Simeon Thoresen (born March 14, 1984) is a Norwegian

mixed martial artist Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, incorpo ...

currently competing in the

Welterweight Welterweight is a weight class in combat sports. Originally the term "welterweight" was used only in boxing, but other combat sports like Muay Thai, taekwondo, and mixed martial arts also use it for their own weight division system to classify the ...

division of

Cage Warriors Cage Warriors (CW) is an Irish owned mixed martial arts promotion, based in London, England. The promotion was established in 2001 and staged its first MMA event in London in July, 2002. Many MMA stars have made their names under the Cage Warri ...

. A professional competitor since 2006, he formerly competed 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 Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...

, DEEP, and

BAMMA BAMMA (British Association of Mixed Martial Arts) was a mixed martial arts promotion based in the United Kingdom. It premiered on June 27, 2009, and was shown on the television channel Bravo. BAMMA events were shown live on ITV4 in the UK and I ...

Mixed martial arts career

Background

He started training

karate (; ; Okinawan pronunciation: ) is a martial art developed in the Ryukyu Kingdom. It developed from the indigenous Ryukyuan martial arts (called , "hand"; ''tii'' in Okinawan) under the influence of Chinese martial arts, particularly Fuj ...

at an early age, but choose to devote himself to

gymnastics Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, s ...

instead at the age of 8. Thoresen started training BJJ and

Thai Boxing Muay Thai ( th, มวยไทย, , ), sometimes referred to as Thai boxing, is a combat sport that uses stand-up striking along with various clinching techniques. This discipline is known as the "art of eight limbs", as it is characterised ...

in 2003 with Jan T. Stange. With no experience in grappling he was dominated and humiliated by a grappler during a training session. This experience led Thoresen to start training extensively on his ground game. He trained with Team Valhall and Team Pammachon in

Sandefjord Sandefjord () is a city and the most populous municipality in Vestfold og Telemark county, Norway. The municipality of Sandefjord was established on 1 January 1838. The municipality of Sandar was merged into Sandefjord on 1 January 1969. On 1 ...

for a while and won his first and only amateur MMA match in 2005. After that he moved on to Oslo and Hellboy Hansen MMA in order to train full-time. He attributes much of his success to his training under Joachim Hansen. Hansen in turn has describe Thoresen as “a guy with amazing talent, who I truly believe will be a champion in the future.”

Early career

Thoresen made his professional debut in August 2006 with a win over Clifford Hall at Intense Fighting 5: Caged. He still maintains close ties with Team Valhall and is usually cornered during his matches by Valhall Gym's main MMA coach Tommy Rasmussen and Jan T. Stange. At Adrenaline 2: Rise of the Champions he defeated Brazilian jiu-jitsu purple belt André Mineus and amateur

Shooto Shooto is a combat sport and mixed martial arts organization that is governed by the ''Shooto Association'' and the ''International Shooto Commission''. Shooto was originally formed in 1985, first as a particular fighting system and then in 198 ...

champion Cole Lauritsen to win the Adrenaline Sports welterweight title in Denmark. He never defended his title and on December 7, 2008 Adrenaline announced that Thoresen "has forfeit his championship belt, since he has signed a contract with a very big promotion in Japan." Thoresen debuted for the DEEP in October 2008, losing to Eiji Ishikawa by majority decision. Following the loss, Thoresen competed primarily in England for promotions such as Cage Wars and

. He amassed an impressive streak (7 wins, 1 loss and 1 draw) over the next two and half years.

Ultimate Fighting Championship

Thoresen confirmed that he had signed a multi-fight contract with the UFC on December 29, 2011. In his debut, Thoresen faced fellow newcomer Besam Yousef on April 14, 2012 at UFC on Fuel TV: Gustafsson vs. Silva. He won the fight via submission in the second round. Thoresen next fought

Seth Baczynski Seth Baczynski (born October 26, 1981) is an American professional mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter currently competing in the Middleweight division. A professional since 2006, Baczynski has formerly competed for the UFC, and was a cast member of ...

on September 22, 2012 at UFC 152. Thoresen used his reach to keep Baczynski at bay and landed several big punches that caused a gash on the nose of Baczynski, Thoresen was then knocked out by a punch from Baczynski late in the first round. Thoresen faced David Mitchell on January 26, 2013 at

UFC on Fox 6 ''UFC on Fox: Johnson vs. Dodson'' (also known as ''UFC on Fox 6'') was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on January 26, 2013, at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. Background A bout between Erik Koch and ...

. Thoresen lost the fight via unanimous decision and was subsequently released from the promotion.

Post-UFC career

Thoresen was expected to face

Peter Sobotta Peter Sobotta (born January 11, 1987) is a retired Polish-born German professional mixed martial artist, who fought in the Welterweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). A professional competitor since 2004, Sobotta has also ...

at MMA Attack 4 on October 26, 2013, however the event was cancelled. Due to his previous fight being cancelled, Thoresen was then scheduled for a fight against Domingos Mestre at Superior Challenge 9 on November 13, 2013. However, Thoresen was forced from the bout due to injury. In February, 2014, one year post his UFC career, Thoresen signed a five-fight deal with

. His first fight was on June 7, 2014 against Jake Bostwick at Cage Warriors Fighting Championship 69. He lost the fight via majority decision. March 28, 2015, Thoresen fought Jack Mason at British Challenge MMA 10 in Colchester, Essex, England. He lost the fight via unanimous decision.

Championships and accomplishments

Mixed martial arts

*Ultimate Warrior Challenge **UWC Welterweight Championship (One time)

Mixed martial arts record

, - , Loss , align=center, 17–6–1 , Jack Mason , Decision (unanimous) , British Challenge MMA 10 , , align=center, 3 , align=center, 5:00 ,

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colc ...

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Toronto Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most pop ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tota ...

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Southend-on-Sea Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north ...

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Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

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Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingd ...

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. North ...

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Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

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BAMMA 3 This is a listing of event held by the British Association of Mixed Martial Arts. BAMMA 1: The Fighting Premiership ''BAMMA 1'' was a mixed martial arts event held by the British Association of Mixed Martial Arts on 27 June 2009 at the Room ...

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Cotai Cotai (; pt, Zona do Aterro de Cotai) is a piece of newly reclaimed land on top of Seac Pai Bay between Taipa and Coloane islands in Macau, that has made two independent islands become one island, since 2005. The word (a portmanteau of Col ...

Macau Macau or Macao (; ; ; ), officially the Macao Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China (MSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China in the western Pearl River Delta by the South China Sea. With a pop ...

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Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

, Japan , , - , Win , align=center, 9–0 , Matt Thorpe , Submission (kimura) , Cage Warriors: Enter the Rough House 7 , , align=center, 1 , align=center, 0:51 ,

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Southend Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, east of central London. It is bordered ...

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References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Thoresen, Simeon 1984 births Living people People from Sandefjord Norwegian male mixed martial artists Welterweight mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists utilizing Muay Thai Mixed martial artists utilizing Brazilian jiu-jitsu Norwegian Muay Thai practitioners Norwegian practitioners of Brazilian jiu-jitsu Ultimate Fighting Championship male fighters Sportspeople from Vestfold og Telemark