Eric Schafer

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

Profile

Eric "Red" Schafer (born September 20, 1977) is an American professional mixed martial artist and Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt under Henry Matamoros and Pedro Sauer.

He stands 6 ft. 3 in. (191 cm) tall and fights in the light heavyweight division (205 lbs.).

Schafer is a multiple time competitor and currently fights as a light heavyweight for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

Early Career

Eric Schafer made his professional mixed martial arts debut as a part of a one night, four man tournament held by the Midwest Shootfighting promotion on June 27, 1998. He defeated opponent, John Lowey in his debut before picking up a unanimous decision over Duane Franzen in the final to clinch the tournament.

Schafer followed those victories by making Steve Martin tap to strikes in his next bout in September of 1999 and then successive draws against Paul Ivens and Jim DeSouza respectively.

On March 9, 2002, Schafer suffered his first professional defeat as he was forced to submit to a Kimura from opponent, Dustin Denes at a HOOKnSHOOT event.

Following the loss, Schafer did not fight for over three years, eventually returning in June of 2005 with a triangle choke submission win over Jason Guida.

After choking out Jason Veach in his next fight, Schafer claimed the XFO light heavyweight title when he submitted William Hill with a triangle choke in the first round at XFO 9.

UFC

With a 6-1-2 start to his professional career, Schafer was awarded a contract with the UFC. He made his debut at UFC 62 against TUF 2's Rob MacDonald. Schafer submitted MacDonald quickly with an arm triangle choke.

After having originally being scheduled to face TUF 3 light heavyweight winner, Michael Bisping at The Ultimate Fighter 4 Finale, Schafer instead was given the task on the main card of the UFC's biggest card of 2006, UFC 66. Early on, Schafer troubled Bisping with his superior grappling but tired quickly. As he tired, Bisping stepped it up and dazed him with a head kick before finishing him with punches on the ground.

Ten months later, Schafer was back in action, this time against TUF 1 light heavyweight runner-up, Stephan Bonnar at UFC 77. Schafer had Bonnar's back to end the first round and likely had the round on the judge's scorecards. That was all for naught however, as Schafer gassed bad in the second and Bonnar pounded him out.

With two losses in two fights, the UFC asked Schafer to head to some smaller shows to sharpen his skills for a return to the Octagon. Schafer did just that as he submitted Ryan Antle with a guillotine choke four months later, and then finished William Hill for a second time to earn himself a call back.

Upon his return, Schafer was matched up against Houston Alexander on the main card of UFC Fight Night 15. He was rocked early with some vicious Alexander knees but fought through to score a takedown where he met little resistance. Late in the round he achieved mount and after not being able to force the stoppage, he transitioned to an arm triangle choke which forced the tap at the 4:53 mark.

Schafer made it successive victories at UFC 93 in January of 2009 when he stopped Antonio Mendes with punches in the first round.