Bantamweight is usually a class in boxing for boxers who weigh above 115 pounds (52.163 kg) and up to 118 pounds (53.525 kg). However, in Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) it is 125-136 pounds (56.6 - 61.7 kg). Wrestling also has similar weight classes including bantamweight. The name is derived from bantam chickens.

History[link]

The first title fight with gloves was between Chappie Moran and Tommy Kelly in 1889. At that time, the limit for this weight class was 110 pounds. In 1910, however, the British settled on a limit of 118.^[1]

Notable bantamweights [link]

• Raul "Raton" Macias
• Monte Attell
• Baltasar Belenguer "Sangchili"
• Fabrice Benichou
• Panama Al Brown
• Orlando Canizales
• Jimmy Carruthers
• Jeff Chandler
• Benny "Irish" Cohen
• Frankie Conley (1910)
• Sixto Escobar
• Luisito Espinosa
• Eder Jofre
• Alphonse Halimi
• Alex Geiser
• Fighting Harada
• Pete Herman
• Akhil Kumar
• Miguel "Happy" Lora
• Errol "Black Mac" MacBean
• Abner Mares
• Joe Lynch
• Rubén Olivares
• Manuel Ortiz
• Lionel Rose
• Charlie Phil Rosenberg
• Isadore "Corporal Izzy" Schwartz
• Charles "Bud" Taylor
• Alfonso Zamora
• Carlos Zarate
• Johnny Owen
• Manju Wanniarachchi
• Jonatan "Bullen Barbaren" Landsberg

Amateur Champions[link]

Olympic Champions[link]

• 1904:  Oliver Kirk (USA)
• 1908:  Henry Thomas (GBR)
• 1920:  Clarence Walker (RSA)
• 1924:  William Smith (RSA)
• 1928:  Vittorio Tamagnini (ITA)
• 1932:  Horace Gwynne (CAN)
• 1936:  Ulderico Sergo (ITA)
• 1948:  Tibor Csík (HUN)
• 1952:  Pentti Hämäläinen (FIN)
• 1956:  Wolfgang Behrendt (EUA)
• 1960: 22x20px Oleg Grigoryev (URS)
• 1964:  Takao Sakurai (JPN)
• 1968: 22x20px Valeriy Sokolov (URS)
• 1972:  Orlando Martínez (CUB)
• 1976:  Gu Yong-Ju (PRK)
• 1980:  Juan Hernández (CUB)
• 1984:  Maurizio Stecca (ITA)
• 1988:  Kennedy McKinney (USA)
• 1992:  Joel Casamayor (CUB)
• 1996:  István Kovács (HUN)
• 2000:  Guillermo Rigondeaux (CUB)
• 2004:  Guillermo Rigondeaux (CUB)
• 2008:  Enkhbatyn Badar-Uugan (MGL)

Pan American Champions[link]

• 1951: Ricardo Gonzales (ARG)
• 1955: Salvador Enriquez (VEN)
• 1959: Waldo Claudiano (BRA)
• 1963: Abel Almaraz (ARG)
• 1967: Juvencio Martínez (MEX)
• 1971: Pedro Flores (MEX)
• 1975: Orlando Martínez (CUB)
• 1979: Jackie Beard (USA)
• 1983: Manuel Vilchez (VEN)
• 1987: Manuel Martínez (CUB)
• 1991: Enrique Carrion (CUB)
• 1995: Juan Despaigne (CUB)
• 1999: Gerald Tucker (USA)
• 2003: Daniel Chyutin (CUB)
• 2007: Carlos Cuadras (MEX)

Commonwealth Games Champions[link]

• 2010: Manju Wanniarachchi (SRI)

Professional Champions[link]

Current champions[link]

Sanctioning Body	Reign Began	Champion	Record	Defenses
WBA Super	May 31, 2008	Anselmo Moreno	33-1-1 (12 KO)	10
WBA Regular	December 26, 2010	Koki Kameda	28-1 (17 KO)	4
WBC	November 6, 2011	Shinsuke Yamanaka	16-0-2 (11 KO)	1
IBF		Vacant
WBO	November 26, 2011	Jorge Arce	60-6-2 (45 KO)	0

For a full list, see List of bantamweight boxing champions

Kickboxing bantamweight[link]

In kickboxing, a bantamweight fighter generally weighs between 53 kg (116 lb) and 55 kg (120 lb). However, some governing bodies have slightly different classes. For example, the International Kickboxing Federation (IKF) Bantamweight division (professional and amateur) is 117.1 lbs.–122 lbs. or 53.22 kg–55.45 kg.

