Waachiim Spiritwolf is a Native American professional

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 ...

who last competed 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. A professional competitor since from 2006 until 2015, he competed for King of the Cage, Tachi Palace Fights, Bellator, and Strikeforce.

Background

Spiritwolf is from the

Pala Indian Reservation The Pala Indian Reservation is located in the middle of San Luis Rey River Valley in northern San Diego County, California, east of the community of Fallbrook, and has been assigned feature ID 272502. Historic variant names used to describe the ...

and represents the

Navajo The Navajo (; British English: Navaho; nv, Diné or ') are a Native Americans in the United States, Native American people of the Southwestern United States. With more than 399,494 enrolled tribal members , the Navajo Nation is the largest fe ...

and

Yaqui The Yaqui, Hiaki, or Yoeme, are a Native American people of the southwest, who speak a Uto-Aztecan language. Their homelands include the Río Yaqui valley in Sonora, Mexico, and the area below the Gila River in Arizona, Southwestern United ...

tribes. In high school, he was a talented

wrestler Wrestling is a series of combat sports involving grappling-type techniques such as clinch fighting, throws and takedowns, joint locks, pins and other grappling holds. Wrestling techniques have been incorporated into martial arts, combat spo ...

and was also a captain of his football team, playing the inside linebacker position. He was introduced to mixed martial arts when he began training in

Brazilian jiu-jitsu Brazilian jiu-jitsu (BJJ; pt, jiu-jitsu brasileiro ) is a self-defence martial art and combat sport based on grappling, ground fighting ( ne-waza) and submission holds. BJJ focuses on the skill of taking an opponent to the ground, control ...

with his friend and professional mixed martial artist,

Dean Lister Dean Richard Lister (born February 13, 1976) is a retired American mixed martial artist. A professional from 2000 until 2015, he fought in the Ultimate Fighting Championship, PRIDE Fighting Championships, and California-based promotion King of ...

. Spiritwolf had known Lister since he was in middle school and both of them were fans of mixed martial arts, watching UFC fights together. Lister is also the godfather of Spiritwolf's son. Spiritwolf coaches wrestling at

Scripps Ranch High School Scripps Ranch High School (SRHS) is a public school located in northeast San Diego, California, United States, that serves the Scripps Ranch community as well as students participating in the Voluntary Enrollment Exchange Program (VEEP) busing pr ...

Mixed martial arts career

Early career

After competing for local events and King of the Cage, Spiritwolf was booked for the main card of the Ultimate Chaos pay-per-view. Prior to the bout, Spiritwolf accused his heavily-favored opponent Brett Cooper of looking ahead to his August 1 bout at Affliction: Trilogy. Spiritwolf was able to get the upset and knocked out Cooper in the first round. Spiritwolf also received a notable win over UFC veteran Crafton Wallace, before signing with Strikeforce in late-2010.

King of the Cage

In December 2008, Spiritwolf signed with

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

based promotion King of the Cage. He made his debut for the promotion on December 11, 2008, facing

Ricky Legere Ricky Legere (born December 21, 1985) is an American professional mixed martial artist currently competing in the Welterweight division. A professional competitor since 2007, Legere has formerly competed for Bellator MMA, Strikeforce, the RFA, ...

at KOTC: Prowler. Spiritwolf won the bout via second round TKO. In his second fight for the promotion, Spiritwolf faced

in a rematch at KOTC: Distorted on October 1, 2009, for the KOTC Welterweight Championship. He lost the bout via TKO. He then faced Ismael Gonzalez at KOTC: Arrival on February 25, 2010. The bout was ruled a technical draw, after Spiritwolf landed a punch to the back of the head, to which Gonzalez subsequently claimed that he couldn't see straight.

