Matt Arroyo (born September 1, 1982) is an American former 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 ...

. He was featured on 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 ( ...

reality television Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring ordinary people rather than professional actors. Reality television emerged as a distinct genre in the early 1990s ...

show '' The Ultimate Fighter: Team Hughes vs. Team Serra'', fighting on Team Serra. He fights out of

Tampa, Florida Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...

with Gracie Tampa, under

Royce Gracie Royce Gracie (; born 12 December 1966) is a Brazilian retired professional mixed martial artist. Gracie gained fame for his success in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He is a member of the Gracie jiu-jitsu family, a UFC Hall of Famer ...

black belt Rob Kahn.

Mixed martial arts career

''The Ultimate Fighter''

In his first bout of the competition, Arroyo was able to submit

Dorian Price ''The Ultimate Fighter: Team Hughes vs. Team Serra'' was the sixth season of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) produced reality television series ''The Ultimate Fighter'', and premiered on September 19, 2007, on Spike TV, after '' UFC Figh ...

via

rear naked choke The rear naked choke (RNC), also known as hadaka jime (裸絞) in Judo and "lion killer choke (Mata Leão)" in BJJ, is a chokehold in martial arts applied from an opponent's back. The word ''naked'' in this context suggests that, unlike other stra ...

in the first round. After losing a coin toss to Troy Mandaloniz, Arroyo was going to train with Team Hughes, but he and Richie Hightower both decided to continue training with Team Serra. Matt Hughes cornered his quarterfinal fight with Mandaloniz, whom he defeated via

armbar An armlock in grappling is a single or double joint lock that hyperextends, hyperflexes or hyperrotates the elbow joint or shoulder joint. An armpit lock is very useful; it will immobilize an opponent and pin them on the ground. An armlock t ...

in the first round. During the coaches' bowling competition, Arroyo successfully coached

Matt Serra Matt Serra (born June 2, 1974) is an American former professional mixed martial artist and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner. He is a former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) competitor and a former UFC Welterweight Champion. He is the co-sta ...

to victory over Matt Hughes. While preparing for his semifinal match vs.

Mac Danzig Mac Danzig (born January 2, 1980) is an American mixed martial artist, who competed as a lightweight in several MMA promotions, most notably the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He was the winner of The Ultimate Fighter season six. Background Da ...

, Arroyo sustained a rib injury and had to withdraw from the competition, prompting

Dana White Dana Frederick White Jr. (born July 28, 1969) is an American businessman who is the CEO and president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), a global mixed martial arts organization. In August 2019, White's net worth was estimated at . Out ...

to select

John Kolosci John Kolosci (born November 26, 1974) is a retired American mixed martial artist. A professional from 2003 until 2011, he competed for the UFC, Bellator, Strikeforce, the XFC, and was a competitor on ''The Ultimate Fighter'', fighting for Team ...

as his replacement. Arroyo went on to defeat John Kolosci at '' The Ultimate Finale 6'' via submission (

) at 4:42 of the first round.

UFC career

After the end of the show, Arroyo was given a fight against

at '' The Ultimate Finale 6''. Arroyo won by submission via armbar in the first round. He then had a rematch against Matt Brown at '' The Ultimate Finale 7''. Arroyo lost the bout by TKO in the second round. He lost to Dan Cramer at UFC 94: St-Pierre vs. Penn 2, by split decision. After the loss, Arroyo was released from 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 ...

. Arroyo appears as a playable character in the video game '' UFC Undisputed 2009''.

Personal life

Arroyo holds a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree from The University of Tampa, where he was also the president of his fraternity,

Pi Kappa Phi Pi Kappa Phi (), commonly known as Pi Kapp(s), is an American Greek Letter secret and social Fraternities and sororities in North America, fraternity. It was founded by Andrew Alexander Kroeg Jr., Lawrence Harry Mixson, and Simon Fogarty Jr. on De ...

. After college he sold life insurance for a year before committing himself to fighting full-time. He is currently very active in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu tournaments. He has recently opened up his own MMA academy known as Gracie Tampa South with his mentor Rob Kahn. On December 30, 2009, Arroyo received his black belt in BJJ under Rob Kahn.Matt Arroyo Earns BJJ Black Belt
/ref>

Championships and accomplishments

** Submission of the Night (One time) vs.

**UFC.com Awards ***2007: Ranked #9 Submission of the Year

Mixed martial arts record

, - , Loss , align=center, 3–3 , Dan Cramer , Decision (split) , UFC 94 , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

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 , , - , Loss , align=center, 3–2 , Matt Brown , TKO (punches) , The Ultimate Fighter 7 Finale , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 3:40 ,

, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 3–1 ,

, Submission (armbar) , The Ultimate Fighter 6 Finale , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 4:42 ,

, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 2–1 , Ariel Pena , Submission (triangle choke) , Real Fighting Championships 8: Invasion of the Cage , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 1:39 ,

, United States , , - , Loss , align=center, 1–1 , Matt Brown , TKO (punches) , Real Fighting Championships 7: Night of Champions , , align=center, 2 , align=center, 1:54 ,

, United States , , - , Win , align=center, 1–0 , Naeem Munir , Submission (rear-naked choke) , Combat Fighting Championship 2 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 0:56 ,

Orlando, Florida Orlando ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Orange County, Florida, United States. The city proper had a population of 307,573 at the 2020 census, making it the fourth-most populous city in Florida behind Jacksonville, Florida, Jacksonville ...

, United States ,

References

External links

Matt Arroyo's official website
* *
Matt Arroyo's Myspace page

Gracie Tampa
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arroyo, Matt 1982 births American male mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists from Florida Welterweight mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists utilizing Brazilian jiu-jitsu American practitioners of Brazilian jiu-jitsu People awarded a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu Living people People from Cobleskill, New York Ultimate Fighting Championship male fighters