Dean Lister

Early life

Lister grew up in a military family and lived in several South American countries, including Venezuela and Panama. Lister speaks several languages. He lived in Panama during the U.S. invasion in 1989, and, according to Lister, he was "right in the middle of a serious combat zone". After living in several different cities in the United States, Lister's family settled in San Diego for Lister's high school years, where he attended Hilltop High School.

Career

Lister often fought as a kid, mostly due to a combination of being the "new kid", a foreigner, and being small for his age. The need to protect himself led Lister to Wrestling and Sambo.

From 1997–2003, Lister worked as an instructor for Santos. Lister teaches both beginner and advanced students at Victory MMA in San Diego. The classes typically begin with Dean teaching submission grappling techniques from various grappling arts he's accumulated during the years, followed by sparring.

He maintains that it is "the biggest and most challenging sport that exists". Lister does not favor any particular technique, although he is mostly known for his leg attacks (foot locks and knee locks). The reason I chose this sport as my reason for existing is because it is the hardest thing out there I could find, the biggest and most challenging sport that exists. I stayed with this sport after a few years because I found that it was developing myself and influencing the way I live.

It is the depth of this sport that keeps Dean’s dedication and commitment to his training at an optimum level. He believes that practicing this sport reveals the true character of each participant by showing courage, patience, honesty, discipline, innovation, and integrity. Dean also loves the challenge involved in practicing a sport that is constantly evolving. He is known for unstoppable foot locks and is always working to modify and refine existing moves and create new moves that will benefit him in competition and that will enhance the effectiveness of submission grappling.

It is worth noting that one of Lister's MMA losses is against Nathan Marquardt, despite previously submitting him in the 2003 ADCC tournament.

Lister was a King of the Cage Middleweight Champion, and defended his title several times before losing to Jeremy Horn in a Light Heavyweight fight. KOTC stripped Dean of his title after the loss, even though it was at a higher weight class. Years later, Lister avenged this loss by submitting Jeremy Horn with a guillotine choke in the TUF 7 finale.

Lister lost a three-round unanimous decision to Yushin Okami at UFC 92 on December 27, 2008, dropping his UFC record to 4–2. He subsequently requested to be released from his UFC contract, and has since signed with the Maximum Fighting Championship.

Dean Lister and Renato Sobral fought to a draw at Metamoris 3 in a submission wrestling match.

In the co-main event of Metamoris 4 on August 9, 2014, Lister faced Josh Barnett to determine the inaugural Metamoris Heavyweight Champion. Barnett became the first person in sixteen years to defeat Lister via submission, submitting Lister with a scarf hold in the final thirty seconds of the match.

ADCC

Lister competed in the first ADCC North American trial in 2002, winning the under 99kg division. He was then invited to compete at ADCC 2003 and won the absolute division at the tournament before returning in 2005 to become the Superfight champion, defeating Jean Jacques Machado. He claimed the gold medal again in 2011 in the under 99 kg division by submitting João Assis in the final by a heel hook. He also submitted jiu-jitsu world champion Rodolfo Vieira, in his weight division, also with a heel hook. At the 2013 ADCC in Beijing, China, Lister defeated Cristiano Lazzarini in the semi-finals of the under 99 kg division by heel hook but would go on to lose on points in the finals to João Assis; In the absolute division Lister submitted both Hideki Sekine and João Gabriel Rocha by heel hook before losing to Marcus Almeida in the semi-finals. Lister also lost to Keenan Cornelius in the bronze medal match both on points.

Lister is notable for an ADCC triple crown by winning his weight division, the absolute division and a superfight. In 2022, Lister earned the honor of being part of the inaugural class of the ADCC Hall of Fame and was the first American to be included.

Coaching career

Lister's sparring partner and former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, Tito Ortiz, invited him to be his assistant grappling coach on the third season of the Spike TV reality show, The Ultimate Fighter.

Lister served as a coach alongside Roger Gracie, Jean Jacques Machado, and Rigan Machado on season 6 of the Professional Grappling Federation on April 21 to 26, 2024. Lister led Team Black Rifle Coffee Company at the tournament, and finished in third place.

Lister returned to coach on season 7 of the Professional Grappling Federation on November 3 to 8, 2024, alongside Roger Gracie, Pedro Sauer, and Carlos Machado. He led the Constellation Network team.

Personal life

In April 2021, Lister was hospitalized due to being involved in a hit and run which resulted in a ruptured spleen.

