Heath Herring
 |
Name | Heath Herring |
| Nickname | The Texas Crazy Horse | |
| Association | Las Vegas Combat Club, Xtreme Couture | |
| Weight Class | Heavyweight (250 lbs.) | |
| Height | 6' 4" (193 cm) | |
| Style | Wrestling, Sambo, Kickboxing | |
| Birth Date | March 2, 1978 | |
| Fighting Out Of | Las Vegas, Nevada, USA | |
| Country | USA | |
| Heath Herring Pictures | Herring's Official Site |
Heath "The Texas Crazy Horse" Herring is an American Heavyweight mixed martial artist who attained popularity fighting for PRIDE FC in Japan and now fights in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He is primarily known for fighting the world's top Heavyweight talent, such as Fedor Emelianenko, Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, and others.
Contents |
Professional Record
| Record | 28 - 14 - 0 (Win – Loss – Draw) (1 NC) |
| Wins | 7 (T)KOs 16 Submissions 4 Decisions 1 Other |
| Losses | 4 (T)KOs 1 Submissions 8 Decisions 1 Other |
| Result | Opponent | Method | Event Title | Date | Round | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loss | Brock Lesnar | Decision (Unanimous) | UFC 87: Seek and Destroy | 8/09/2008 | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Win | Cheick Kongo | Decision (Split) | UFC 82: Pride of a Champion | 3/01/2008 | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Loss | Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira | Decision (Unanimous) | UFC 73: Stacked | 7/07/2007 | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Win | Brad Imes | Decision (Unanimous) | UFC 69: Shootout | 4/07/2007 | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Loss | Jake O'Brien | Decision (Unanimous) | UFC Fight Night 8: Evans vs. Salmon | 1/25/2007 | 3 | 5:00 | UFC debut |
| Win | Gary Goodridge | TKO (Punches) | K-1: Hero's 4 | 3/15/2006 | 2 | 1:55 | |
| NC | Yoshihiro Nakao | No Contest | K-1: Premium 2005 Dynamite!! | 12/31/2005 | 1 | 0:00 | Herring knocked Nakao out after Nakao kissed him |
| Loss | Sam Greco | TKO (Knee Injury) | K-1: Hero's 1 | 3/26/2005 | 1 | 2:24 | |
| Win | Hirotaka Yokoi | KO (Knees) | PRIDE 28: High Octane | 10/31/2004 | 1 | 1:55 | |
| Loss | Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira | Submission (Anaconda Choke) | PRIDE: Critical Countdown 2004 | 6/20/2004 | 2 | 0:30 | |
| Win | Kazuo Takahashi | TKO (Punches) | PRIDE: Total Elimination 2004 | 4/25/2004 | 1 | 4:53 | |
| Win | Gan McGee | Decision (Split) | PRIDE 27: Inferno | 2/01/2004 | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Win | Paulo Cesar Silva | Submission (Rear Naked Choke) | PRIDE: Shockwave 2003 | 12/31/2003 | 3 | 0:35 | |
| Win | Yoshihisa Yamamoto | Submission (Rear Naked Choke) | PRIDE: Final Conflict 2003 | 11/09/2003 | 3 | 2:29 | |
| Loss | Mirko Filipovic | TKO (Kick to the Body and Punches) | PRIDE 26: Bad to the Bone | 6/08/2003 | 1 | 3:17 | |
| Loss | Fedor Emelianenko | TKO (Cut) | PRIDE 23: Championship Chaos 2 | 11/24/2002 | 1 | 10:00 | |
| Win | Iouri Kotchkine | TKO (Knees) | PRIDE 22: Beasts from the East 2 | 9/29/2002 | 1 | 7:31 | |
