Patrick Smith

Patrick Smith (August 28, 1963 – June 18, 2019) was an American Kickboxer and mixed martial artist.

He started his mixed martial arts career by participating in the first two Ultimate Fighting Championship events.

He was a 3rd degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do and also held a black belt in Hapkido, Kempo Karate, and Tang Soo Do.

In 1993, Smith was ranked No. 1 as a Super Heavyweight Kickboxer in the United States and held a ranking of No. 5 internationally.

He was the 1993 Enshin Karate Sabaki Challenge Heavyweight champion, an annual full contact karate tournament held in Denver which allows grabs, sweeps and throws, and competed in the 1993 Seidokaikan full contact Karate World Cup tournament in Japan.

Patrick Smith first rose to fame in the US for his kickboxing prowess.

Smith participated the first Ultimate Fighting Championship event, UFC 1, in November 1993.

The event featured an eight-man single-elimination tournament with very few rules, awarding $50,000 to the winner.

Art Davie, the promoter, placed advertisements in martial arts magazines and sent letters to anyone in any martial arts directory he could find to recruit competitors for the event.

With the event being held in Smith's hometown of Denver, he was an easy addition.

Smith's first and only match was against shoot wrestler Ken Shamrock, who took Smith down easily and submitted him with a heel hook.

The fans in Denver booed heavily as they were unaware of the submission rules and were displeased with the fact that the match ended so quickly without a knockout.

Despite his loss, Smith's performance got him invited to UFC 2, now a 16-man tournament, where he entered with the expressed intent of a shot at the previous winner Royce Gracie.

Smith had spent the time between shows working on his grappling to perform better on the ground, which paid off with a victory by guillotine choke against Ray Wizard in the first round.

The peak of his performance, however, came technically through striking: after being pitted against ninjutsu fighter Scott Morris in the second round, Smith dropped him with knee strikes from the clinch, mounted him on the ground, and then unloaded barrage after barrage of punches and elbow strikes, completely knocking Morris out.

This finish is considered one of the most brutal in the history of UFC.

Smith next fought karate expert Johnny Rhodes, whom he submitted with a second guillotine choke after a brief exchange of hits.

Finally, Smith reached the finals and his desired match against Royce Gracie, but it was short and one-sided, with Gracie taking him down and landing several palm strikes from mount before the kickboxer tapped out.

Smith returned at UFC 6 facing Rudyard Moncayo, a kenpo karate stylist from Ecuador.

He opened the fight in spectacular fashion by landing a running front kick to Moncayo's chest, knocking him down and sending him sliding towards the fence.

Smith then followed with a takedown and gained mount position, and ultimately locked a rear naked choke when Moncayo tried to escape, making him tap out.

However, Smith had to withdraw from the tournament due to stomach cramps caused by an injury sustained during the fight.

He was replaced by Anthony Macias.

Smith went on to fight for K-1 and Bas Rutten's first three invitationals shows, as well as fighting on a few of the World Vale Tudo Championship (WVC) events showcasing No Holds Barred fighting.

At WVC 3, Smith faced Fabio Gurgel in a match that became infamous for its unusual ending.

Smith grabbed the ring ropes in order to avoid being taken down and struck Gurgel's spine repeatedly with his elbow, but crowd members approached and tried to take Smith's hands off from the ropes, prompting the match to be stopped.

The referee consulted with promoter Sérgio Batarelli about the situation and it was decided to call off the fight and declare Gurgel the winner.

In 1994 he entered the K-1 Grand Prix '94 where he caused one of the biggest upsets in K-1 history by flooring three times and subsequently knocking out legendary karateka and future K-1 star Andy Hug with an uppercut after just 19 seconds of the first round in their quarterfinal match.

Smith was unable to build on this success as he was soundly defeated by eventual champion Peter Aerts in the semifinals.

Some pundits, most notoriously Dave Meltzer, have expressed their belief that Hug's loss was a fight fixed in order to increase Smith's popularity.

After the Hug victory, Smith's K-1 career never took off.

He lost to Andy Hug in a rematch at the K-1 Revenge event and then failed to qualify for the following year's K-1 Grand Prix at K-1 Grand Prix '95 Opening Battle.

His last match in K-1 was against rising local star Musashi, a match he lost by KO, and he was released from his K-1 contract, finishing 1 and 4 with the organization.

In an elimination tournament of eight fighters at WVC 5 held in Recife, Brazil on 3 February 1998, Smith withdrew ahead of his scheduled semifinal bout against Igor Vovchanchyn after he suffered a broken hand in his quarterfinal win over Marco Selva.

In 1999, Smith was convicted of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl.

Despite little international success, Smith had more success at home, accumulating an overall 66-8 kickboxing record by the time he retired in 2000.

On April 11, 2008, Smith came in as a late replacement for Gary Goodridge and defeated Eric "Butterbean" Esch via submission due to strikes in a "Masters Superfight" at YAMMA Pit Fighting's inaugural event.

He was later arrested in 2008 after failing to register as a sex offender.

On October 10, 2015, Smith came out of retirement at age 51 to fight Dave Huckaba at Gladiator Challenge - Collision Course.

He was defeated via KO at 1:33 of round 1.