Chris Cope

Chris Cope
Born	Carmel Valley, California, United States
Other names	C-Murder
Residence	Carmel Valley, California
Nationality	American
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight	170 lb (77 kg; 12 st)
Division	Welterweight
Reach	73 in (185 cm)
Style	Kickboxing, Taekwondo
Fighting out of	San Diego, California
Team	The Arena/Arena MMA
Rank	black belt in Taekwondo
Years active	2007-present
Mixed martial arts record
Total	7
Wins	5
By knockout	2
By decision	3
Losses	2
By knockout	2
Mixed martial arts record from Sherdog

Chris Cope is an American mixed martial artist who competes in the welterweight division. A professional MMA competitor since 2007, Cope has made a name for himself fighting on the regional circuit in California. He was a competitor on The Ultimate Fighter: Team Lesnar vs. Team dos Santos. He is currently signed with the Ultimate Fighting Championships (UFC), fighting in their welterweight division. He has also fought for the UFC's sister promotion, Strikeforce.

Early life

Born and raised in Carmel Valley, California, Chris Cope began training karate at eight years of age before progressing into taekwondo and then kempo. While at Carmel High School, he added kickboxing to his game and began to fight on the local mixed martial arts circuit. Although not a star athlete, Cope was one of only four juniors to earn a spot on the 1999-2000 Carmel High varsity basketball team, which featured several future college players. He also played baseball all four years of high school.

In April of 2000, Cope participated in a week-long trip to the California high desert at Anza Borrego and Joshua Tree. This trip, which combined intense physical training with deep spiritual reflection, was to have a profound effect on Cope's athletic and philosophical development.

Following high school, Cope graduated from the University of California at Santa Barbara where he earned a degree in Sociology. ^[1]

Mixed Martial Arts

Early career

He fought on the amateur circuit and earned the International Kickboxing Federation California cruiserweight title in 2004. Soon after, Cope committed himself to further developing his mixed martial arts repertoire and began grappling with jiu-jitsu expert Jeff Glover to further round out his overall skills.

Upon completion of his courses in 2005, Cope joined AKA MMA and trained with the likes of Josh Koscheck, Phil Baroni and Mike Swick. Three months later he drove south to San Diego and began training with KJ Noons and Tyrone Glover and, shortly after, turned pro where he has amassed a 4-1 overall record.

The self-proclaimed gym rat has settled into Arena MMA after bouncing around several gyms in California. Cope currently works at a local San Diego law firm but still manages to train two times a day, six days a week.

The Ultimate Fighter

Cope had signed with the UFC in 2011 to compete on the The Ultimate Fighter: Team Lesnar vs. Team dos Santos.

Cope was the fifth pick on Team Lesnar and tenth overall. dos Santos had selected Cope to face the heavy favorite, Javier Torres, for the second preliminary bout. After a three round battle, Cope was declared the winner by unanimous decision.^[2]

Cope's quarter-final match was against Team dos Santos' Shamar Bailey. Cope defeated Bailey after two rounds via unanimous decision. Cope showed good takedown defense along with immediately following his corner's advice throughout the fight.

In the semifinals Cope was defeated by Ramsey Nijem via TKO in the second round, knocking him out of the tournament.

Ultimate Fighting Championship

Even though he lost in the semifinals, Cope remained signed after the show. He made his official UFC debut June 4, 2011 on The Ultimate Fighter 13 Finale card, fighting against fellow semifinalist and teammate, Chuck O'Neil.^[3] He won the fight via unanimous decision.

Cope faced promotional newcomer Che Mills on November 5, 2011 at UFC 138.^[4] He lost the fight via TKO in the first round.

Mixed martial arts record

Professional record breakdown
7 matches	5 wins	2 losses
By knockout	2	2
By submission	0	0
By decision	3	0

Result	Record	Opponent	Method	Event	Date	Round	Time	Location	Notes
Loss	5-2	Che Mills	TKO (knees and punches)	UFC 138	02011-11-05 November 5, 2011	1	0:40	Birmingham, England, United Kingdom
Win	5-1	Chuck O'Neil	Decision (unanimous)	The Ultimate Fighter 13 Finale	02011-06-04 June 4, 2011	3	5:00	Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Win	4-1	Ron Keslar	TKO (head kick and punches)	Strikeforce: Fedor vs. Werdum	02010-06-26 June 26, 2010	2	4:32	San Jose, California, United States
Loss	3-1	Josh Samman	KO (punches)	Moon Management: Ubersmash 2	02010-01-23 January 23, 2010	1	N/A	Tallahassee, Florida, United States
Win	3-0	Armando Montoya Jr.	KO (head kick)	SBP: Boxing at the Beach	02009-07-17 July 17, 2009	2	N/A	Redondo Beach, California, United States
Win	2-0	Marcos Gonzalez	Decision (unanimous)	Battle in the Ballroom	02009-03-07 March 7, 2009	3	5:00	Irvine, California, United States
Win	1-0	Jermaine Wilson	Decision (unanimous)	TC 24: War in the Armory	02007-11-04 November 4, 2007	3	N/A	Oceanside, California, United States

References

1. ^ http://www.ultimatefighter.com/fighter/chris-cope
2. ^ http://mmajunkie.com/news/23142/team-lesnar-blog-chris-cope-on-the-ultimate-fighter-13-episode-no-2.mma
3. ^ http://mmajunkie.com/news/23823/tuf-13-finale-main-card-gets-nijem-vs-ferguson-cope-vs-oneil.mma
4. ^ "As the UK Turns, the Wheel Lands on UFC 138 for Che Mills; He’ll Fight Chris Cope". mmaweekly.com. August 1, 2011. http://mmaweekly.com/as-the-uk-turns-the-wheel-lands-on-ufc-138-for-che-mills-hell-fight-chris-cope. Retrieved August 1, 2011. 

External links

• Official UFC Profile

Persondata
Name	Cope, Chris
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth
Place of birth	Carmel Valley, California, United States
Date of death
Place of death