Ronnie Mann

Ronnie Mann (born 12 October 1986) is an English professional mixed martial artist who competes in the featherweight division.

A professional MMA competitor since 2003, Mann has mostly fought in England and Japan.

( His Mothers Maiden Name was Promlert (THAI) Mann's professional mixed martial arts career began in November 2003 with a win over Andy Dicks. A few months later, Mann made his Shooto debut, at Shooto Holland where he won via triangle choke after 56 seconds. Staying in Holland, Mann won a further fight, knocking his opponent out in under two minutes. Mann then recorded five successive submission victories.

In mid-2006, Mann signed with top domestic organisation, Cage Rage and made his promotional debut at the Cage Rage: Contenders 1 event against Ashleigh Grimshaw.

Mann later stated that the fight was one of his toughest, especially after being hit with an early low blow.

The organisation, at the time, adopted the "open guard rule," allowing fighters to stomp on each other.

At the end of the third round, the fight was declared a draw, despite Mann feeling that he had the better of the fight, after a knockdown in the first round and a triangle choke attempt in the second round.

Mann later joined the Cage Gladiators promotion in England and made his promotional debut at Cage Gladiators 2, against Denas Banevicius, winning via submission (strikes) at 1:42 of the first round.

Three months later, Mann returned at Cage Gladiators 3, defeating Chris Freeborn via submission (triangle choke) at 2:46 of the first round.

At Cage Rage 20, in a rematch with Ashleigh Grimshaw, whom Mann had earlier drawn with, Mann controlled the stand-up and the top position on the floor.

Towards the end of the fight, Grimshaw attempted a comeback, utilising ground-and-pound offense, though Mann was declared the winner via unanimous decision after three rounds.

Mann's next fight (and third in the Cage Rage organisation) was against top domestic prospect, Robbie Olivier.

The fight saw both fighters neutralise the other's ground game.

In the stand-up, Mann was regarded as being unusually tentative, which gave Olivier the opportunity to take him to the floor, where again, neither fighter was able to advance position or do anything of note.

After three rounds, Olivier was declared the winner via unanimous decision.

At Cage Rage 24, Mann faced Jordan Miller, who took the fight at short notice.

Mann was able to take Miller down almost immediately in the fight and took a rear naked choke.

Mann dominated from that point and soon after, transitioned to a triangle choke after just 53 seconds of the first round.

After this, Cage Rage became defunct and Mann re-joined Cage Gladiators, immediately competing against Frederic Fernandez for the Cage Gladiators World Featherweight Championship at the Cage Gladiators 6 event.

Mann was able to utilise his wrestling skills again, dominating the takedowns, neutralising his opponent.

Mann was able to take the unanimous decision after effective striking, leading Sherdog to once again label him "a star in the making."

Mann was then scheduled to face future World Extreme Cagefighting standout Brad Pickett, though the fight was later cancelled after Pickett suffered a broken arm defending a high kick.

Mann instead took a fight in Croatia, defeating Ivica Djebic via TKO (injury).

Returning to Cage Gladiators at the Cage Gladiators 8 event, Mann defeated Steve McCombe via submission (choke) in the first round.

Mann then signed with Sengoku Raiden Championship in Japan, to participate in their Featherweight Grand Prix.

In the opening round, Mann faced Tetsuya Yamada and defeated him via unanimous decision (30–29, 30–29, 30–29).

During the first round of the fight, Mann was able to land powerful punches, before falling into a deep kneebar attempt from Yamada.

After escaping, Mann was able to gain top position to end the first round.

The second round saw Yamada attempt a standing Kimura, which was fought off by Mann, who was later able to take down Yamada twice, whilst fighting off a second kimura attempt.

The final round saw poor kickboxing attempts by Yamada, which was countered by two takedowns.

Finally, Mann looked to utilise an ankle lock, which was reversed into another kneebar by Yamada.

After the third round ended, Mann was declared the winner via decision.

In the quarter-finals of the tournament, Mann faced early tournament favourite, Hatsu Hioki who had previously defeated World Extreme Cagefighting veteran Chris Manuel.

Mann is a veteran of the former top English organisation Cage Rage Championships and was a quarter-finalist in the Sengoku Featherweight Grand Prix in 2009, losing to Hatsu Hioki.

Mann is also the current Shark Fights Featherweight champion, after defeating Doug Evans in September 2010.

Mann grew up in Cheltenham, England.

Mann also idolised Marco Ruas and Royce Gracie as a youngster after being introduced to the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Mann began taking Muay Thai lessons at the age of 11 and participated in jiu-jitsu and kickboxing tournaments at the age of 13.

Mann competed in his first amateur fight at the age of 16 and turned professional a year later.

In Japan, he fought under the name of Ronnie Ushiwaka, his mother's maiden name.