| Win | Igor Vovchanchyn | Decision (Unanimous) | PRIDE 19: Bad Blood | 2/24/2002 | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Loss | Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira | Decision (Unanimous) | PRIDE 17: Championship Chaos | 11/03/2001 | 3 | 5:00 | For first PRIDE Heavyweight Championship |
| Win | Mark Kerr | TKO (Knees) | PRIDE 15: Raging Rumble | 7/29/2001 | 2 | 4:56 | |
| Loss | Vitor Belfort | Decision (Unanimous) | PRIDE 14: Clash of the Titans | 5/27/2001 | 3 | 5:00 | |
| Win | Denis Sobolev | Submission (Keylock) | PRIDE 13: Collision Course | 3/25/2001 | 1 | 0:22 | |
| Win | Enson Inoue | TKO (Knees) | PRIDE 12: Cold Fury | 12/09/2000 | 1 | 4:52 | |
| Win | Tom Erikson | Submission (Rear Naked Choke) | PRIDE 11: Battle of the Rising Sun | 10/31/2000 | 1 | 6:17 | |
| Win | Willie Peeters | Submission (Rear Naked Choke) | PRIDE 9: New Blood | 6/04/2000 | 1 | 0:48 | |
| Loss | Ramazan Mezhidov | TKO (Cut) | IAFC: Pankration World Championship 2000 (Day 2) | 4/29/2000 | 1 | 4:55 | |
| Win | Rene Rooze | DQ (Excessive Fouling) | 2H2H 1: 2 Hot 2 Handle | 3/05/2000 | 1 | 3:20 | |
| Win | Bob Schrijber | TKO (Punches) | WVC 9: World Vale Tudo Championship 9 | 9/27/1999 | 1 | 2:19 | Won WVC 9 Tournament |
| Win | Sean McCully | Submission (Kimura) | WVC 9: World Vale Tudo Championship 9 | 9/27/1999 | 1 | 0:43 | |
| Win | Michael Tielrooy | Submission (Keylock) | WVC 9: World Vale Tudo Championship 9 | 9/27/1999 | 1 | 1:14 | |
| Loss | Bobby Hoffman | Decision (Unanimous) | SB 13: SuperBrawl 13 | 9/07/1999 | 2 | 5:00 | |
| Win | Rocky Batastini | Submission (Rear Naked Choke) | SB 13: SuperBrawl 13 | 9/07/1999 | 1 | 1:00 | |
| Loss | Alexandre Ferreira | Decision | WVC 8: World Vale Tudo Championship 8 | 7/01/1999 | 1 | 30:00 | For WVC 8 Tournament Final |
| Win | Kavkaz Sultanmagomedov | Submission (Punches) | WVC 8: World Vale Tudo Championship 8 | 7/01/1999 | 1 | 1:18 | |
| Win | Erwin van den Steen | Submission (Punches) | WVC 8: World Vale Tudo Championship 8 | 7/01/1999 | 1 | 4:33 | |
| Win | Gabe Beauperthy | Submission (Armlock) | BRI 3: Bas Rutten Invitational 3 | 6/01/1999 | 1 | 4:43 | |
| Win | Hoss Carter | Submission (Keylock) | BRI 3: Bas Rutten Invitational 3 | 6/01/1999 | 1 | 1:07 | |
| Loss | Travis Fulton | Decision | EC 24: Extreme Challenge 24 | 5/15/1999 | 1 | 12:00 | |
| Win | Phil Deason | Submission (Keylock) | WVF: Durango | 4/17/1999 | 1 | 0:13 | |
| Win | Nik Bickle | Submission (Strikes) | WVF: Durango | 4/17/1999 | 1 | 0:32 | |
| Win | Evan Tanner | Submission (Rear Naked Choke) | PSDA: PSDA | 11/22/1997 | 1 | 8:20 | Avenged first career loss |
| Loss | Evan Tanner | Verbal Submission (Exhaustion) | USWF 7: Unified Shoot Wrestling Federation 7 | 10/18/1997 | 1 | 6:19 | For USWF Heavyweight Championship |
| Win | Chris Guillen | Submission (Rear Naked Choke) | USWF 4: Unified Shoot Wrestling Federation 4 | 4/12/1997 | 1 | 2:10 | |
Mixed Martial Arts Career
Herring is an MMA fighter who practices Sambo and Muay Thai. He currently lives in Las Vegas and trains at Warrior Training Center under the Dutch Kickboxing/Muay Thai legend Rob Kaman.