See also[link]

• Reigning boxing champions

References[link]

1. ^ Mullan, Harry (1996). The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Boxing. London, England: Carlton Books. pp. 178. ISBN 0785806415. 

This boxing-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Urijah Faber
Born	Urijah Christopher Faber (1979-05-14) May 14, 1979 (age 33) Isla Vista, California, United States
Other names	The California Kid
Nationality	American
Height	5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)
Weight	135 lb (61 kg; 9.6 st)
Division	Bantamweight Featherweight
Reach	69.0 in (175 cm)
Fighting out of	Sacramento, California
Team	Team Alpha Male
Trainer	Thonglor "Master Thong" Armatsena Fabio "Pateta" Prado
Rank	Brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Wrestling	NCAA Division I Wrestling
Years active	2003–present
Mixed martial arts record
Total	31
Wins	26
By knockout	7
By submission	14
By decision	4
By disqualification	1
Losses	5
By knockout	2
By decision	3
University	University of California, Davis
Notable school(s)	Lincoln High School
Website	http://www.urijahfaber.com/
Mixed martial arts record from Sherdog
last updated on: November 23, 2011

Urijah Christopher Faber^[1] (born May 14, 1979) is an American mixed martial artist currently fighting as a bantamweight in the Ultimate Fighting Championship organization. Faber won the WEC featherweight championship at WEC 19 on March 17, 2006 and held the title for over two years until his loss to Mike Brown at WEC 36 on November 5, 2008. As of November 2011, Faber is ranked the #2 bantamweight in the world by Sherdog.^[2]

Faber is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu brown belt under Fabio "Pateta" Prado,^[3] who, under Carlson Gracie Jr., is a 5th degree black belt.

Early life[link]

Faber was born on May 14, 1979, in Isla Vista, California, to Theo and Suzanne Faber, and grew up in Lincoln. He is of Dutch descent on his fathers side and Italian descent on his mothers side.^{[citation needed]} He went to Glen Edwards Middle School for Jr. High and Lincoln High School for high school.^[4] He has two siblings, an older brother named Ryan and a younger sister named Michaella. His sister almost died after a Thanksgiving 2011 car accident.^[5] Faber graduated from the University of California at Davis with a Bachelors degree in human development.

Mixed martial arts career[link]

Faber made his professional MMA debut as part of the Gladiator Challenge promotion on November 12, 2003, defeating Jay Valencia by a guillotine choke at 1:22 of round 1. Faber then defeated George Adkins by TKO (strikes) on February 12, 2004, earning a shot at GC Bantamweight champion, David Velasquez. On June 6, 2004, Faber defeated Velasquez by unanimous decision, becoming the new GC Bantamweight champion. In his first title defense, Faber defeated Del Hawkins by TKO(strikes) at 3:19 of the first round on August 19, 2004. After this fight, Faber began to take fights in both GC and King of the Cage, GC's parent promotion.

Upon moving to KOTC, Faber defeated Rami Boukai by majority decision on September 24, 2004, barely a month after his last fight. On November 14, 2004, Faber defeated Eben Kaneshiro by submission (strikes) to win the KOTC Bantamweight championship, co-holding it with the GC Bantamweight title.

On March 13, 2005, Faber made his return to GC, defeating David Granados by rear naked choke at 2:13 of round 1. On May 7, 2005, he defended his KOTC belt for the first time, defeating Hiroyuki Abe by TKO (cut) at 2:37 of the third round. Returning to GC on September 10, 2005, Faber had his first defeat, losing the GC Bantamweight championship to Tyson Griffin by TKO (strikes) at :05 seconds of round 3.

On October 29, 2005, Faber defended his KOTC title again, defeating Shawn Bias by guillotine choke at 1:24 of the first round. He returned to GC on December 11, 2005, defeating Charles Bennett by rear naked choke at 4:38 of round 1. Faber then fought at a TKO Major League MMA event on January 8, 2006, facing Ivan Menjivar. Faber won by disqualification at 2:02 of the second round when Menjivar landed an illegal kick to a downed Faber.

World Extreme Cagefighting[link]

On March 17, 2006, Faber competed for the first time in the World Extreme Cagefighting promotion, beating Cole Escovedo by second round doctors stoppage and winning the WEC Featherweight Championship. On May 13, 2006, he fought for the KOTC Bantamweight title for the third time, defeating Charlie Valencia by rear naked choke at 3:09 of the first round. Faber then returned to GC July 1, 2006 and defeated Naoya Uematsu by TKO(strikes) at 3:35 of round 2 to reclaim the GC Bantamweight championship, thus holding three titles at once. Faber then took a fight in the Full Contact Promotions organization on September 9, 2006, defeating Enoch Wilson by TKO (strikes) at 1:01 of the second round. On October 28, Faber returned to KOTC and defended his title for the fourth and last time, defeating Bibiano Fernandes by TKO (cut) at 4:16 of round 1. Faber later vacated his KOTC and GC titles upon signing a contract with the WEC after it was purchased by Zuffa in December 2006.

