Joey Villasenor

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1 Profile
2 Early Career and King of the Cage
3 PRIDE
4 EliteXC and Strikeforce
5 Mixed martial arts record
6 Gallery
7 External links

Profile

"Smokin'" Joe Villasenor (born October 17, 1975) is a Mexican and American professional mixed martial artist training out of the Jackson's Submission Fighting.

He stands 6 ft. (183 cm) tall and fights in the middleweight division (185 lbs.).

Villasenor is a former King of the Cage middleweight champion and PRIDE veteran. He currently fights as a middleweight for Strikeforce.

Early Career and King of the Cage

Joey Villasenor made his professional mixed martial arts debut on April 17, 1999 for the World Vale Tudo Federation. He forced his opponent, Shane Schartzer, to submit to strikes just 1:12 into the fight.

Six months later, Villasenor suffered his first defeat when he was stopped at the end of the second round by Adam Tarsey.

Villasenor split his two fights in 2000 as he submitted Gabriel Duran with a choke in the first round and was then submitted by Brazilian jiu jitsu black belt, David Terrell with an armbar.

He rebounded from the loss to score four successive victories that included future TUF 7 competitor, Tim Credeur (submission due to strikes) in his King of the Cage debut.

That win streak was broken in July of 2002 when he suffered a foot injury 21 seconds into his bout against Jermaine Andre.

Returning to King of the Cage, Villasenor scored five straight victories within the organization by the end of 2003. After opening 2004 with a stoppage win in Australia, Villasenor met Hank Weiss at a King of the Cage event in August and knocked Weiss cold just five seconds into the bout.

That win and his undefeated run in KOTC earned Villasenor a shot at the middleweight title. He met Brian Foster just under a month after the Weiss victory and thoroughly dominated Foster for four minutes before finally submitting him with a rear naked choke.

By the end of 2005, Villasenor had successfully defended his title five times, which featured stoppages of Brendan Seguin and Damien Riccio as well as a decision win over Jorge Santiago.

He began 2006, with the sixth defense of his title before moving over to Japan where he scored a unanimous decision win over Yuya Shirai in the DEEP promotion.

PRIDE

Riding a 15 fight win streak and KOTC middleweight championship, Villasenor made his debut for the PRIDE Fighting Championships in June of 2006. He faced Ryo Chonan at PRIDE: Bushido 11 as part of the opening round of PRIDE's 2006 Welterweight Tournament and saw his massive winning streak brought to an end as he found himself on the losing end of split decision after two rounds.

Villasenor bounced back from the loss just under two months later as he successfully defended his KOTC title for seventh time with a TKO victory over John Cronk.

In October, 2006, Villasenor returned to PRIDE. He faced UFC veteran, Robbie Lawler on the opening bout of PRIDE 32 and was highlight reel KO'd by Lawler with a flying knee in just 22 seconds.

EliteXC and Strikeforce

Villasenor left PRIDE after the bout and signed with upstart American promotion, EliteXC. He made his debut at EliteXC: Destiny against former UFC middleweight contender, David Loiseau and defeated the Canadian via unanimous decision after three rounds.

The win earned Villasenor the right to contest for EliteXC's vacant middleweight belt. He faced former PRIDE star, Murilo "Ninja" Rua at the co-promoted Strikeforce and EliteXC event, " Shamrock vs. Baroni". Villasenor got his licks in in the first round but was outgunned in the second as Rua stopped him with punches 1:05 in.

At EliteXC: Uprising, Villasenor scored a split decision win over Riki Fukuda after three rounds.

He headed over to Strikeforce for his next bout where he met UFC veteran, Ryan Jensen on the main card of Strikeforce: Shamrock vs. Le. In a very impressive performance, Villasenor starched Jensen with a huge punch that put him out cold with 15 seconds left in the first.

In May of 2008, Villasenor faced UFC and PRIDE veteran, Phil Baroni on the main card of the first MMA card ever shown live on a US network, EliteXC: Primetime. Villasenor didn't let the occasion get to him as he battered Baroni en route to a stoppage win at 1:11 of round 1.

After over a year break from fighting, Villasenor will get back into action at Strikeforce's ShoMMA 2 on June 19, 2009 against PRIDE veteran, Evangelista Santos.