Dane Sayers

Dane Sayers
Born	Dane Sayers March 5, 1988 (1988-03-05) (age 23) Moorhead, Minnesota
Other names	"iit ka soo tah sii," (Red Horse)
Residence	West Fargo, North Dakota
Nationality	American
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Weight	155 lb (70 kg; 11.1 st)
Division	Lightweight
Reach	71.0 in (180 cm)
Style	Mixed Martial Arts Kung Fu
Fighting out of	West Fargo, North Dakota, United States
Team	Academy of Combat Arts, Fargo, North Dakota
Mixed martial arts record
Total	11
Wins	9
Losses	2
Other information
Website	www.facebook.com/MMA.redhorse
Mixed martial arts record from Sherdog

Dane Sayers is a Native American professional mixed martial artist who competes in the lightweight division. Sayers mostly competed in the regional circuit, before signing with the Ultimate Fighting Championships to appear on The Ultimate Fighter: Team GSP vs. Team Koscheck.

Early life

Growing up, Dane Sayers was always interested in martial arts, but his hometown of West Fargo, North Dakota didn't provide him with many training centers. Instead, Sayers took advantage of what sports were available to him at his high school. While attending West Fargo High School, Dane excelled in wrestling, track and field, and even played football on West Fargo's State Champion team.

Background

"Ethan Boyle began training Sayers in his basement and soon he was fighting professionally. After hurting his shoulder during a fight, however, Sayers had to take some time off in order to heal. Unable to train and earn money fighting, he temporarily took a position as a computer technician. While adjusting to his new lifestyle behind the computer screen, Sayers quickly put on additional weight and before he knew it was well over his normal fighting weight. But needing money, Sayers got back into the fight scene and, despite his rust he took a fight four week outs at 205lbs. against Shane DeZee. He was able to hone his skills at the Academy of Combat Arts to earn a first round submission victory by guillotine. Since that fight he has continued to train at the Academy of Combat Arts and has gradually been moving down weight classes, until settling on 155."

With six of his seven wins coming via first round submission, Sayers developed into a submission specialist from guillotine chokes, rear-naked chokes, and keylocks.

Proud of his Chippewa and Blackfoot Native American roots, Dane was given the Native American name, "iit ka soo tah sii," translated to "Red Horse" by Chief Earle Old Person of the Browning, Montana Blackfoot Nation.

Dane often wears red trunks in the cage along with his signature red mohawk.

Mixed Martial Arts career

Early career

A few years after graduation, at age 20, Sayers decided to train in martial arts and found a traditional Kung Fu school near his home. Learning the basics of Kung Fu at the dojo, Sayers started to train himself at a gym in the area. While working out on a punching bag, he was discovered by a local boxer, who then introduced him to mixed martial arts fighter Miguel Cooley. Rather impressed with Sayers raw talent and athleticism, Cooley introduced Sayers to his own MMA trainer, Ethan Boyle, who began his future on the road of mixed martial arts.

The Ultimate Fighter

Sayers became popular nationwide when he was featured on The Ultimate Fighter: Team GSP vs. Team Koscheck, eliminating Ariel Sexton (via submission) to move into the house. Coach George St. Pierre noted that though Sayers lacked in experience, he was the heaviest hitter of his team and had a good amount of potential. St Pierre also commented that he intended for Sayers to fight the last first round fight (Episode 7), using the time to make Sayers' skills better rounded. Sayers was set against Sako Chivitchian, and lost by unanimous decision (20-18, 20-18, 20-18). Though Chivitchian won in two rounds, many members of the Team GSP and viewers of the show felt that there should have been a third round. Opposing coach Josh Koscheck was shown telling Chivitchian that there would be a third round. It was shown that Chivitchian had grabbed the fence multiple times, but the referee did not penalize him with the usual point loss. Teammate Michael Johnson observed that had Chivitchian not grabbed the fence, Sayers would have had a take down and probably would have won the match. Many participants and coaches stated that they were surprised by Sayers' strong performance and expected him to take a wild card spot; St. Pierre was shown telling Sayers that he would fight for him.

