Jens Pulver

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fightstyle=Wrestling, boxing
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mmalosses=9
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submissions=3
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Jens Johnnie "Lil Evil" Pulver (born December 6, 1974 in Sunnyside, Washington) is an American mixed martial artist (MMA). He was the first Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) lightweight champion, and was a coach on the "The Ultimate Fighter 5" reality show, which aired on Spike TV. He is currently signed as a featherweight with World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC), which is owned by Zuffa (the parent company of the UFC).

Biography

The son of a licensed horse jockey, Pulver grew up in a five-bedroom, two-story rambler in Maple Valley, Washington (approximately one half hour drive from Seattle). He was the oldest of four children (two brothers, Dustin and Abel, and one sister, Jamaica). Pulver has heterochromia, a harmless medical condition that gives eyes different colors; in Pulver's case his right eye is blue, while his left eye is brown.

Pulver was raised in what he referred to as a "daily hell." His childhood house was one of continual violence and abuse, stemming mostly from his alcoholic father. Many examples of the abuse Pulver faced as a youth are depicted in his autobiography, "Little Evil, One Ultimate Fighter’s Rise to the Top", the most extreme of which include an incident where his father threatened the then-seven-year-old Jens by placing a gun in Pulver’s mouth and then removing it, stating, “you aren’t worth the bullets.”

Pulver is the subject of the book "NEVER" by Timothy McKinnon, which discusses his lifelong struggles and successes with depression, family, and religion, all of which are inextricably entwined with his career as a professional MMA fighter.

Martial arts background

The summer before he entered sixth grade, Pulver was introduced to a friend of the family, Jack Vantress. Vantress encouraged Pulver to join a youth wrestling program. He went on to wrestle at Tahoma High School [http://www.leaguelineup.com/welcome.asp?url=bigbearwrestling] in Maple Valley, earning two state championships. Pulver wrestled for Highline Community College where he became an NAIA All-American by placing in the top eight at the NAIA National Championships. He then wrestled for Boise State University, before an injury (bilateral fracture of the wrists) eventually ended his amateur wrestling career. Pulver eventually graduated from BSU with a degree in criminal justice.

While in college, Pulver's interests shifted from wrestling to mixed martial arts. He found early success fighting in unsanctioned “underground” events, before befriending Lowell Anderson, the owner of a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) academy ninety miles north of Boise, Idaho. Lowell got Pulver involved in sanctioned MMA events, namely the Bas Rutten Invitational in April 1999. Pulver won one match, then lost the second due to his lack of martial arts training. He fought again in the third incarnation of the Bas Rutten Invitational, winning both his fights and impressing then-UFC matchmaker, John Perretti.

During his early MMA career, Pulver trained with the Shamrock 2000 team, but eventually found his home with the Miletich Fighting Systems, a prolific group that then included former UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes and former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia.

Professional career

Pulver began competing in the UFC in September 1999. He fought four times in the UFC before gaining a title shot against top ranked Japanese Fighter Caol Uno in February 2001. Pulver won the title by unanimous decision, becoming the first UFC World Lightweight Champion. He defended his title twice (against Dennis Hallman and B.J. Penn) before leaving the organization due to contractual problems. Pulver became famous for his combination of defensive wrestling and boxing strategies colloquially called “sprawl and brawl” in MMA circles.

Pulver vs. Hallman

Pulver’s first title defense came against Dennis Hallman (best known for his two wins against former UFC Welterweight Champion Matt Hughes).

Following a second win over Hughes, Hallman dropped down a weight class and fought Pulver for the Lightweight Championship in September 2001. Pulver and Hallman had both wrestled in the same state (Washington) in high school. In pre-fight interviews, Hallman claimed to personally know and dislike Pulver, but Pulver denied any personal relationship, instead asserting that he only knew Hallman as a fellow state high school wrestling champion.

During the fight, Hallman secured an armbar on Pulver, but Pulver countered the technique and later landed a left hook flush on Hallman's chin. Hallman fought passively for the remainder of the fight, seemingly unable to recover completely from that blow, and Pulver eventually won by unanimous decision.

