Nhat Nam Si Phan (born March 13, 1983), better known as Nam Phan, is an American retired

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 ...

and

professional boxer Professional boxing, or prizefighting, is regulated, sanctioned boxing. Professional boxing bouts are fought for a purse that is divided between the boxers as determined by contract. Most professional fights are supervised by a regulatory auth ...

. A professional in mixed martial arts since 2001, Phan has competed for the UFC, WEC,

Strikeforce Strike Force may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Games *Strike Force (video game), ''Strike Force'' (video game), a 1991 arcade game *''Commandos: Strike Force'', a 2006 video game *''Dynasty Warriors: Strikeforce'', a 2009 video game *' ...

World Victory Road World Victory Road (WVR) was a Japanese mixed martial arts (MMA) organization which promoted the Sengoku Raiden Championship (SRC) in Japan. The organization was formed in 2007 following the purchase of PRIDE FC by Zuffa. It operated in conjunct ...

, and was a contestant on The Ultimate Fighter: Team GSP vs. Team Koscheck. He has competed in Japanese MMA organization

Pancrase is a Japanese mixed martial arts (MMA) promoter (entertainment), promotion company based in Tokyo. It was founded in 1993 by professional wrestlers Masakatsu Funaki and Minoru Suzuki. The name was based on pankration, a fighting sport in the An ...

and won the title of King of Pancrase in the featherweight division in 2015.

Background

Born and raised in California, Phan began training in

Tae Kwon Do 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 a ...

at the age of four. A few years later, Phan began

karate (; ; Okinawan language, Okinawan pronunciation: ), also , is a martial arts, martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the Okinawan martial arts, indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tī'' in Okinawan) un ...

and did that for eight years earning his black belt. By the age of 16, he had earned a second degree black belt in Việt Quyền Đạo, a Vietnamese combat martial art. Phan then began studying Brazilian jiu-jitsu in the year 2000 earning his black belt He is also a professional boxer with a record of 3-8-1.

Mixed martial arts career

Early career

Phan made his professional mixed martial arts debut against Jason Maxwell in October 2001, and won due to a second-round TKO. He then won his following three fights also, before tasting defeat at the hands of Rob McCullough in April 2003. In December 2006, and now with a 12–2 record, he made his promotional debut with

against Josh Thomson at '' Strikeforce: Triple Threat''. He lost via unanimous decision, however, and was also defeated in his next, and last, Strikeforce fight against Billy Evangelista at '' Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Thomson''. He then won the Extreme Fighters World Championships by defeating Shad Smith via TKO at 1:11 of the first round on October 6, 2007. In 2009, he took part in the Sengoku Raiden Championship's Featherweight Grand Prix where he defeated

Hideki Kadowaki (born 28 May 1976) is a Japanese mixed martial artist. A professional competitor since 2000, he has competed for Shooto, Deep (mixed martial arts), DEEP, and World Victory Road. He is the former List of Shooto champions, Shooto Lightweight (1 ...

in the opening round. In the second round, at '' Sengoku 8'', Phan was defeated by

Michihiro Omigawa is a retired Japanese mixed martial arts, mixed martial artist, judoka and submission wrestling, submission grappler, who mainly competed in the Featherweight (MMA), Featherweight division. A professional competitor since 2005, Omigawa competed ...

''The Ultimate Fighter''

Phan signed with 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 ( ...

to appear on '' The Ultimate Fighter: Team GSP vs. Team Koscheck''. On the debut episode, Phan defeated Mike Budnik via TKO after a liver shot and follow-up punches. Phan therefore earned entrance into the house, where he would be picked for Team Koscheck as Koscheck's fifth pick (ninth overall). In the preliminary fight, Phan fought Spencer Paige, winning via unanimous decision to give Koscheck's team their first win. The first round was closely contested until the final seconds where Phan got a takedown, ground and pounded, and then applied a kimura. In between rounds, Paige told his corner that his left foot was broken. Phan would go on to continue pressuring Paige in the second round to win the fight. For his quarter-final fight, Phan was selected to fight Cody McKenzie. Phan defeated McKenzie via TKO (punches) in round 2, securing his spot in the semi-finals. In the semi-final round, Phan faced Michael Johnson. In a back-and-forth fight, Johnson scored takedowns. The consensus at the fight was that Johnson won the opening round, whilst Phan won the second. The third round, however, was argued over, with the coach of each respective fighter believing that their fighter took it. Johnson was declared the winner via split decision.

