Josh Burkman

From CageWiki

Revision as of 12:00, 3 July 2009 by Wrldchmpnabrvtr (Talk | contribs)

(diff) ←Older revision | Current revision (diff) | Newer revision→ (diff)

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

Profile

Josh "The People's Warrior" Burkman (born April 10, 1980) is an American professional mixed martial artist training out of Team Quest.

He stands 5 ft. 10 in. (178 cm) tall and fights in the welterweight division (170 lbs.).

Burkman was a welterweight contestant on The Ultimate Fighter Season 2 and last fought as a welterweight for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).

Early Career

Josh Burkman made his professional mixed martial arts debut for the Ultimate Combat Experience (UCE) promotion on February 7, 2003 where he was submitted by opponent, Hank Weiss.

Burkman picked up his first professional victory two months later when he submitted Cedric Nicholsen in the first round, again under the UCE banner.

Burkman's next eight fights came under the UCE banner, with Burkman winning all eight bouts with the majority coming via either KO or submission. Included amongst the victories were a revenge victory over Hank Weiss and a decision win over future UFC competitor, Derek Downey.

On February 21, 2004, Burkman suffered his second professional defeat when he was submitted with a triangle choke by future IFL middleweight champion, Matt Horwich at a SportFight event.

He rebounded from the loss with four straight victories before losing again by submission, this time to UFC veteran, Jeremy Horn in April of 2005.

The Ultimate Fighter

Midway through 2005, Burkman was selected as a welterweight contestant for The Ultimate Fighter Season 2.

He was chosen as a member of Matt Hughes' team and was selected to face Melvin Guillard in the first fight of the show on episode 2. Burkman controlled the majority of the bout but ate a nasty high kick from Guillard that snapped his forearm. Nevetheless, Burkman pulled out the unanimous decision victory but was unable to continue in the competition due to the damage to his arm.

At The Ultimate Fighter 2 Finale, Burkman faced semi-finalist from the show, Sam Morgan. The bout was over quickly as Morgan was knocked unconscious from a Burkman slam at just 21 seconds of round 1.

UFC Career

Burkman had his first non-TUF related UFC fight at UFC Fight Night 3 when he faced the always dangerous, Drew Fickett. "The People's Warrior" surprised a fair few people when he managed to submit Fickett with a guillotine choke at just 1:07 of round 1.

Three months later, Burkman was matched up against Jon Fitch at UFC Fight Night 4. Fitch was too much for Burkman as he battered him on the ground for the majority of rounds 1 and 2 before submitting him late in round 2 with a rear naked choke.

Burkman bounced back from the loss at UFC 61 when he picked up a unanimous decision win over another dangerous fighter in Josh Neer.

After scoring a unanimous decision win over Chad Reiner at UFC Fight Night 8 in January of 2007, Burkman faced Karo Parisyan on the main card of UFC 71 in May. In an entertaining bout, Burkman made a decent account of himself but was ultimately overwhelmed by Parisyan, losing a clear cut unanimous decision on the judges' cards.

Five months later, Burkman scraped a split decision victory over Forrest Petz at UFC 77 in a must win bout.

In January of 2008, Burkman headlined UFC Fight Night 12 against TUF 1's Mike Swick who was making his debut in the welterweight division. In what many thought should have been ruled a draw, the two squared off in a lacklustre bout that saw very little offense from either fighter. The fight went to the scorecards and Swick was awarded the majority decision victory.

On the undercard of The Ultimate Fighter 7 Finale, Burkman picked up "Fight of the Night" honors when he faced off against Jorge Gurgel student, Dustin Hazelett. Seemingly outmatched on the feet and on the ground, Burkman attempted to stifle Hazelett with his superior wrestling in the first. However, late in the second round Hazelett pulled out a bit of magic as he turned a wrestling whizzer into a flying armbar that forced Burkman to submit.

At UFC 90, Burkman faced off against Pete Sell on the show's undercard. The fight marked Burkman's third consecutive loss as he went down via unanimous decision.