Pulver vs. Penn

Pulver’s second title defense came against B.J. Penn. Before his transition to mixed martial arts, Penn was the most highly decorated Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner in America and the first American-born to win the World Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Championship (Mundials).

Upon his impressive debut against wrestler Joey Gilbert (a first round TKO), Penn rose quickly through the rankings. Penn, already known for his grappling, quickly stunned the MMA community by showcasing incredible striking skills; quickly knocking out highly regarded Din Thomas, then knocking out Caol Uno within eleven seconds of the first round. Heading into the fight with Pulver, Penn had never fought longer than the first round. The speed in which Penn was defeating opponents had many MMA journalists saying he was unbeatable.

Pulver’s performance in the fight is considered the high point of his career. Penn pressed the action early; taking Pulver to the mat numerous times, achieving a full mount on him twice in the second round, and securing a straight armbar, completely hyper-extending Pulver’s arm as the seconds ticked off the clock ending the second round.

Pulver battled back in the third round, successfully defending Penn’s attempts to take him to the ground, and even scoring defensive takedowns on Penn. Pulver frustrated Penn with nothing more than sheer will power, not only winning the later rounds, but out-grappling the world-renowned Penn. In the fifth round, Penn, frustrated and down on points, chose to stand and trade with Pulver. For the entire five minutes of the fifth round the two stood toe to toe exchanging strikes. With 45 seconds left in the round, a left hand from Pulver staggered Penn, who looked in trouble. However, Penn countered with a right kick straight to the groin, resulting in a 50 second time-out. Although the time-out gave Penn time to recover, when the bout was restarted, Pulver staggered him a second time with 20 seconds remaining. However, the round drew to a conclusion and the fight went into the judges' hands.

Pulver won the fight via majority decision. Breaking into tears during the post-fight interview, Pulver shouted, “On the ground again!...I’ve been beat on my whole life, this is nothing.”

Leaving the UFC

After leaving the UFC Pulver's career slumped slightly with two consecutive losses. He regained his winning ways by dropping down a weight class (to 145 lb). Along the same time, Pulver also began competing as a professional boxer, winning all four of his fights in 2004, including a fight on the nationally syndicated USA network. [http://boxrec.com/boxer_display.php?boxer_id=256828] During this time Pulver fought in various other MMA promotions, including Shooto, PRIDE, and the IFL, as well as one match in the Shootboxing kickboxing promotion, where he defeated 2004 Sanda champion Dai Chang Liang. After this match, Pulver moved back up to the lightweight division in December 2004 in the PRIDE Fighting Championships.

PRIDE

His first match in PRIDE was against current-PRIDE lightweight (160 lb) champion Takanori Gomi. Though he would lose this fight, his toughness and striking ability were immediately apparent to both the fans and the promoters. This led to a match against Tomomi Iwama, which he dominated by knocking out his opponent one minute into the fight with a single left hook.

He then faced Japanese star Hayato Sakurai, who would go on to win in a fast paced see-saw affair that showcased both the toughness and heart of Pulver, and the experience and technicality of Sakurai. During the fight, Pulver was accidentally thumbed in the eye by Sakurai, which left a corneal abrasion on his eye. During the fight Pulver can be seen repeatedly rubbing his eye and wincing in pain. Despite being temporarily blinded in one eye, Pulver nearly knocked out Sakurai with a left hook in the latter part of the first round. Sakurai eventually won by TKO 8:56 into the fight.

His final fight in PRIDE, against Kenji Arai, was an entertaining battle of strikers which ended when Pulver knocked Arai down with a right-left combination, and finished him with a soccer kick to the head, earning the TKO.

Return to the UFC

At "UFC 63" Pulver returned to the Ultimate Fighting Championship in the newly reinstated lightweight division. He was matched up against UFC-newcomer Joe Lauzon. Pulver was a 7:1 favorite to win the match, but Lauzon quickly defeated the former Lightweight Champion by knockout at the 48-second mark of the first round. After the fight, Pulver apologized for his performance, and indicated that he still desired to make his UFC comeback.

