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David Rickels

American mixed martial arts fighter

Summary

American mixed martial arts fighter

Field	Value
name	David Rickels
other_names	The Caveman
birth_date
birth_place	Derby, Kansas, United States
height
weight	175 lb
weight_class	Welterweight
Lightweight
reach_in	72
fighting_out_of	Wichita, Kansas, United States
team	Janjira Muay Thai
years_active	2010–present
mma_kowin	7
mma_subwin	6
mma_decwin	8
mma_koloss	4
mma_subloss	1
mma_decloss	1
mma_nc	2
sherdog	36198

Lightweight | dq-losses =

David Rickels (born January 5, 1989) is an American professional mixed martial artist and bare-knuckle fighter who is currently competing in the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship. A professional since 2010, he is a 23-fight veteran of the Bellator MMA, and won the Season Eight Lightweight Tournament.

Background

Rickels was born and raised in Derby, Kansas, a 2007 graduate of Derby High School where he competed in wrestling. He then went on to attend Butler Community College. Started his own promotion called Evolution Fighting Championship in late 2015.

Mixed martial arts career

Early career

Rickels compiled an amateur record of 8-1, and made his professional mixed martial arts debut in February 2010. He won via first-round TKO and went on to compile an undefeated record of 5-0 before being signed by Bellator.

Bellator MMA

Rickels made his Bellator debut on April 9, 2011, at Bellator 40 where he defeated formerly undefeated Dylan Smith by a first-round triangle choke submission.

Rickels next fought Strikeforce veteran Richard Bouphanouvong on May 7, 2011, at Bellator 43 where he won by triangle choke in round 2.

After defeating Levi Avera with a third-straight win by triangle choke in Bellator in 2011, Rickels was featured in the Bellator Season 6 Welterweight Tournament in 2012. He faced Jordan Smith in the opening round of the tournament at Bellator 63 and won via KO at just 22 seconds into the first round. In the semifinals at Bellator 69, Rickels faced Karl Amoussou. The bout was back-and-forth but in the end, Amoussou won the fight via controversial split decision, giving Rickels his first professional loss.

Rickels returned to face Jason Fischer at Bellator 82. He won via unanimous decision.

Rickels was picked to enter the Lightweight Season 8 Tournament where he defeated Lloyd Woodard in the quarterfinals at Bellator 87 via unanimous decision. Rickels was to face Russian prospect Alexander Sarnavskiy, but Sarnavskiy fractured his hand during his first fight and had to withdraw from the tournament. Rickels instead faced Jason Fischer in a rematch and won via unanimous decision. In the finals at Bellator 94, Rickels took on Saad Awad. He dropped Awad with a right hand at the very end of the second round, but Awad remained resting on his back instead of getting up to his corner, resulting in the referee declaring an end to the match, controversially making Rickels the winner by TKO.

With the tournament win, Rickels faced undefeated 11-0 Bellator Lightweight Champion Michael Chandler at Bellator 97. He lost the fight via knockout at just 44 seconds into the first round.

In March 2014, Rickels entered into the Bellator season 10 lightweight tournament, where he faced Patricky Pitbull in the opening round at Bellator 113. He lost the fight via knockout in the second round.

Rickels faced Davi Ramos on October 24, 2014, at Bellator 130. He won the fight via unanimous decision.

Rickels faced John Alessio at Bellator 139 on June 26, 2015. Rickels almost finished Alessio in the first round, but an unintentional illegal knee from Rickels landed on Alessio's head when he was down and prompted the referee to stop the fight. Alessio couldn't continue and the fight was overturned to a no contest.

Rickels had a rematch with Michael Chandler on November 6, 2015, at Bellator 145. He lost the fight via TKO in the second round.

Rickels faced Melvin Guillard on July 21, 2016, at Bellator 159. He lost the fight via knockout in the first round. However, the loss was overturned to a No-Contest after Guillard tested positive for a non-performance-enhancing banned substance.

Rickels faced Aaron Derrow at Bellator 171 on January 27, 2017. He won the fight via TKO, due to punches in the third round.

Rickels was expected to face Brennan Ward at Bellator 185 on October 20, 2017, however, an injury to Ward forced him out of the bout, and Rickels was removed from the fight card as a result.

After an injury to Derek Anderson, Rickels stepped in as a replacement to face Adam Piccolotti at Bellator 189 on December 1, 2017. He won the 160 lb catchweight fight by unanimous decision.

Rickels faced Michael Page on May 25, 2018, at Bellator 200. He lost the fight via verbal submission due to a punch in the second round.

After his 23rd fight in Bellator on August 24, 2019, Rickels became a free agent.

Bare-knuckle boxing

On January 23, 2020, news surfaced that Rickels had signed with Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship. He was expected to make his promotional debut on March 14, 2020 with opponent to be determined, but the event was cancelled. Instead, Rickels made his debut on October 10, 2020, defeating Cliff Wright by decision.