At WEC 25: McCullough vs. Cope on January 20, 2007, Faber defended his WEC Featherweight title for the first time since winning it ten months prior, defeating Joe Pearson by submission(strikes) at 2:31 of the first round. At WEC 26: Condit vs. Alessio on March 24, 2007, he successfully defended his title for a second time by defeating Dominick Cruz by guillotine choke at 1:38 of round 1, the only loss on Cruz's record.

At WEC 28: WrekCage on June 3, 2007, Faber defeated Chance Farrar by rear naked choke at 3:19 of the first round. In his postfight interview, Faber called out K-1 Hero's 2005 middleweight (154 lb) tournament champion Norifumi Yamamoto, though this fight has yet to take place. After this match, Faber took a six month break between fights, the longest of his career. He came back at WEC 31: Faber vs. Curran on December 12, 2007, defeating Jeff Curran by guillotine choke at 4:34 of the second round. Also on this card was the WEC debut of Jens Pulver, who was moving back down to featherweight from the 155 lb lightweight division. In Jens WEC debut, he submitted Cub Swanson in the first round of their match setting up a title match between Pulver and Faber. Pulver and Faber both commented in their postfight interviews that they wanted to fight each other, and the match was signed for June 1, 2008 at WEC 34: Faber vs. Pulver. Faber and Pulver fought a constant back-and-forth battle, but neither man was able to finish the other and the fight went the full five rounds, the first time in Faber's WEC career that one of his fights had gone the distance. The judges scored the bout a unanimous decision for Faber, 50–45, 50–44 and 50–44. This fight also marked both the first time that one of Pulver's fights at featherweight had gone to decision and the first time Pulver had been defeated at that weight class.

Losing the title[link]

Faber was next scheduled to fight Mike Brown at WEC 36 on September 10, 2008 at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida. However, this fight was postponed due to the threat of Hurricane Ike and was rescheduled for November 5, 2008 at the same location. Faber was defeated via TKO at 2:23 of the first round.

Road back to the title[link]

On January 25, 2009 at WEC 38 Faber fought Jens Pulver in a rematch, with Faber winning by guillotine choke at 1:34 of the first round. Post-fight, Faber addressed WEC featherweight champion Mike Brown, who was seated at ringside and announced he wanted a shot at regaining his title. When Brown made his first successful title defense at WEC 39 in Corpus Christi, Texas, he responded to Faber's comments by saying that a rematch between the two of them was something "the fans want to see."

Faber was defeated a second time by Mike Brown at WEC 41 on June 7, 2009 by a unanimous decision (49–46, 49–46 and 48–47) in front of his hometown crowd in Sacramento. Early in the fight, Faber broke his right hand and later dislocated his left thumb, resorting to using primarily elbows and kicks starting in round 3. Nonetheless, even in the fifth round Faber threw 15 left hooks or jabs, many of which connected. Sherdog and ESPN.com in a post-fight article noted that Faber's "right hand was no match for the top of Mike Brown's head." Immediately after the fight, Faber stated that despite the close (but controversial nevertheless) decision, he would still like another fight against Brown. Though a lot of people thought Faber's incredible heart and performances in rounds 1, 3 and 5 did enough to win himself (Faber) the fight, as Faber very easily won first round, out-striking Brown and then suffering those hand injuries at the end of the round and controlled rounds 3 and 5 with multiple accurate and quick leg and body kicks as well as in round 5 surprisingly left hook and jabbing strikes. However Brown won round 2 dominantly and won round 4 closely, which is what the judges thought was more significant to give Brown the controversial decision victory.

Faber appeared on WEC 43 as a guest commentator and returned to action in January. He submitted Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, Raphael Assuncao via rear naked choke in third round at WEC 46,^[6] earning the Submission of the Night award.^[7]

With the victory over Assuncao, Faber earned a shot to fight Jose Aldo for the WEC Featherweight Championship on April 24, 2010 at WEC 48.^[8] He was dominated throughout the fight by Aldo, mostly by his kicks that sent him to the canvas several times. Faber lost via unanimous decision.^[9]

Move to Bantamweight[link]

Faber decided to move down to Bantamweight after his defeat by Jose Aldo at featherweight. Faber was set to move back down to bantamweight against Japanese striker Takeya Mizugaki on August 18, 2010 at WEC 50.^[10] However, Faber was forced off the card with an injury. As a result, Mizugaki was also pulled from the event.^[11] Faber defeated Mizugaki via first round rear naked choke at WEC 52, earning Submission of the Night honors.^[12][13] With the victory over Mizugaki, Faber won his ninth WEC bout, a promotional record he shares with Antonio Banuelos and Poppies Martinez.