Championships and accomplishments

• Ultimate Fighting Championship
  • UFC.com Awards
    • 2006: Ranked #5 Submission of the Year vs. Alessio Sakara

Mixed martial arts record

| ko-wins= | ko-losses= | sub-wins= 11 | sub-losses= | dec-wins= 2 | dec-losses= 7 | dq-wins= | dq-losses= | other-wins=

| | Charleroi, Belgium | |- | Win | Rodney Moore | Submission (inverted heel hook) | Cage Contender 13 | | Belfast, Northern Ireland | |- | Loss | Thales Leites | Decision (unanimous) | MFC 23 | | Edmonton, Alberta, Canada | |- | Loss | Yushin Okami | Decision (unanimous) | UFC 92 | | Las Vegas, Nevada, United States | |- | Win | Jeremy Horn | Submission (guillotine choke) | TUF 7 Finale | | Las Vegas, Nevada, United States | |- | Win | Jordan Radev | Decision (unanimous) | UFC 79 | | Las Vegas, Nevada, United States | |- | Loss | Nate Marquardt | Decision (unanimous) | UFC Fight Night 8 | | Hollywood, Florida, United States | |- | Win | Yuki Sasaki | Decision (unanimous) | UFC Fight Night 6 | | Las Vegas, Nevada, United States | |- | Win | Alessio Sakara | Submission (triangle choke) | UFC 60 | | Los Angeles, California, United States | |- | Loss | Ricardo Arona | Decision (unanimous) | PRIDE Total Elimination 2005 | | Osaka, Japan

| | Yokohama, Japan | |- | Loss | Amar Suloev | Decision (split) | PRIDE Bushido 4 | | Nagoya, Japan | |- | Loss | Jeremy Horn | Decision (majority) | KOTC 31: King of the Cage 31 | | San Jacinto, California, United States

| | San Jacinto, California, United States

| | San Jacinto, California, United States

| | San Jacinto, California, United States

| | San Jacinto, California, United States | |- | Win | Jerry Jenkins | Submission (heel hook) | KOTC 11: Domination | | San Jacinto, California, United States | |- | Loss | Jacen Flynn | Decision (split) | KOTC 7: Wet and Wild | | San Jacinto, California, United States | |- | Win | John Jensen | Submission (kneebar) | KOTC 5: Cage Wars | | San Jacinto, California, United States |

Grappling record

|sub-wins=19 |sub-losses=3 |dec-wins=5 |dec-losses=10

Instructor lineage

Kano Jigoro → Tomita Tsunejiro → Mitsuyo "Count Koma" Maeda → Carlos Gracie, Sr. → Helio Gracie → Rickson Gracie → Fabio Santos → Jeffrey Higgs → Dean Lister

Notes

References

References

1. (2011-07-03). "Dean Lister".
2. (1970-01-01). "Dean Lister".
3. UFC. "Dean Lister profile".
4. (8 August 2018). "Jocko Podcast 137 w/ Dean Lister: If You Know the Way Broadly, You Will See It in All Things".
5. DeanLister.com. (2006). "Official Homepage of Dean Lister". Official Homepage of Dean Lister, World Champion Grappler.
6. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L-RFZfaQOqw ADCC 2003 - Dean Lister vs. Nathan Marquardt] at youtube
7. "Metamoris 3: Bravo vs. Gracie Results". mmanuts.com.
8. (June 27, 2014). "Event Info: Metamoris 4". [[Metamoris]].
9. (August 9, 2014). "GIF: Josh Barnett wears black diaper, submits Dean Lister via neck crank at Metamoris 4". MMAmania.com.
10. (June 21, 2023). "Throwback: Josh Barnett Submits Dean Lister At Metamoris 4".
11. (2 August 2023). "Throwback: The First Ever ADCC Trial Takes Place In 2002".
12. [https://web.archive.org/web/20110928045932/http://www.mixedmartialarts.com/news/354380/Dean-Lister-celebrating-ADCC-title-at-Oktoberfest/]
13. "ADCC Hall of Fame".
14. (4 January 2022). "Dean Lister Becomes First American in ADCC Hall of Fame".
15. (9 April 2024). "Four BJJ Legends Confirmed As PGF Season 6 Coaches Lineup Finalized".
16. (22 April 2024). "Four Jiu-Jitsu Legends Draft Their Teams For PGF World Season 6".
17. (26 April 2024). "PGF World Season 6: Best Of Day 4".
18. (25 September 2024). "Four World Class Coaches Confirmed For PGF World Season 7".
19. (4 November 2024). "PGF World Season 7 Draft Locks In Four Incredible Teams".
20. [https://web.archive.org/web/19960101/http://www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=news.detail&gid=2629 Dean Lister Comes Home for UFC Debut Saturday] "I had personal issues with my family stuff and I lost a lot of my motivation," Lister admitted. He attended [[San Diego State University]].
21. BjjTribes. (2021-04-20). "BJJ legend Dean Lister hospitalized with ruptured spleen after hit and run".
22. Thomas Gerbasi. (January 2, 2007). "Ten Best – The Top UFC Submissions of 2006". [[Ultimate Fighting Championship]].