Jake O'Brien (born September 25, 1984) is an American retired professional

mixed martial artist Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting sport based on striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-stylistic contests took place t ...

who most recently competed in the

Heavyweight Heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports and professional wrestling. Boxing Professional Male boxers who weigh over are considered heavyweights by 2 of the 4 major professional boxing organizations: the International Boxing Federation an ...

division. A professional competitor from 2005 until 2012, he fought for the

UFC 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 TKO Group Holdings, a majority owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. The larg ...

, WEC, and

DREAM A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensation (psychology), sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around ...

Background

Born and raised in

Indianapolis, Indiana Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

, O'Brien attended

Franklin Central High School Franklin Central High School (FCHS) is a public four-year high school in Indianapolis, Indiana. It is the only high school in the Franklin Township Community School Corporation. Demographics The demographic breakdown of the 3,319 students enroll ...

where he competed in

wrestling Wrestling is a martial art, combat sport, and form of entertainment that involves grappling with an opponent and striving to obtain a position of advantage through different throws or techniques, within a given ruleset. Wrestling involves di ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

, and

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

. In wrestling, O'Brien was a three-time State Champion as a sophomore, junior, and senior, compiling an overall record of 152-9. O'Brien also earned four letters in football and one in track and field. O'Brien continued wrestling at

Purdue University Purdue University is a Public university#United States, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded ...

, and after redshirting his freshman year, posted a record of 14-18 in his sophomore season as the starting Heavyweight. However, this would be O'Brien's only year of wrestling at Purdue.

Mixed martial arts career

Early career

O'Brien made his professional

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting combat sport, sport based on strike (attack), striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-s ...

debut in 2005 and compiled a professional record of 7-0 which included a 14-second

knockout A knockout (abbreviated to KO or K.O.) is a fight-ending, winning criterion in several full-contact combat sports, such as boxing, kickboxing, Muay Thai, mixed martial arts, karate, some forms of taekwondo and other sports involving striking, ...

win in the WEC, before being signed by the

Ultimate Fighting Championship

O'Brien made his

debut at

UFC Fight Night 6 ''UFC Fight Night: Sanchez vs. Parisyan'' (also known as ''UFC Fight Night 6'') was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on August 17, 2006. The event took place at the Red Rock Resort Spa and Casino in Las Vegas, ...

on August 17, 2006, against Kristof Midoux and won via

TKO A technical knockout (TKO) is a professional fighting term. TKO may also refer to: Sports * TKO, the name of a professional wrestling move referring to either the cutter or stunner variant * TKO Group Holdings, a combat sports company Music Ar ...

in the second round. O'Brien followed this up with a unanimous decision victory at

UFC 65 ''UFC 65: Bad Intentions'' was a mixed martial arts competition held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on November 18, 2006, at the ARCO Arena in Sacramento, California – the UFC's first show at this venue. It was broadcast live on pay-per- ...

before facing

Heath Herring Heath Herring (born March 2, 1978) is an American professional mixed martial artist who competed in the Heavyweight division. While perhaps best known for competing in PRIDE, he has also formerly competed for the UFC, K-1 and Rizin. Background ...

at UFC Fight Night 8 on January 25, 2007. O'Brien picked up perhaps the biggest victory of his career, defeating the

PRIDE Pride is a human Emotion, secondary emotion characterized by a sense of satisfaction with one's Identity (philosophy), identity, performance, or accomplishments. It is often considered the opposite of shame or of humility and, depending on conte ...

veteran via unanimous decision (29–28, 30–27, 30–27). In his next appearance, O'Brien faced former

UFC Heavyweight Champion Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) champions are fighters who have won UFC championships. Historical notes At the time of the UFC's inception in 1993, mixed martial arts was not sanctioned in the United States, and did not include weight classe ...

Andrei Arlovski Andrei Arlovski (, born 4 February 1979) is a Belarusian-American professional mixed martial artist and actor. A former UFC Heavyweight Champion, he competed in the heavyweight division for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) and holds th ...

and was handed his first professional loss via

in the second round. In his next fight, O'Brien was paired with future

Cain Velasquez Cain Ramírez Velásquez (born July 28, 1982) is an American former professional wrestler and mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist. He is widely known for his time in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, where he competed in the Heavyweight ( ...

at UFC Fight Night: Silva vs. Irvin on July 19, 2008, and was defeated again via

, in the first round. After two consecutive losses, O'Brien dropped down to the

Light Heavyweight Light heavyweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the division is above and up to , falling between super middleweight and cruiserweight (boxing), cruiserweight. The light heavyweight class has ...

division and faced

Christian Wellisch Christian Wellisch (born September 13, 1975) is a Hungarian-American former professional mixed martial artist. A professional competitor from 2001 until 2009, he competed for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, UFC, World Extreme Cagefighting, W ...

, who was also making his

debut, at

UFC 94 ''UFC 94: St-Pierre vs. Penn 2'' was a mixed martial arts (MMA) pay-per-view event promoted by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) on January 31, 2009. The card featured five televised MMA bouts, as well as five un-aired preliminary bouts. I ...

on January 31, 2009. O'Brien won via split decision. In his next appearance at

UFC 100 ''UFC 100'' was a mixed martial arts event produced by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) on July 11, 2009, in Las Vegas, Nevada. This event was the most bought UFC pay-per-view of all time with a buyrate of 1.6million, until UFC 202 brok ...

on July 11, 2009, O'Brien faced future

UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) champions are fighters who have won UFC championships. Historical notes At the time of the UFC's inception in 1993, mixed martial arts was not sanctioned in the United States, and did not include weight class ...