Strikeforce

Spiritwolf signed with Strikeforce to fight undefeated Billy Evangelista in a 165- Catchweight bout at Strikeforce Challengers: Bowling vs. Voelker. Spiritwolf started off the first round by knocking down Evangelista, and then landed another takedown, using the

ground and pound 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 strike (attack), striking, grappling and ground f ...

technique. Spiritwolf landed three more takedowns in the second round, but Evangelista seemed to have a better round, landing punches and more knees from the clinch. The 34-year-old Spiritwolf seemed to be tired during the third round as Evangelista landed combinations, but continued to hold his own, demonstrating his true heart by answering back with some big punches, and then slamming the undefeated Evangelista in the final ten seconds. However, Evangelista would remain undefeated as the judges scored the contest in favor of him, making Evangelista the winner via unanimous decision. Spiritwolf said after the fight he should have won. "I come to fight and that's what I did tonight," he said. "It is bad enough I thought I deserved the decision, but to not get a round on those scorecards is ridiculous. Honestly, I feel I got ripped off." Spiritwolf fought DREAM Welterweight Champion Marius Zaromskis at Strikeforce Challengers: Wilcox vs. Ribeiro. However, the bout was declared a no contest six seconds into the first round after Spiritwolf was accidentally poked in the eye.

Bellator

Spiritwolf made his debut for Bellator in March 2011. He faced Jaime Jara at

Bellator 35 2011 in Bellator MMA was the fourth installment of the Bellator Fighting Championships. Mixed martial arts tournaments were held in multiple weight classes, including three of the original tournament classes: Welterweight, Lightweight and Feath ...

and won the back-and-forth battle via split decision. Although the bout took place on the unaired preliminary portion of the card, Bellator CEO

Bjorn Rebney Bjorn Rebney is an American businessman who served as chairman and chief executive officer of Bellator MMA from 2008 until June 2014. Background Rebney attended Ohio University on a football scholarship and then attended law school. Rebney did ...

stated that fan interest to see the fight convinced him to air it during the following week's Bellator 36 airing on

MTV2 MTV2 (formerly M2) is an American pay television channel owned by the Paramount Media Networks division of Paramount Global. The channel launched initially as an all-music video service, once the original MTV had started to shift its programmin ...

. In his second fight for the promotion, Spiritwolf faced Marius Žaromskis in a rematch. Spiritwolf weighed in a pound and a half overweight and was forced to forfeit part of his purse. Once again, the contest between the two ended in controversy as the doctor stopped the fight between rounds two and three due to a cut suffered by Spiritwolf, giving Žaromskis the

TKO TKO may refer to: Sports * Technical knockout, a professional fighting term * Total Knock Out, a professional wrestling move Music Artists * TKO (band), a rock band from Seattle, Washington * TKO, a pop group led by Katie White Albums * ''TKO ...

win. Due to the controversial nature of this stoppage, Spiritwolf and Marius Žaromskis had a rematch - the third fight between the two - at

Bellator 72 2012 in Bellator MMA was the sixth installment of the Bellator Fighting Championships, which began on March 9, 2012. The sixth season of Bellator was originally scheduled to begin on March 2, 2012. However, the debut was pushed back a week so ...

. He lost the fight via split decision. Spiritwolf returned to the promotion on March 21, 2013 to face former UFC veteran Marcus Davis at Bellator 93. Unfortunately, the bout ended in a no contest when Davis hit Spiritwolf with a knee to the groin, in the first round and he could not continue.

Independent promotions

Spiritwolf faced Morten Djursaa at EUMMA 5 on April 19, 2013. He lost the bout via KO, less than a minute within the fight. He then got his first win since his Bellator debut, when he defeated James Chaney at Shinzo Fight Sport on August 16, 2013, via second round TKO. He faced independent prospect Max Griffin at TWC 19 on January 15, 2014. He lost the fight via split decision. Spiritwolf was expected to face Angel Deanda at Tachi Palace Fights 20 on August 7, 2014. However, the bout would be cancelled for unknown reasons.

Championships and accomplishments

*World Fighting Championships **WFC Welterweight Championship (One time)

Mixed martial arts record

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Max Griffin Max Griffin (born November 29, 1985) is an American professional mixed martial artist. Griffin currently competes in the Welterweight division for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). A professional competitor since 2009, Griffin has also ...

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References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Spiritwolf, Waachiim American male mixed martial artists Living people 1976 births Mixed martial artists from California Welterweight mixed martial artists Mixed martial artists utilizing wrestling Mixed martial artists utilizing Brazilian jiu-jitsu People from Fresno, California American male sport wrestlers Amateur wrestlers American practitioners of Brazilian jiu-jitsu Native American sportspeople