On the same episode, controversy surrounded the wild card picks on the show when Marc Stevens was chosen for a spot despite Sayers' strong performance in his loss to Chivitchian. Prior to Sayers' match, Stevens quickly lost his match against Cody McKenzie in 17 seconds via submission to guillotine. It was stated by UFC President Dana White that Stevens was chosen because he had more potential and skill than he had been able to show. Many participants on the show, as well as viewers, felt that White had backtracked on his previous comments that he wanted to see them "fight their hearts out," in which case Sayers would have been an obvious pick. In an interview, Team GSP's Kyle Watson commented that "the criteria changed to the best chance to win over who fought hard." Coincidentally, Stevens went on to lose to fellow Team Koscheck member Aaron Wilkinson in the second round via submission to guillotine. For the rest of the season, Sayers mostly seen prepping Watson several times for his matches against Wilkinson and Jonathan Brookins.

Mixed martial arts record

Professional record breakdown
11 matches	9 wins	2 losses
By knockout	1	0
By submission	8	0
By decision	0	2
Draws	0

Result	Record	Opponent	Method	Event	Date	Round	Time	Location	Notes
Win	9-2	Andrew Urban	Submission (rear-naked choke)	Crowbar MMA - Rumble at the Greater Grand Forks Fair	02011-06-25 June 25, 2011	1	2:04	Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States
Loss	8-2	Marcus Levesseur	Decision (unanimous)	Seconds Out/Vivid MMA - Showdown at the Sheraton 1	02011-02-04 February 4, 2011	3	5:00	Bloomington, Minnesota, United States
Win	8-1	Wayne Hajicek	Submission (punches)	Crowbar MMA - Winter Brawl	02010-12-10 December 10, 2010	2	2:15	Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States
Loss	7-1	Indalecio Tat Romero	Decision (split)	Max Fights 8 - Elimination	02010-01-23 January 23, 2010	5	5:00	Fargo, North Dakota, United States	Championship Fight
Win	7-0	Tom Van Kley	Submission (guillotine choke)	Max Fights 7 - Proving Ground	02009-11-14 November 14, 2009	1	2:27	Fargo, North Dakota, United States	Championship Fight - Light Heavyweight
Win	6-0	Terence Joseph Medrud	Submission (keylock)	MF 6 - Max Fights 6	02009-08-29 August 29, 2009	1	2:55	Fargo, North Dakota, United States
Win	5-0	Dominick Oliver	Submission (rear-naked choke)	MF 5 - Max Fights 5	02009-05-30 May 30, 2009	1	3:18	Fargo, North Dakota, United States
Win	4-0	Shane DeZee	Submission (guillotine choke)	EB - Beatdown at 4 Bears 4	02009-03-21 March 21, 2009	1	1:12	New Town, North Dakota, United States
Win	3-0	James Miltenberger	TKO (punches)	EB - Beatdown at 4 Bears 3	02008-10-11 October 11, 2008	1	3:09	New Town, North Dakota, United States
Win	2-0	Travis McCullough	Submission (rear naked choke)	EB - Beatdown at 4 Bears 2	02008-05-10 May 10, 2008	1	2:39	New Town, North Dakota, United States
Win	1-0	Nick Thiele	Submission (rear naked choke)	MF 3-Max Fights 3	02008-04-26 April 26, 2008	2	1:38	Fargo, North Dakota, United States

Mixed martial arts exhibition record

Result	Record	Opponent	Method	Event	Date	Round	Time	Location	Notes
Lose	1-1	Sako Chivitchian	Decision (Unanimous)	The Ultimate Fighter: Team GSP vs. Team Koscheck		2	5:00	Las Vegas, Nevada	Preliminary bout
Win	1-0	Ariel Sexton	Submission (Standing Rear-Naked Choke)	The Ultimate Fighter: Team GSP vs. Team Koscheck		2		Las Vegas, Nevada	Elimination bout

References

http://www.ultimatefighter.com/fighter/dane-sayers http://www.facebook.com/MMA.RedHorse

External links

Professional MMA record for Dane Sayers from Sherdog

Persondata
Name	Sayers, Dane
Alternative names	Red Horse
Short description
Date of birth	year=1988
Place of birth	Moorhead, Minnesota
Date of death
Place of death