Ultimate Fighting Championship

Phan was expected to face Alex Caceres on December 4, 2010, at The Ultimate Fighter: Team GSP vs. Team Koscheck Finale. However, Caceres was forced out of the bout with an injury and replaced by Leonard Garcia. Phan lost the fight against Garcia via a controversial split decision. Due to the controversy surrounding the decision, both fighters were awarded a win bonus by the UFC and the fight earned ''Fight of the Night'' honors. The loss was named as 2010 Robbery of the Year by many MMA websites, most notably by Sherdog.com. A rematch with Garcia was expected on March 26, 2011, at UFC Fight Night 24. However, Phan was forced out of the bout with an injury and was replaced by Chan Sung Jung. Phan faced Mike Brown on August 6, 2011, at

UFC 133 ''UFC 133: Evans vs. Ortiz 2'' was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on August 6, 2011, at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of mun ...

. He lost the fight via unanimous decision. Phan was expected to face

Matt Grice Matt Grice (born July 29, 1981) is an American retired mixed martial artist. He was in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, fighting in the featherweight division before suffering a traumatic brain injury in a traffic accident in Shawnee, Oklahoma ...

on October 8, 2011, at UFC 136, replacing an injured Josh Grispi. However, Grice was forced out of the bout with an injury with Leonard Garcia stepping in to replace him. Phan won via unanimous decision, also earning both fighters ''Fight of the Night'' bonuses. Phan next faced Jimy Hettes on December 30, 2011, at UFC 141. Phan was dominated by Hettes throughout the fight, unable to stop the many takedowns of his opponent and losing via unanimous decision. Phan was briefly linked to a bout with Zhang Tie Quan on February 26, 2012, at UFC 144. However, for unknown reasons, the bout never materialized. Phan faced Cole Miller on August 4, 2012, at UFC on FOX 4 and won a split decision. Phan faced Dennis Siver on December 8, 2012, at UFC on Fox 5, replacing an injured Eddie Yagin. Nam went into the fight with a passive posture, and proceeded to be dominated through the entire three rounds in both stand up and ground games, ultimately losing by unanimous decision. One of the judges scored 10-8 in favor of Siver on all three rounds. Phan fought Takeya Mizugaki in a Bantamweight bout on December 7, 2013, at UFC Fight Night 33. He lost the fight via unanimous decision. Phan faced Vaughan Lee on March 1, 2014, at The Ultimate Fighter: China Finale. He lost the fight via unanimous decision and was subsequently released from the promotion.

Post-UFC career

In his first fight post-UFC, Phan faced Kenichi Ito at Grandslam MMA: Way of the Cage on July 13, 2014. He won the fight via first-round TKO. Phan then faced Yuki Baba at Pancrase 261 on October 5, 2014. Phan won the fight via rear-naked choke submission in the first round.

Bellator MMA

On October 17, 2014, it was announced that Phan has signed with Bellator. He made his debut for the promotion against Mike Richman on November 15, 2014, at Bellator 131. Phan lost the fight via knockout in the first round.

Retirement

On March 12, 2017, after his loss to Whiteford, Phan announced his retirement from MMA competition.

Boxing

Nam Phan is currently on a 7 fight losing streak with a record of 3 wins 8 losses and 1 draw

Personal life

Phan takes pride in his Vietnamese heritage and is part of the Vietnamese Americans, Vietnamese-American community. He proudly displays both the American and South Vietnamese flags on his '' gi'' as a symbol of his pride in the freedom of his current home and of his lost homeland. Phan owns and runs the Madu Academy, where he teaches Brazilian jiu-jitsu as well as boxing and Muay Thai. In 2005, Phan co-founded Ma Du Entertainment, a business to promote mixed martial arts fighters.

Championships and accomplishments

** Fight of the Night (Two times) vs. Leonard Garcia * Pancrase Hybrid Wrestling ** King of Pancrase Featherweight Championship (1 Time)

CTE

There has been wide speculation of Nam Phan having traumatic brain damage evident in his slurred speech and aggressive change in interviews and articles

Mixed martial arts record

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References

External links

Official UFC Profile
* *

{{DEFAULTSORT:Phan, Nam American male mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists from California Bantamweight mixed martial artists Featherweight mixed martial artists Lightweight mixed martial artists Boxers from California Light-middleweight boxers American practitioners of Brazilian jiu-jitsu People awarded a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu American male karateka Mixed martial artists utilizing taekwondo Mixed martial artists utilizing karate Mixed martial artists utilizing judo Mixed martial artists utilizing boxing Mixed martial artists utilizing Brazilian jiu-jitsu 1983 births Living people Pancrase champions American sportspeople of Vietnamese descent Sportspeople of Vietnamese descent Sportspeople from Westminster, California American male boxers Ultimate Fighting Championship male fighters