Herring is known for unique hairstyles and colors as well as wearing a cowboy hat and duster coat to the ring. His appearance is very popular among the Japanese crowd. According to commentary during his PRIDE Shockwave '03 fight against Giant Silva, he wears contact lenses.
PRIDE Fighting Championship
Herring is a long time veteran in PRIDE, where he participated in 17 fights. He took part in the first Heavyweight title fight against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, where he lost by unanimous decision. Despite his earlier championship loss to Rodrigo Nogueira he was widely considered the number one contender until his first round loss to Fedor Emelianenko. His most notable wins are over Evan Tanner, Igor Vovchanchyn, Mark Kerr, and Cheick Kongo.
He parted ways with PRIDE in late 2004 because of management and payment disputes.
New Year's Eve Kiss
Herring was involved in a memorable MMA moment on December 31, 2005 during K-1's Dynamite 2005 show. During the pre-fight staredown, his opponent, Yoshihiro Nakao, leaned in and kissed him on the lips. Herring reacted, delivering a right hook to the jaw of Nakao, knocking him out cold. Herring was immediately disqualified and Nakao was carried from the ring. Shortly thereafter, Nakao's cornermen attacked Herring and a brief melee ensued. The fight result has since been changed by K-1 from a disqualification loss for Herring to a no contest, as K-1 judges ruled that Nakao's kiss and Herring's subsequent knockout punch were both fouls.
Transition to the UFC
Herring was long suspected to be an acquisition of the UFC's purchase of the World Fighting Alliance. Herring had signed a contract with the WFA in 2006, and it was soon confirmed that he had become integrated into the UFC roster following the WFA buyout. He lost to Jake O'Brien via unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night 8: Evans vs. Salmon in his UFC debut.
On Saturday, April 7, 2007, at UFC 69 Heath faced off against The Ultimate Fighter 2 Heavyweight finalist Brad Imes. Herring won the match by unanimous decision after 3 rounds.
At UFC 73, Herring lost via unanimous decision to Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, but not before he landed a left high kick to Nogueira's head late in the first round. Nogueira was sent to the ground, visibly stunned, but Herring did not engage him and attempt to finish the fight, opting to stand up shortly after the kick and beckoned Nogueira to stand as well. The referee motioned Noguiera to stand up after the brief flurry on the ground, giving Herring the advantage but Herring was not able to finish the fight in the first round. Nogueira then controlled the action for the next two rounds with Herring backing away constantly.
At UFC 82 Heath put on what many believe was his best performance to date in the octagon, winning a three round split-decision against rising contender Cheick Kongo, the fight surprised many by taking place mostly on the ground, while both are considered strikers, they both showed vastly improving ground game. After the fight Heath said he wasn't happy with the fight, he wanted to give the fans a stand-up fight and Kongo refused to stand with him. Herring also said after the fight that he did not even train at all for the ground game.
Herring fought Brock Lesnar at UFC 87 after Mark Coleman was forced to withdraw due to a knee injury. The fight went the full 3 rounds and Lesnar was declared winner by unanimous decision. Herring was seen struggling with the larger, physically more dominant opponent, and was knocked down early in the first round with a straight right. According to Heath Herring's official Facebook profile in a note titled "6 Months To Rest", Herring is said to have suffered a broken orbital bone from the first punch of the fight and was expected to be out of action for six months.
Herring was expected to make his return to the Octagon on June 13, 2009 at UFC 99: The Comeback, where he was supposed to fight rising star Cain Velasquez, but an injury forced him off the fight card.
Film Career
Heath Herring is set to star in Never Surrender, to be released Lions Gate Entertainment in 2009.
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