¤ Rings - Vice Europe Champion - 2001
¤ Rings - Europe Champion - 2002
¤ Rings - World Champion - 2004
¤ Rings - World Champion - 2005

¤ King of the Rings - World Champion - 2004

¤ Muay Thai World - Champion - 2004

Sean Salmon was a nationally ranked wrestler that has turned his drive towards full contact fighting with the goal of climbing to the top of the UFC. To read Sean's thoughts on fighting and other topics check out his blog, which he updates about every 2 weeks.
 
The new Team Salmon Fighting motto...
"I plan on going out like my grandpa, body completely spent and the gas tank on empty".
Thanks for the quote Matt.

Born: September 11, 1977 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Family: I come from a very close family. In fact, my two brothers Matt and Danny and cousin Kyle are my best friends.

I have spent the past 6 1/2 years competing on the freestyle circuit, for the Ohio International Wrestling Club trying to make World and Olympic teams. Coach Russ Hellickson was kind enough to let me help out as a volunteer coach at Ohio State so I could get the neccesary training. I have spent the last 3 years in and out of the top 10. Qualifying for the Olympic Trials is probably the highlight. I finished 6th at last years National Championships to qualify for the World Team Trials. With my mind already set on retirement I did not place. Interestingly enough, I lost my last match to Zach Thompson, the same guy who beat me our senior years of H.S. My body is still healthy, I just couldn't get mentally consistent enough to make continuing worth it.

Fighting: I was only going to do 1 fight, just to see if I would like it. Well, I love it. I view fighting as competition. I don't have a "need" to hurt another human being and I certainly don't enjoy getting punched in the face, but there is something about it that I find unbelieveably exciting. I am guessing it is the same rush someone gets jumping out of an airplane. It scares you, but you know you have to keep doing it. The best part about fighting is the athletes in it. They are just like wrestlers...we go out and compete as hard as we can to win the fight or match, but after words can be friends. My goal is to become the Light Heavyweight Champion of the UFC. I know I can do this, because unlike wrestling my head does not get in the way. Fighting is a much more natural sport for me.

Personal: I am currently living in Gahanna, Ohio a suburb of Columbus.

About me is a tough question, I'll give it a shot. My name is Sean Salmon. More than anything, I love my family. My 2 brothers and cousin are my best friends. My wife keeps me on track and my son, Marcus, keeps me focused. I love him more than anything. You have to be a parent to know what true love is. With Marcus, my parents got their wish. I had a boy just like me. The kid has a mind of his own, he loves to make noise, he knows the word "no" but doesn't care, and he is the most active kid in the world. I am a professional athlete and I take naps because of him. My wife Missy does deal with a lot of non-sense because of me (I maybe a touch immature), Milwaukee in the summer is a great place to be, The Farm is and will always be my home, my mind can only focus on one thing at a time, I am an introvert (pretending to me an extrovert), I am close to graduating college, but don't see it happening and further more, don't find it all that important. I believe that God made me to be a fighter. I have a well thought out opinion on just about everything. I am very unsure about politics and religion, but still think I would make a great president or preacher. There is no middle ground with me, but I do hope for other peoples happiness. I have a lot of things to be proud of in my life, my family, my in laws (I married lucky), my wife, but most of all my son. I love that Meatball."

"All American". Brian Stann was born on September 24, 1980 at Yakota Air Base in Japan before moving to the United States and growing up in Scranton, Pennsylvania. From an early age Brian played organized football and excelled quickly. He was the leader of Scranton Prep?s football team, setting school records by a quarterback for career passing yards and rushing. His achievements on the field mirrored his academic accomplishments and he was selected with the honor of being accepted to one of the most prestigious scholastic institutions in the country, the United States Naval Academy in 1999.

While at the Naval Academy, Brian quickly excelled in his new position as linebacker, helping them beat their arch-rival Army in three of his four meeting. He followed up that honor earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics, before continuing his service to his country by accepting a commission as an Officer in the United States Marine Corps in 2003.

As a football player, Brian took with him the lessons he learned on how to complete a mission with a team, one that quickly came in handy for him in the Corps. He was only with his men for a few months before they deployed to Iraq.

Brian was the 2nd Mobile Assault Platoon leader with Weapons Company when everything started happening during his very first operation. From May 8-14, 2005, he led his men into battle, where their mission was to seize a bridge near Karabilah, Iraq. Three different times, he negotiated four kilometers to maintain their position from enemy attacks. However, on the third time through, the enemy had set up an ambush for the Marines.

