Marvin Eastman

Marvin Lee Eastman (born June 8, 1971) is a retired American professional mixed martial artist and kickboxer.

A professional MMA competitor from 2000 until 2013, he competed in K-1, the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), World Fighting Alliance (WFA), Maximum Fighting Championship (MFC), Shooto, and King of the Cage (KOTC), where he was Super Heavyweight Champion.

A talented athlete, he also played football in the Canadian Football League (CFL) for the Calgary Stampeders.

Marvin Eastman was born and raised in Merced, California, where he grew up wrestling and playing football.

Eastman began wrestling with his older brother's junior varsity team at an early age, going on to dominate for the Merced High School wrestling team, going undefeated (42-0) in his senior year and winning the California State Wrestling Championship at the 86.6 kilogram/191 pound weight-class.

Eastman then continued playing football in college for the Merced College team, where he earned All-American honors, in his two years at the school.

He was then offered a full scholarship to play football for the University of Washington but ultimately decided to sign with University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where he excelled in two seasons as a running back and fullback for the Running Rebels, and then played for the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League.

Eastman then decided that he wanted to challenge himself in the rising world of mixed martial arts, and began training in Muay Thai.

Eastman made his MMA debut with King of the Cage in June 2000.

He won three straight, including a win over future UFC champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson before losing to Vernon White.

Following his loss to White, Eastman fought future UFC Middleweight Champion Rich Franklin at the World Fighting Alliance's first event, Franklin won by armbar in the first round.

Eastman rebounded in the next two WFA events with wins over Alex Stiebling and Tommy Sauer.

On August 17, 2002, he caused an upset by defeating four-time world champion Duke Roufus in his first foray into K-1 kickboxing on the K-1 World Grand Prix 2002 in Las Vegas undercard.

Roufus was dominant for the first two rounds although Eastman did score a flash knockdown when he caught a low kick and countered with a right cross in the second.

Then, in the third and final round, Eastman completed the comeback, landing two knees to Roufus' body and putting him away for good.

Eastman made his Ultimate Fighting Championship debut at UFC 43 against another future UFC Light heavyweight titlist Vitor Belfort, Belfort delivered a knee to Eastman's forehead that dropped him resulting in quite possibly the largest cut in recorded mixed martial art history, thus losing via technical knockout due to strikes in just 1 minute 7 seconds of the very first round.

He then returned to King of the Cage to defeat Vernon White via unanimous decision in a rematch.

He also made a return to K-1 and competed in the K-1 World Grand Prix 2004 in Las Vegas I tournament on April 30, 2004.

Against Michael McDonald in the quarter-finals, he dropped the Canadian in round one but was then floored three times himself in round two to lose by TKO.

In his third and final outing in the promotion, Eastman fought Ray Sefo in a non-tournament bout at the K-1 World Grand Prix 2004 in Las Vegas II on August 7, 2004.

Both men traded heavy leather early on and Eastman took a time out after being poked in the eye by Sefo's toes during a high kick attempt.

Immediately following the restart, Sefo swarmed on Eastman and forced the referee to call off the fight.

The crowd in attendance booed the stoppage and Eastman himself protested, apparently seeing Sefo's quick attack as sucker punching.

Both fighters traded verbal insults and Eastman then attacked Sefo only to be punched to the canvas.

As both sets of cornermen got caught up in the ruckus, Nevada Athletic Commission officials were needed to break up the brawl.

Late in 2004, Eastman was given another shot in the UFC against Travis Lutter at UFC 50.

After a fairly uneventful first round, Lutter caught Eastman with an overhand right, knocking Eastman out cold 43 seconds into the second round.

Shortly after his second UFC defeat, Eastman lost a split decision to Jason Lambert at KOTC's Mortal Sin event.

He then went 6–1 in smaller shows, with victories over fighters such as Jason MacDonald, Alan Belcher, and Jason Guida in a rematch.

In 2006, Eastman became the Elite Fighting Championships (EFC) Light heavyweight Champion with a majority decision win over UFC and PRIDE veteran Travis Wiuff.

On July 22, 2006, the WFA reemerged with King of Streets featuring Quinton Jackson, Matt Lindland, Bas Rutten, and Lyoto Machida, among others.

Eastman fought to a draw against Jorge Oliviera.

Eastman made his third appearance in the UFC at UFC 67, losing a hard-fought rematch with Quinton Jackson by knockout in the second round.

Eastman won a unanimous decision over Rob Kimmons at IFO: Eastman vs. Kimmons, claiming the IFO's middleweight title.

He returned to the Ultimate Fighting Championship at UFC 81 on February 2, 2008, defeating "Dangerous" Terry Martin in a dominant unanimous decision.

At The Ultimate Fighter 7 Finale, Eastman was defeated by Drew McFedries in the first round via knockout.

In October 2008, Eastman lost to PRIDE and Spirit MC veteran Denis Kang by knockout 48 seconds into the opening round.

Eastman was set to fight PRIDE veteran Ricardo Arona in late December but pulled out of the fight due to a knee injury suffered during training.

Eastman defeated Aaron Lofton at MFC 21, winning by technical knockout.

Eastman lost to Ricardo Arona by unanimous decision in the long-awaited fight at Bitetti Combat MMA 4.