Ultimate Fighting Championship[link]

On October 28, 2010, World Extreme Cagefighting merged with the Ultimate Fighting Championship. As part of the merger, all WEC fighters were brought over to compete in the 2 new weight divisions.^[14] Upon his UFC debut, Faber was the only WEC fighter to compete in the promotion before Zuffa, LLC owned them, compete exclusively for the WEC until the UFC/WEC merger, and then move over to the UFC.

Faber defeated former WEC Bantamweight Champion Eddie Wineland via unanimous decision in his UFC debut on March 19, 2011 at UFC 128.^[15]

A rematch with Dominick Cruz, whose only defeat came by Faber in 2007, took place on July 2, 2011 at UFC 132, in which Faber lost via unanimous decision, the bout earned Fight of the Night honors.^[16]

Faber faced Brian Bowles on November 19, 2011 at UFC 139.^[17] Faber defeated Bowles via second round submission (guillotine choke), earning Submission of the Night honors. Faber is now expected to fight a trilogy with Dominick Cruz.^[18]

Following his win at UFC 139, Faber was selected to be a coach on The Ultimate Fighter: Live opposite Dominick Cruz.^[19] Following the conclusion of the reality show, Faber/Cruz III was expected to take place on July 7, 2012 at UFC 148.^[20] However, Cruz was forced to pull out of the bout citing ACL injury.^[21] Faber will remain on the card and face Renan Barão in a bout for the UFC Interim Bantamweight Championship.^[22]

Personal life[link]

Faber has been dating Rachelle Leah since the latter part 2011.

Championships and awards[link]

Mixed Martial Arts[link]

• Ultimate Fighting Championship
  • Fight of the Night (One Time)
  • Submission of the Night (One Time)
• World Extreme Cagefighting
  • WEC Featherweight Championship (One time)
  • Five successful title defenses
  • Fight of the night (Two Times)
  • Submission of the Night (Three Times)
  • Most consecutive title defenses in the WEC (Five)
• King of the Cage
  • KOTC Bantamweight Championship (One time)
  • Four successful title defenses

Mixed martial arts record[link]

Filmography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Urijah Faber

• Official UFC Profile
• Official website
• Professional MMA record for Urijah Faber from Sherdog

Kanat Abutalipov

Personal information
Full name	Канат Калижанович Абуталипов
Nationality	Kazakhstan
Born	(1983-03-22) March 22, 1983 (age 29) Barshino, Quaraghandy
Height	1.56 m (5 ft 1 in)
Weight	54 kg (120 lb)
Sport
Sport	Boxing
Rated at	Bantamweight

Kanat Kalizhanovich Abutalipov (Kazakh: Қанат Қалижанұлы Әбутәліпов; born March 22, 1983 in Barshino) is a Kazakhstani boxer who competed at the 2008 Olympics at bantamweight but lost his only fight to eventual silver medallist Yankiel Leon (3:10) from Cuba.^[1]

At the World Championships 2009 he won two bouts and made it to the quarterfinals.

References[link]

1. ^ Olympic fights at ESPN

External links[link]

• Personal Data

This biographical article related to Kazakhstani boxing is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e

Nordine Oubaali

Personal information
Born	August 4, 1986
Medal record Men’s Boxing Competitor for  France World Amateur Championships Bronze 2007 Chicago Light Flyweight EU Amateur Championships Bronze 2007 Dublin Light Flyweight

Nordine Oubaali (born August 4, 1986 in Noisy le Grand) is a French amateur boxer of Moroccan descent best known to win a Bronze medal at light flyweight at the 2007 World Amateur Boxing Championships.^[1]

Career[link]

Oubaali is the 13th child of his parents,one of 17 siblings in total. 2006 he became French champion.

At the world championships 2007 the southpaw bested Arginian Junior Zarate (RSCO), Spaniard Kelvin de la Nieve 33:12, and Georgiy Chygayev (UKR) 25-9. In the semis he was overwhelmed by Chinese top favorite Zou Shiming.

At the Olympics he beat Rafikjon Sultonov 8:7 and almost shocked local superstar Zou Shiming but fell 3-3+(jury decision).

References[link]

External links[link]

• Chicago results
• Official site (French)

This biographical article related to a French boxer is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. v t e