Although ambushed, Brian called in close-air support and direct fire from tanks while taking on over 30 rocket-propelled grenade attacks, multiple machine guns firing, and improvised explosive devices (IEDs) detonating.

"When we began, it was a big fight, but as the days went on, we began to use more of our assets," Brian explained. "We called in close air support and used tanks and dealt a big blow to the enemy."

Brian was in a 360-degree fight and was setting up casualty evacuation points after they were hit by suicide IEDs. All of this would not have been possible if it were not for the hard work of his men in the sheer face of danger, explained Brian.

"He [Brian] has great strength of character and endurance, which was shown when everything happened over a week and he kept on going," explained Major General Richard Huck, 2nd Marine Division, Commanding General, shortly after presenting Brian with the Silver Star. "It doesn't even capture all that happened.?

Brian stated afterwards, "This award represents my guys. It's an insight to what my men did over there. There were a lot of our guys who received awards from our group when we were out there, not just me. You can forget all the other medals. I just wanted the award that said 42 out of 42 men came home safely," he further explained. "And we all came home, so mission accomplished."

And what a homecoming for Brian it was. He married his college sweetheart, Teressa, who he met while back home visiting his family in Scranton. Teressa is a graduate of Mary wood University with a Bachelor of Science degree in Health and Human Services and a former Philadelphia Eagles cheerleader.

During Brian?s next tour in Iraq, he called a fight promoter and clamored for a shot at the mixed-martial arts world. The promoter took a chance on him and Brian did not disappoint earning a first round knockout in his very first fight. Another promoter took notice and quickly signed him to a deal with World Extreme Cagefighting. During his first fight under their banner, he earned another first round knockout, this time in just 16 seconds, the fastest knockout in WEC history. He has since remained undefeated by defeating another previously undefeated opponent via another first round knockout!

Brian continues to serve on active duty as a United States Marine Corps Officer at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. However, he still finds time to train every day and is quickly being recognized as the future of MMA in the light heavyweight division. He has even begun training with UFC legend and Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture. Expect Brian to continue making his mark on this sport.

Speaking of other marks Brian has recently made, he and Teressa will be welcoming another champion in less than nine months as they are both excited and happy to announce her pregnancy. Brian is looking forward to seeing his future sparring partner.

Stay tuned to www.brianstann.com for all the latest info on Brian Stann's career.

Diego "Nightmare" Sanchez (born December 31, 1981 in Albuquerque, New Mexico) is a Mexican American mixed martial artist (MMA) with a background in wrestling and Gaidojutsu, system of submission wrestling developed by his longtime trainer Greg Jackson. Sanchez currently fights as a welterweight with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).  He is a client of White Chocolate Management out of Hollywood, Florida. (www.whitecm.com)

Sanchez made his MMA debut in 2002 and fought in smaller shows, mostly the King of the Cage promotion. His UFC debut came when he was chosen as a participant on the first season of the reality show, The Ultimate Fighter. He won a contract with the UFC after winning a fight against Kenny Florian, becoming the middleweight winner for the first season of the show. Shortly after, Sanchez dropped to welterweight, defeating Brian Gassaway, Nick Diaz, John Alessio, Karo Parisyan, and Joe Riggs.

Several weeks after the fight with Josh Koschek, Dana White announced that Sanchez was sick on the eve of the fight, and almost had to retire when a test came back indicating he had Hepatitis C. Doctors eventually concluded the test results were not correct, but could not diagnose his sickness, so the fight went ahead as planned. The day after the fight Sanchez had a hole in his thigh the "size of a coffee cup" and was diagnosed as a staph infection.

Stay tuned to MMAFanGear.com for new fighters that join the team!

Pete "Secret Weapon" Spratt One of the two greatest athletes to ever attend Southeastern Oklahoma State (the other one is Dennis Rodman), Spratt, from suburban Dallas, was a first-team All American receiver as a senior and led all of Division II in receiving. He turned his attention to fighting after unsuccessful tryout's with the Philadelphia Eagles, Buffalo Bills and Washington Redskins..

He made a successful debut in the UFC with a first round victory over Zach Light at UFC 37.5 in June, 2002. Spratt lost to The Ultimate Fighter: The Comeback coach Georges St. Pierre in a memorable bout in Montreal in 2003. His career zenith came at UFC 42 with a victory over Robbie Lawler.  Spratt, who is 35 years-old, currently holds a 15-9 MMA record. He has fought two fellow The Ultimate Fighter: The Comeback cast-mates with a victory over Rich "No Love" Clementi and a loss to Chris Lytle. He holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Occupational Safety and Health and currently is a Janjira Muay Thai certified trainer and trains with TUF 4 cast mate Travis Lutter at Lutter Brazilian Jui-Jitsu in Ft. Worth, TX.

