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) promoter (entertainment), promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by TKO Group Holdings, a majority owned subsidiary of Endeavor ( ...

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 s ...

''.

Background

Sanford was born in

Roxbury, Boston Roxbury () is a Neighborhoods in Boston, neighborhood in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. Roxbury is a Municipal annexation in the United States, dissolved municipality and one of 23 official neighborhoods of Boston used by the city for ne ...

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

Japanese language is the principal language of the Japonic languages, Japonic language family spoken by the Japanese people. It has around 123 million speakers, primarily in Japan, the only country where it is the national language, and within the Japanese dia ...

and

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

at the

University of Massachusetts, Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. It is the Flagship university, flagship campus of the Univer ...

. He practiced various forms of

martial arts Martial arts are codified systems and traditions of combat practiced for a number of reasons such as self-defence; military and law enforcement applications; combat sport, competition; physical, mental, and spiritual development; entertainment; ...

, like

taekwondo Taekwondo (; ; ) is a Korean martial art and combat sport involving primarily kicking techniques and punching. "Taekwondo" can be translated as ''tae'' ("strike with foot"), ''kwon'' ("strike with hand"), and ''do'' ("the art or way"). In ad ...

kung fu Chinese martial arts, commonly referred to with umbrella terms Kung fu (term), kung fu (; ), kuoshu () or wushu (sport), wushu (), are Styles of Chinese martial arts, multiple fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in Greater Ch ...

and

boxing Boxing is a combat sport and martial art. Taking place in a boxing ring, it involves two people – usually wearing protective equipment, such as boxing glove, protective gloves, hand wraps, and mouthguards – throwing Punch (combat), punch ...

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 Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have beg ...

and was the last middleweight pick of Team

Couture Couture may refer to: People * Couture (surname) Places Belgium * Couture-Saint-Germain, a village in the municipality of Lasne, Belgium Canada * Couture crater and Lac Couture, an impact crater and the lake that covers it in Quebec, Canada ...

. 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 Josh 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 reality television show, ''The Ultimate ...

. 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 WE ...

. 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 252 ...

, 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, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

, 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 The year 2003 was the 3rd year in the history of World Extreme Cagefighting, a mixed martial arts promotion based in the United States. In 2003 WEC held 3 events beginning with, ''WEC 6: Return of a Legend''. Title fights Events list ...

: 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 in and the county seat of Colusa County, California, located in the Sacramento Valley region of the Central Valley. The population was 6,411 at the 2020 census, up from 5,971 at the 2010 census. Colusa originates from the l ...

, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 1–0 , Bobby Martin , KO (punch) ,

WEC 1 ''WEC 1: Princes of Pain'' was a mixed martial arts event held on June 30, 2001, at the Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino in Lemoore, California. ''WEC 1s main event was a fight between Dan Severn and Travis Fulton. Results See also * ...

: Princes of Pain , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 0:29 ,

, United States ,

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sanford, Christopher 1968 births Living people Martial artists 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 20th-century American sportsmen