Pulver was a coach on "The Ultimate Fighter 5" reality television show, which hosted sixteen lightweight fighters, including Joe Lauzon. His counterpart on the show, and rival coach, was B.J. Penn. The two coaches were scheduled to fight in the season finale, in which Pulver was defeated by a rear naked choke in the second round. After the fight, Pulver announced his intentions to drop down to featherweight and fight in the WEC.

WEC

On July 17, 2007, it was announced Pulver would be making his World Extreme Cagefighting debut against Cub Swanson at "WEC 30" on September 5, 2007. [ [http://www.thefightnetwork.com/news_detail.php?nid=4330 The Fight Network :: ALL FIGHTS ALL THE TIME :: Get it on! ] ] Pulver had to pull out of the match with Cub Swanson due to a knee injury.cite web
url=http://sports.yahoo.com/mma/news;_ylt=Am5Tb5s9gvRLZErFPpMNZms9Eo14?slug=ki-102407pulver&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
title= Pulver a fighter and survivor
last=Iole
first=Kevin
publisher=Yahoo! Sports
date=October 24, 2007
accessdate=2007-10-24] The fight was subsequently rescheduled for the December 12th World Extreme Cagefighting card. Pulver won the rescheduled match by anaconda choke at 35 seconds of the first round and announced his intentions to make a run for the 145 lb title which Urijah Faber currently held and had defended successfully against Jeff Curran on the same card. [http://www.sherdog.com/news/news.asp?n_id=10346]

Pulver vs. Faber

Pulver and Faber met at WEC 34 on June 1, 2008. In a constant back-and-forth battle, neither man was able to finish the other and the fight went the full five rounds. The judges scored the bout a unanimous decision for Faber, 50-45, 50-44 and 50-44. This fight marked both the first time that one of Pulver's fights at featherweight had gone to decision, the first time Pulver had been defeated at that weight class, and also the first time one of Faber's fights in the WEC had gone the distance. Pulver stated after the fight that he wants another shot at the title, but wants "to earn it".

He will next meet Leonard Garcia at WEC 36 on November 5th after the original date of September 10 was postponed due to the threat of Hurricane Ike [http://mmajunkie.com/news/4858/leonard-garcia-agrees-to-sept-10-bout-with-jens-pulver.mma]

Personal life

Jens has a four year old daughter named Madeline, [ [http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/sports/abox/article_1740815.php Now that I sit back and have a beautiful girl that's 4 years old I constantly wonder how you could do that. I could never do that] ] and is engaged to his longtime girlfriend Kannika. [ [http://www.jenspulver.com/?q=node/66 I hang with my daughter, I spend a lot of time with my fiancée Kannika — we’re getting married soon — and I just try to be a family guy.] ] Though Kannika recently had a threatened miscarriage scare, she is now healthy and the couple are expecting their first child, a son that will be named Karson. [ [Stated by Pulver in the post fight interview after the Urijah Faber fight.] ] [ [http://www.sacbee.com/placer/story/981344.html Pulver became emotional during the postfight news conference while talking about his fiancee, who is pregnant] ]

Jens is an avid PC gamer, who has played World of Warcraft and Call of Duty 4. He recently appeared on the December 7th episode of the PC Gamer Podcast.

Championships

*First UFC Lightweight Champion

MMA record

=Amateur MMA record="Statistics taken from http://fcfighter.brinkster.net"

3 wins, 1 losses

Books

*Pulver, Jens and Krauss, Erich (2003) "Little Evil, One Ultimate Fighter’s Rise to the Top", ECW Press

ee also

*List of male mixed martial artists
*List mixed martial artists who did Pro Boxing

References

External links

* [http://www.jenspulver.com/ Jens Pulver official website]
*Sherdog|id=228|name=Jens Pulver