Guy Mezger
Born January 1, 1968 in Houston, Texas, Guy Mezger started in the UFC with the Lion's Den guys who trained under Ken Shamrock. I consider Guy Mezger to be a legend of the sport because he's been around since the early days of MMA and has fought top-notch competition throughout his lengthy career. He achieved success in several different combat sports including kickboxing, full-contact karate, and boxing. However, Guy Mezger is best know for building a very impressive MMA record against world-class fighters.
Mezger has trained with many of the worlds top martial artists and instructors. He has trained Judo under Vince Tamura, wrestling under Willie Thompson, kickboxing under Billy "Jack" Jackson, and Ken Shamrock for submissions, pancrase, and MMA.
Guy is also known for his long running feud with Tito Ortiz, of which there was even a documentary movie made called "Relentless: The Tito Ortiz / Guy Mezger Bloodfeud".
He holds wins in MMA over great competitors such as Tito Ortiz, Yuki Kondo, and Egan Inoue. Other great fighters he has faced include Bas Rutten, Semmy Schilt, Yuki Kondo, Wanderlei Silva, Akira Shoji, Chuck Liddell, and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.
Guy Mezger is the author of a book titled The Complete Idiot's Guide to Kickboxing
Guy Mezger first competed in the UFC at UFC 4: Revenge of the Warriors where he fought Jason Fairn as an alternate. This was the early days of the UFC, with far less rules than we have today. There were no weight classes, gloves or time limits. Prior to the fight, Mezger and Jason Fairn made a 'gentlemen's agreement' not to pull each others hair due because they both had long hair. During the fight, Fairn knocked down Mezger with a punch, but Mezger was able to get up and score a takedown, then mounted Fairn and landed a flurry of strikes that ended the fight when Fairn's cornerman Patrick Smith threw in the towel.
Mezger fought again in UFC 5 against John Dowdy, winning the fight by TKO in ljust over two minutes by mounting him and landing repeated strikes. Mezger returned at UFC 13: Ultimate Force to compete in the Lightweight Tournament, which was at the time 200lbs and under. In his first fight of the tournament, Mezger's opponent was Judo fighter Christophe Leninger. Mezger dominated the fight and won by decision. In the tournament championship round, Guy Mezger fought Tito Ortiz. Mezger shot in for a takedown attempt and Tito was able to counter and land several knees to Mezger's head. Some people thought it looked like Mezger tapped out, but referee John McCarthy said Mezger was just trying to block the knee strikes and his hand went down as Ortiz shifted his weight. The fight was stopped to let the doctor check for cuts. At the time, the announcers and Tito Ortiz thought that the fight had ended, but the Mezger was cleared to continue the fight and the bout was restarted on the feet. Tito Ortiz shot in for another takedown, and this time Guy Mezger was able to sink a Guillotine Choke that forced Tito to submit.
Mezger's last fight in the UFC was a rematch with Tito at UFC 19: Young Guns. Tito Ortiz won the rematch at the 9:55 mark by referee stoppage. After the fight Tito wore a shirt that was insulted Mezger (it said "Gay Mezger Is My Bitch") and provoked an immediate reaction from Ken Shamrock, Mezger's trainer. During the next few years, Guy Mezger requested a rematch with Tito several times and in 2004 he was given a chance to fight Tito again at UFC 50 but the week of the fight, Mezger was taken to a hospital with "stroke like symptoms" and had to be removed from the fight card.
On January 25, 2005, Guy Mezger retired from fighting.
Guy Mezger now runs the Lion's Den Dallas mixed martial arts school and "Guy Mezger's Combat Club." During his career, Guy held 5 world titles including the Ultimate Fighting Championship and King Of Pancrase 3 times. He has received awards such as the 1997 Children's Martial Arts Instructor of The Year, and 2001 Martial Arts Instructor of The Year.
Mezger has recently taken a job with Mark Cuban's new HDnet Fights MMA organization as Commissioner/President. His job duties involve developing new talent and securing promotional partners for HDnet's Friday Night Fights.