Jon Jones Jonathan Dwight Jones (born July 19, 1987) is an American professional mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist. He currently competes in the Heavyweight (MMA), Heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is the ...

. O'Brien was defeated via guillotine choke submission in the second round.

Post-UFC

After his departure from the

, O'Brien won two fights in independent promotions before being signed by the

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

ese promotion

DREAM

O'Brien was expected to make his debut with the DREAM promotion on July 10 in a Light Heavyweight bout against former Strikeforce and DREAM Champion

Gegard Mousasi Gegard Mousasi (born 1 August 1985) is a Dutch mixed martial artist and former kickboxer. Mousasi most recently competed in Bellator MMA, where he is the former two-time Bellator Middleweight Champion. He is also the former DREAM Light Heavywe ...

Dream 15 ''Dream 15'' was a mixed martial arts event held by Fighting and Entertainment Group's mixed martial arts promotion Dream (mixed martial arts), Dream. The event took place on July 10, 2010 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Saitama, Saitama, ...

. O'Brien failed to make weight, weighing in at 212 lbs therefore was given a 10% purse deduction as well as a yellow card at the start of the fight. O'Brien lost via guillotine choke submission in the first round.

Championships and accomplishments

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 ( ...

**UFC.com Awards ***2007: Ranked #4 Upset of the Year

Mixed martial arts record

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Chicago, Illinois Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

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, Submission (standing guillotine choke) ,

DREAM 15 ''Dream 15'' was a mixed martial arts event held by Fighting and Entertainment Group's mixed martial arts promotion Dream (mixed martial arts), Dream. The event took place on July 10, 2010 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama, Saitama, Saitama, ...

, , align=center, 1 , align=center, 0:31 , Saitama, Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 13–3 , Toni Valtonen , Decision (unanimous) , Fight Festival 27 , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

Helsinki Helsinki () is the Capital city, capital and most populous List of cities and towns in Finland, city in Finland. It is on the shore of the Gulf of Finland and is the seat of southern Finland's Uusimaa region. About people live in the municipali ...

Uusimaa Uusimaa (; , ; both lit. 'new land') is a region of Finland. It borders the regions of Southwest Finland, Tavastia Proper (Kanta-Häme), Päijänne Tavastia (Päijät-Häme), and Kymenlaakso. Finland's capital and largest city, Helsinki, alo ...

, Finland , , - , Win , align=center, 12–3 , Dave Hess , Submission (kimura) , MMA Big Show: Triple Threat , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 4:24 ,

Florence, Indiana Florence is an unincorporated census-designated place in York Township, Switzerland County, Indiana, York Township, Switzerland County, Indiana, Switzerland County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. History The community was laid out in 1817 under t ...

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, Submission (guillotine choke) ,

, , align=center, 2 , align=center, 2:43 ,

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 ...

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, TKO (punches) ,

UFC 82 ''UFC 82: Pride of a Champion'' was a mixed martial arts (MMA) event that took place on March 1, 2008, at the Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio. Background The main event was a UFC & Pride FC middleweight title unification match between UFC midd ...

, , align=center, 2 , align=center, 4:17 ,

Columbus, Ohio Columbus (, ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities in Ohio, most populous city of the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 United States census, 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the List of United States ...

, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 10–0 ,

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Hollywood, Florida Hollywood is a city in Broward County, Florida, United States. It is a suburb in the Miami metropolitan area. The population of Hollywood was 153,067 as of 2020, making it the Broward County#Communities, third-largest city in Broward County, th ...

, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 9–0 , Josh Schockman , Decision (unanimous) , UFC 65: Bad Intentions , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

Sacramento, California Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat, seat of Sacramento County, California, Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento Rive ...

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WEC 19 ''WEC 19: Undisputed'' was a mixed martial arts event held by World Extreme Cagefighting on March 17, 2006 at the Tachi Palace Hotel & Casino in Lemoore, California. The event aired live on the HDNet Fights. Eight past, present, or future WEC ch ...

, , align=center, 1 , align=center, 0:14 ,

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 , , - , Win , align=center, 4–0 , Johnathan Ivey , TKO (punches) , LOF: Legends of Fighting 4 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, N/A ,

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Plainfield, Indiana Plainfield is a town in Guilford Township, Hendricks County, Indiana, Guilford, Liberty Township, Hendricks County, Indiana, Liberty, and Washington Township, Hendricks County, Indiana, Washington townships, Hendricks County, Indiana, Hendricks ...

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Madison, Wisconsin Madison is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Wisconsin. It is the List of municipalities in Wisconsin by population, second-most populous city in the state, with a population of 269,840 at the 2020 Uni ...

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References

External links

Official Site of Irish Jake
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Obrien, Jake American male mixed martial artists Martial artists from Indianapolis 1984 births Living people Light heavyweight mixed martial artists Heavyweight mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists utilizing collegiate wrestling Ultimate Fighting Championship male fighters American male sport wrestlers