Championships and accomplishments

Bellator Fighting Championships
- Bellator Season 8 Lightweight Tournament Championship
- Tied (with Michael Chandler) for fourth most fights in Bellator History (23)
- Most wins of non-champ in Bellator history (14)

Mixed martial arts record

dec-losses=1
Loss
Yaroslav Amosov
Submission (D'Arce choke)
Bellator 225

| |Bridgeport, Connecticut, United States

Catchweight (175 lbs) bout.
Win
A.J. Matthews
TKO (punch)
Bellator 219

Catchweight (160 lbs) bout.
Win
Aaron Derrow
TKO (punches)
Bellator 171

| |Mulvane, Kansas, United States

Return to Welterweight.
NC
Melvin Guillard
NC (overturned)
Bellator 159

| |Mulvane, Kansas, United States

Originally KO loss; Overturned to a no contest when Guillard tested positive for a banned substance.
Win
Bobby Cooper
TKO (knee and punches)
Bellator 150

Bellator Season 10 Lightweight Tournament Quarterfinal.
Win
J.J. Ambrose
TKO (punches)
Bellator 103

For the Bellator Lightweight World Championship.
Win
Saad Awad
TKO (punches)
Bellator 94

| |Tampa, Florida, United States

Won the Bellator Season Eight Lightweight Tournament.
Win
Jason Fischer
Decision (unanimous)
Bellator 91

| |Rio Rancho, New Mexico, United States

Bellator Season Eight Lightweight Tournament Semifinal.
Win
Lloyd Woodard
Decision (unanimous)
Bellator 87

| |Mount Pleasant, Michigan, United States

Lightweight debut; Bellator Season Eight Lightweight Tournament Quarterfinal.
Win
Jason Fischer
Decision (unanimous)
Bellator 82

| |Mount Pleasant, Michigan, United States

Catchweight (160 lbs) bout.
Loss
Karl Amoussou
Decision (split)
Bellator 69

| |Lake Charles, Louisiana, United States

Bellator Season Six Welterweight Tournament Semifinal.
Win
Jordan Smith
KO (punches)
Bellator 63

| |Uncasville, Connecticut, United States

Bellator Season Six Welterweight Tournament Quarterfinal.
Win
Levi Avera
Submission (triangle choke)
Bellator 53

Catchweight (179 lbs) bout.
Win
Dylan Smith
Submission (triangle choke)
Bellator 40

Bare knuckle record

|ko-wins=0 |ko-losses=1 |dec-wins=2

dec-losses=0
Loss
Mike Richman
KO (punch)
BKFC 23

References

"Evolution Fighting Championship".
"David Rickels : Official MMA Fight Record (19-5-0)".
"Bellator 40 results: Askren cruises, Hieron and Chandler punch tourney-finale tickets | MMAjunkie.com".
"Bellator 43 Results: David Rickles Submits Rich Bouphanouvong in Second Round. | Bleacher Report".
(2 June 2013). "Dave Jansen off Bellator 96, David Rickels meets Michael Chandler at Bellator 97". mmajunkie.com.
MMAjunkie Staff. (September 30, 2014). "Emanuel Newton headlines Bellator 130 in title tilt with Linton Vassell". mmajunkie.com.
Shaun Al-Shatti. (April 7, 2015). "Bellator 139 slated for June 26 in Kansas". mmafighting.com.
(2015-11-06). "Bellator 145 Fight Card".
(2016-08-05). "Melvin Guillard suspended one year, Bellator 159 bout with David Rickels ruled no contest after failed drug test".
Mike Bohn. (January 27, 2017). "Bellator 171 results: Chidi Njokuani dominates Melvin Guillard in lopsided main event". mmajunkie.com.
Mike Bohn. (September 25, 2017). "David Rickels vs. Brennan Ward among new additions to Bellator 185 on Oct. 20". mmajunkie.com.
Dann Stupp and Matt Erickson. (October 16, 2017). "Friday's Bellator 185 lineup loses 2 main-card bouts". mmajunkie.com.
Marc Raimondi. (November 22, 2017). "David Rickels replaces injured Derek Anderson, faces Adam Piccolotti at Bellator 189". mmafighting.com.
Steve Juon. (December 1, 2017). "Bellator 189 results: Live 'Budd vs Blencowe 2' streaming play-by-play updates TONIGHT on Spike". mmamania.com.
(26 February 2018). "Bellator To Host 200th Event In London". fightsports.tv.
Malata, Chisanga. (2018-05-25). "Bellator 200 Results: Michael Page beats Rickels into verbal submission in MMA return". Express.co.uk.
Nolan King. (January 23, 2020). "All-time Bellator fights leader David Rickels leaves to sign with BKFC". mmajunkie.com.
Mike Bohn. (November 10, 2020). "Bellator 252 pre-event facts: Patricio 'Pitbull' own the Bellator record book". [[MMAjunkie.com]].

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

1989-births living-people american-male-mixed-martial-artists welterweight-mixed-martial-artists mixed-martial-artists-utilizing-wrestling american-bare-knuckle-boxers people-from-derby,-kansas mixed-martial-artists-from-kansas

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