvtr 14:12, 22 August 2009 (UTC)
