Matt Lindland

From CageWiki

1 Profile
2 Early Career and Olympics
3 UFC Career
4 Life Outside the UFC
5 Political Career
6 Mixed martial arts record
7 Gallery
8 External links

Profile

Matt "The Law" Lindland (born May 17, 1970) is an American professional mixed martial artist who fights out of Team Quest.

He stands 6 ft. 0 in. (183 cm) tall and fights in primarily in the middleweight division.

He was a silver medalist in Greco Roman wrestling at the 2000 Olympics and currently fights as a middleweight for Affliction.

Early Career and Olympics

Matt Lindland made his professional mixed martial arts debut on February 14, 1997 against Karo Davtyan for the World Fighting Federation organization. He defeated Davtyan via TKO 8.34 into round 1.

After winning a four man tournament under the IFC banner in September of 1997, Lindland concentrated on making it to the 2000 Sydney Olympic Games in Greco Roman Wrestling. At the games Lindland earned a silver medal in the 69-76kg weight class.

UFC Career

In December of 2000, Lindland returned to mixed martial arts competition in the form of his UFC debut.

He faced Japanese fighter, Yoji Anjo at UFC 29 and defeated the pro wrestler via TKO at 2.58 of round 1.

A little under five months later, Lindland returned to the Octagon, this time against Renzo Gracie BJJ black belt, Ricardo Almeida. After getting repeatedly fouled by Almeida over three rounds, the fight was stopped and Lindland was awarded the disqualification victory.

At UFC 34, Lindland had his first run in with "The New York Badass" Phil Baroni. In an intense affair, Lindland took a majority decision victory to move his record to 6-0.

Lindland faced off against former UFC welterweight champion, Pat Miletich at UFC 36 and defeated the much smaller opponent via TKO at 3.09 of round 1.

Now 4-0 inside the octagon, Lindland earned himself a shot at the UFC middleweight title that was currently held by Murilo Bustamante. After getting caught in an arm bar in the first round, referee "Big" John McCarthy went to stop the fight. The fight was halted as Lindland protested that he did not tap. The fight was restarted with Bustamante eventually tapping Lindland in the third round with a guillotine choke.

Lindland bounced back from the first loss of his career with a decision victory over Ivan Salaverry at UFC 39. He followed that fight with a heated rematch with Phil Baroni at UFC 41, which he won by decision.

At UFC 43, Lindland knocked himself unconscious while going for a slam on Falaniko Vitale. The bout was halted and Vitale was awarded the victory. Five months later, Lindland rematched Vitale at UFC 45. Lindland controlled the bout eventually making Vitale tap to strikes in the third round.

At UFC 49, Lindland faced UFC virgin, Dave Terrell. Terrell was much hyped going into the bout by the jiu jitsu community. Terrell needed no jiu jitsu however as he knocked Lindland out with punches 24 seconds into round 1.

Lindland took two matches outside of the UFC before returning at UFC 52 where he submitted Travis Lutter with a guillotine choke midway through the second round.

At UFC 54, Lindland defeated journeyman, Joe Doerksen via unanimous decision. After the bout Lindland was cut from his UFC contract. Allegedly, Lindland was cut from his contract due to wearing an unapproved t-shirt at the UFC 54 weigh-ins.

Life Outside the UFC

Lindland started his post-UFC career with a victory over Antonio Schembri at Cage Rage 14 - Punishment a little under four months since his release from the UFC. He scored a TKO victory in the third round.

He piled up two more victories over Fabio Leopoldo and Mike Van Arsdale, with both bouts taking place in 2006. The latter nixed a bout with future UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva.

Lindland's next bout was a high profile encounter with former PRIDE standout, Quinton Jackson. In a tight affair, Jackson secured a split decision victory over Lindland.

Two bouts in the IFL came shortly thereafter for Lindland as he defeated former UFC notables, Jeremy Horn and Carlos Newton. Stopping each fighter within the distance with a TKO and submission respectively.

In April of 2007, Lindland went up two weight classes to the heavyweight division to face consensus number one heavyweight in the world, Fedor Emelianenko. Lindland almost secured a body slam takedown early in round 1 but Fedor grabbed the ropes which reversed the move leaving Fedor in a dominant position. Shortly thereafter, Fedor latched onto an arm bar which forced the tap.

After the Fedor bout, Lindland took an extended layoff. Early in 2008, Lindland stated that he had signed with an organization but he could not say who. Soon after it was found out that the promotion was Affliction, a former mixed martial arts clothing company who had turned to promoting fights.

On July 19th, Lindland faced and defeated Fabio "Negao" Nascimento by decision at Affliction: Banned.

Political Career

On March 11th, Lindland filed as a Republican to run for Oregon House of Representatives.

On May 20th, Lindland defeated fellow Republican, Phyllis Thiemann in the primary vote for the Oregon House of Representatives. Lindland moved onto the general election where he was defeated by Democrat Susan VanOrman 58 to 42 percent.