On Monday, October 15th just after avenging a loss to T.J. Waldburger, Pete Spratt received his blue belt (BJJ) under Rodrigo Pinheiro. Spratt has been training with Pinheiro and his team at Power Team Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in San Antonio, Tx for the past 6 months and has excelled. His athleticism and extensive fight background has allowed him to make the transition to gi BJJ relatively easy and he?s learning very quickly. For Spratt, this is an exciting time and he feel?s that the training he?s getting from Pinheiro with elevate his career tremendously.       

Rodrigo Pinheiro is a BJJ World Champion and Pan Am?s Champion. He received his black belt under Saulo Ribiero and was with him for several years in Brazil. He also has a Judo black belt as well. Spratt also trains Pinheiro in Muay Thai and MMA. With this combination looks for big things from Pinheiro as he is now 2-0 in MMA! (Photo courtesy of TheRealPeteSpratt.com.)


 Michael "The Count" Bisping Michael Gavin Joseph Bisping (born February 28, 1979 in Cyprus) is an English professional mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter from Lancashire. Holding a professional record of 13 wins and 0 losses, he currently fights in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, and is the former Cage Warriors Fighting Championship light heavyweight champion, and former Cage Rage light heavyweight champion.

Bisping was born on a British military base in Cyprus in 1979, but moved to Clitheroe, Lancashire, England when he was a child. Taking an early interest in martial arts, Bisping began training in a traditional form of jiu-jitsu known as Yawara Ryu under Paul Lloyd Davies when he was 8 years old. In 1994, at the age of 15, Bisping competed as an amateur in England’s first “no holds barred” competition, a precursor to modern MMA, called Knock Down Sport Budo (KSBO), organized by Davies.

At the age of 18, Bisping decided to abandon his martial arts training in order “to pursue real life”. But less than a year later Bisping began training kickboxing and karate on the advice of Alan Clarking, owner of Black Knights gym, who saw potential in the young fighter. Bisping enjoyed a short, but successful, kickboxing career, winning the North West Area title, and later the Pro British light heavyweight kickboxing title. After again briefly quitting competition in 1998, Bisping returned to kickboxing to take the Pro British light heavyweight title for a second time. Soon after winning his second kickboxing title, Bisping was forced to abandon his full-time training for a “real job”, working as a postman, a demolition worker, and a salesman.

As his days of competition faded away, Bisping grew to miss fighting and training, and in 2003, he tracked down his old coach Paul Lloyd Davies. Davies, who was then running a mixed martial arts gym in Nottingham, encouraged Bisping to visit his gym, and it was there that Bisping first learned about the new sport of mixed martial arts. After one day of sparring, Davies offered to train and manage Bisping as a MMA fighter.

Bisping made his professional mixed martial arts debut at Pride & Glory 2: Battle of the Ages on April 4, 2004, taking a 0:38 armbar victory over Steve Mathews. Just one month later, Bisping scored his first knockout against John Weir at UK MMA Challenge 7: Rage & Fury. In his third MMA match, Bisping became the Cage Rage light heavyweight champion at Cage Rage 7, defeating Mark Epstein by technical knockout. Bisping went on to defend his championship title in a rematch against Epstein at Cage Rage 9 in a knockout victory that solidified Bisping as one of the top light heavyweight fighters in England. It also earned him the moniker “The Great British Hope”, by UFC.com.

In early 2006 Bisping was featured on the UFC’s The Ultimate Fighter reality television series as a contestant training under Tito Ortiz. He won a preliminary bout against Kristian Rothaermel by TKO, which he followed with a semi-final win against the aforementioned Ross Pointon, by submission after landing a flying knee followed by a series of strikes. In the finals, Bisping defeated Josh Haynes by way of TKO at 4:14 into the second round, making Bisping the second light heavyweight winner of The Ultimate Fighter television series.

Five months after his victory in the TUF 3 finals, Bisping was slated to fight Eric Schafer at The Ultimate Fighter 4 Finale. Bisping was forced to withdraw from the contest, possibly due to issues with processing his visa. The fight was re-scheduled and held on December 30 at UFC 66. Bisping defeated Schafer by way of TKO at 4:24 in the first round.

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