Andreas Christian Spång (born November 7, 1978) is a Swedish professional

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on strike (attack), striking, grappling and ground f ...

(MMA) fighter who last competed in 2014. A professional competitor since 2008, he has competed for Bellator, the MFC, and Strikeforce.

Personal life

Andreas Spang first learned boxing at the age of three from his father who had been an amateur boxer in Sweden. As he stated in a Bellator interview, Spang says, "It is important to be a role model for my family." He lives with his wife and young son in

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vega ...

. Spang defines himself as a "striker by nature." As an amateur boxer, Spang has a record of 15-5 and went 1-0 as a professional K-1 fighter.

Mixed martial arts career

Early career

Spang made his professional MMA debut on April 5, 2008 when he fought at the ''Fight Fiesta de Luxe: Unstoppable'' event in

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small land ...

and won his first match via unanimous decision. Sprang quickly rose up the middleweight ranks, compiling a 5-0 record. 6 of his 8 victories have been by knockout or submission win, all in the first round.

Bellator Fighting Championships

Andreas Spang is currently signed to

Bellator Fighting Championships Bellator MMA (formerly Bellator Fighting Championships) is an American mixed martial arts promotion founded in 2008 and based in Santa Monica, California, owned and operated as a subsidiary of television and media conglomerate Paramount Global. ...

and competed in their season six middleweight tournament. Spang welcomed the opportunity to fight in the Bellator middleweight tournament when he replaced Bruno Santos, who was originally scheduled to face Rogers. Spang made his Bellator debut at

Bellator 66 2012 in Bellator MMA was the sixth installment of the Bellator Fighting Championships, which began on March 9, 2012. The sixth season of Bellator was originally scheduled to begin on March 2, 2012. However, the debut was pushed back a week so i ...

on April 21, 2012 in a middleweight tournament semifinal match, where he defeated the highly aggressive Brian "The Predator" Rogers with an impressive come-from-behind KO victory. He faced Maiquel Falcão in the finals at

Bellator 69 2012 in Bellator MMA was the sixth installment of the Bellator Fighting Championships, which began on March 9, 2012. The sixth season of Bellator was originally scheduled to begin on March 2, 2012. However, the debut was pushed back a week so ...

. After rocking Maiquel Falcão in the first round, Spang was controlled by Falcão's wrestling for the remainder of the fight and lost via unanimous decision. In January 2013, Bellator announced Spang as a competitor in the Season Eight Middleweight tournament. His Quarterfinal fight took place at Bellator 89 against

Doug Marshall Douglas Garrett Marshall (born February 3, 1977) is an American former professional mixed martial artist. A professional competitor from 2003 until 2014, Marshall has fought in Bellator, Tachi Palace Fights, the Super Fight League, and the P ...

. He lost via knock out in the first round.

World Series of Fighting

On July 15, 2015, it was announced that Spång signed with the

World Series of Fighting The Professional Fighters League (PFL) is an American mixed martial arts league founded by venture capitalist Donn Davis in 2017 and launched in 2018, following the acquisition and restructuring of the former World Series of Fighting (WSOF) promo ...

to compete in the Light Heavyweight division.

Controversy

Spang was involved in a post-fight scuffle which marred his comeback at Bellator 66. Maiquel Falcão who had fought earlier that night defeating

Vyacheslav Vasilevsky Vyacheslav "Crushin Russian" Vasilevsky is a Russian mixed martial artist currently competing in the Middleweight division. A professional MMA competitor since 2008, Vasilevsky has fought for Bellator MMA, M-1 Global, and ...

to secure his own spot in the middleweight finals, was brought into the cage to do a face-off with Spang for the first time after Spang's fight. When they moved in close to each other, Spang immediately shoved Falcão. Startled by this, the much publicized temperament of Falcão rushed back at him with a knee to the ribcage and then lifted up his hand as if looking to throw a punch. Officials, Bellator commentator/former fighter Jimmy Smith and fight matchmaker Sam Caplan separated the two from one another. Spang, who also shoved Brian Rogers at Thursday's event during the fight's weigh-ins to get inside his opponent's head and not out of hatred, was apologetic to the crowd after the melee incident. He even apologized again at the post-fight press conference with Bellator CEO

Bjorn Rebney Bjorn Rebney is an American businessman who served as chairman and chief executive officer of Bellator MMA from 2008 until June 2014. Background Rebney attended Ohio University on a football scholarship and then attended law school. Rebney did ...

in attendance, stating he just doesn't like people getting up in his face. Disciplinary action from the Ohio Athletic Commission, which oversaw the event, will determine if any fines and/or suspensions should be lifted against both fighters.

Kickboxing record

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K-1 World Grand Prix 2006 in Las Vegas II This is a list of events held and scheduled by the K-1, a kickboxing promotion based in Hong Kong. The first event, K-1 Sanctuary I, took place on March 30, 1993 at Kōrakuen Hall in Tokyo, Japan. 2023 events 2022 events 2021 events ...

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Mixed martial arts record

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Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

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Heavyweight Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling. Boxing Professional Boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 3 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation, the W ...

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Lake Charles, Louisiana Lake Charles (French: ''Lac Charles'') is the fifth-largest incorporated city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, and the parish seat of Calcasieu Parish, located on Lake Charles, Prien Lake, and the Calcasieu River. Founded in 1861 in Calcasi ...

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Windsor, Ontario Windsor is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, on the south bank of the Detroit River directly across from Detroit, Michigan, United States. Geographically located within but administratively independent of Essex County, it is the southe ...

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, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 3–0 , Andre Walker , Submission (guillotine choke) , Ring of Fire 36: Demolition , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 2:20 ,

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the United ...

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Hollerich Hollerich ( lb, Hollerech) is a quarter in south-western Luxembourg City, in southern Luxembourg. , the quarter has a population of 7,132 inhabitants. Hollerich railway station is located on Chemins de Fer Luxembourgeois Line 70, which conn ...

Professional boxing record

, style="text-align:center;" colspan="8", 0 Wins (0 knockouts, 0 decision), 0 Losses, 1 Draw , - , align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Res. , align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Record , align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Opponent , align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Type , align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Rd., Time , align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Date , align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Location , align=center style="border-style: none none solid solid; background: #e3e3e3", Notes , -align=center , Draw , align=center, 0-0-1, , align=left, Alvaro Morales , MD , 4 (4) , 2007-05-12 , align=left,

Reno Events Center The Reno Events Center is a 7,000-seat multi-purpose arena, located in downtown Reno, Nevada, that was constructed in January 2005. It was the home to the Reno Bighorns of the NBA G League from 2008 to 2018 and to the Reno Barons of the Western I ...

Reno, Nevada Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the c ...

, United States , align=left, , -align=center

External links

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Spang, Andreas 1978 births Living people Swedish male boxers Swedish male mixed martial artists Middleweight mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists utilizing boxing Mixed martial artists utilizing kickboxing Swedish male kickboxers