Brock Larson

From CageWiki

1 Profile
2 Early Career
3 UFC Debut
4 WEC
5 Return to the UFC
6 Mixed martial arts record
7 Gallery
8 External links

Profile

Brock Larson (born August 23, 1977) is an American professional mixed martial artist training out of the Minnesota Martial Arts Academy.

He stands 5 ft. 11 in. (180 cm) tall and fights in the welterweight division (170 lbs.).

Larson is a former WEC welterweight title challenger and currently fights as a welterweight for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

Early Career

Brock Larson made his professional mixed martial arts debut on October 19, 2002 for the American Reality Combat promotion. In his debut he forced opponent, Josh Hartwell to submit to strikes in just 46 seconds of the first round.

Fighting on smaller shows, Larson reeled off eight victories from his next eight fights which included a five round decision win over Stephan Potvin for the IFC middleweight title.

On July 23, 2005, Larson entered a one night 8-man tournament held by the Extreme Challenge promotion. In the opening round, Larson submitted future TUF 9 welterweight competitor, DaMarques Johnson with a keylock in the third round.

A little later that night, Larson forced future UFC competitor, Ryan Jensen to submit to strikes in the first round. In the final, Larson faced future IFL middleweight champion, Ryan McGivern and submitted McGivern with a keylock in the first round to take the tournament.

UFC Debut

The dominating start to his career earned Larson a position in the UFC. He made his UFC debut as a middleweight at UFC Fight Night 2 where he faced fellow UFC debutant, Jon Fitch on the show's undercard. Larson was outworked by Fitch for the full three rounds, losing a unanimous decision and the first fight of his career.

Larson returned to the smaller shows following the loss and racked up six straight first round victories before being recalled to the UFC to face Japanese competitor, Keita Nakamura at UFC Fight Night 7. Larson picked up his first UFC victory as he earned himself a unanimous decision win over the Japanese fighter.

WEC

With UFC parent company ZUFFA having purchased the World Extreme Cagefighting organization, Larson was transferred over to the organization in order to build up their welterweight division. In his WEC debut at WEC 26, Larson submitted Erik Apple with a kimura in the first round.

Just three months later, at WEC 28, Larson earned himself a WEC title shot when he dismantled Kevin Knabjian - stopping him with punches in just 27 seconds of the first round.

Larson's title shot came at WEC 29 where he faced champion, Carlos Condit in the night's main event. The fight opened with Larson's trademark aggression as he bumrushed Condit and earned a quick takedown. Condit was not overwhelmed however and latched onto an armbar shortly after which forced Larson to tap at 2:21 of the first round.

The disappointing loss saw Larson head outside of the WEC to pick up a confidence restoring quick submission over Troy Allison.

At WEC 33, Larson faced another former WEC welterweight title challenger in John Alessio. The fight was forced to a premature stop as Alessio landed an illegal knee which rocked Larson to the point he could not continue. The foul brought about a disqualification loss for Alessio.

Having recovered from the fight, Larson returned to WEC action at WEC 35 against yet another former WEC welterweight title challenger in Carlo Prater. Larson made it a quick one as he dropped Prater early and finished him off in just 37 seconds.

The win earned Larson another shot at Condit's welterweight title but once Condit pulled out with an injury, ZUFFA decided to assimilate the WEC's welterweight division into the UFC's.

Return to the UFC

As one of the few WEC welterweights brought over to the UFC, Larson made his UFC return at UFC Fight Night 18 on April 1, 2009. He faced Jesse Sanders on the show's undercard and demolished Sanders with a rear naked choke submission win in 2:01 of round 1.

Shortly after the bout, Larson accepted to fill in on short notice for Josh Koscheck in a bout against Chris Wilson at May's UFC 98. Just prior to the weigh-in a medical issue forced Wilson off the card and he was replaced by UFC debutant Mike Pyle. The change in opponent did not hinder Larson as forced Pyle to submit with an arm triangle choke in the first round. The submission earned Larson the $60,000 "Submission of the Night" bonus.