Chris Sanford (born March 12, 1968) is an American retired mixed martial artist who has competed in the

Ultimate Fighting Championship The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

and

World Extreme Cagefighting World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC) was an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion founded in 2001. It was purchased by Zuffa, LLC, the parent company of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), in 2006. In its final incarnation, it was mad ...

. He appeared on the first season of ''

The Ultimate Fighter ''The Ultimate Fighter'' is an American reality television series and mixed martial arts (MMA) competition produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and Pilgrim Media Group currently airing on ESPN+. It previously aired for fourteen ...

''.

Background

Sanford was born in

Roxbury, Boston Roxbury () is a neighborhood within the City of Boston, Massachusetts. Roxbury is a dissolved municipality and one of 23 official neighborhoods of Boston used by the city for neighborhood services coordination. The city states that Roxbury se ...

. He lived in Japan as a high school exchange student and also studied

Japanese language is spoken natively by about 128 million people, primarily by Japanese people and primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language. Japanese belongs to the Japonic or Japanese- Ryukyuan language family. There have been ...

and

economics Economics () is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics analy ...

at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He practiced various forms of martial arts, like

taekwondo ''Taekwondo'', ''Tae Kwon Do'' or ''Taekwon-Do'' (; ko, 태권도/跆拳道 ) is a Korean form of martial arts involving punching and kicking techniques, with emphasis on head-height kicks, spinning jump kicks, and fast kicking techniques. ...

kung fu Chinese martial arts, often called by the umbrella terms kung fu (; ), kuoshu () or wushu (), are multiple fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in Greater China. These fighting styles are often classified according to commo ...

and

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...

Mixed martial arts career

Early career: World Extreme Cagefighting

Sanford started his mixed martial arts career in 2001. He fought mainly for California–based promotions as

and ''Gladiator Challenge''. He amassed a perfect record of four victories and no defeats before being signed to compete on the original season of ''

''.

''The Ultimate Fighter''

Sanford signed in to compete as a middleweight and was the last middleweight pick of Team Couture. However, he never fought on the show, as he was sent home by Couture in the second episode after his team lost the team challenges.

Ultimate Fighting Championship

Despite being eliminated early on the show, he was awarded a chance to fight at The Ultimate Fighter 1 Finale against fellow housemate

Josh Koscheck Edinboro Fighting Scots Josh D. Koscheck (born November 30, 1977) is an American retired mixed martial artist who fought at Welterweight for the UFC and Bellator MMA. Koscheck made his debut with the UFC on the first season of the reali ...

. He was knocked out at 4:21 in the first round and was subsequently released from the promotion.

Return to WEC

Sanford faced Josh Green on August 18, 2005 at

WEC 16 WEC 16: Clash of the Titans 2 was a mixed martial arts event promoted by World Extreme Cagefighting on August 18, 2005 at the Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino in Lemoore, California. The main event saw Ron Waterman take on Ricco Rodriguez for the List ...

. He won via submission due to a guillotine choke in the very first round. Sanford never fought again since 2005.

Mixed martial arts record

, - , Win , align=center, 5–1 , Josh Green , Submission (guillotine choke) ,

: Clash of the Titans 2 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 2:30 ,

Lemoore, California Lemoore (formerly, La Tache and Lee Moore's) is a city in Kings County, California, United States. Lemoore is located west-southwest of Hanford, at an elevation of . It is part of the Hanford-Corcoran Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA Code 25 ...

, United States , , - , Loss , align=center, 4–1 ,

, KO (punch) , The Ultimate Fighter 1 Finale , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 4:21 ,

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 ...

, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 4–0 , Desi Miner , Submission (choke) , Fearless 1 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, N/A , Pasig, Metro Manila, Philippines , , - , Win , align=center, 3–0 , Jack Cardenas , Submission (armbar) , WEC 6: Return of a Legend , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 2:45 ,

, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 2–0 , Travis Robinson , Submission (heel hook) , Gladiator Challenge 6: Caged Beasts , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:54 ,

Colusa, California Colusa is a city and county seat of Colusa County, California, located in the Sacramento Valley region of the Central Valley. The population was 5,971 at the 2010 census, up from 5,402 at the 2000 census. Colusi originates from the local Coru ...

, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 1–0 , Bobby Martin , KO (punch) , WEC 1: Princes of Pain , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 0:29 ,

, United States ,

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sanford, Christopher 1968 births Living people Sportspeople from Boston American male mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists from Massachusetts Light heavyweight mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists utilizing wushu Mixed martial artists utilizing boxing Mixed martial artists utilizing taekwondo People from Roxbury, Boston American wushu practitioners American male taekwondo practitioners