Jason Brilz

Jason Brilz (born July 7, 1975) is an American mixed martial artist. He formerly fought for the Ultimate Fighting Championship in the Light Heavyweight division.

Wrestling career

Brilz won the Nebraska Class A state championship in 1993 wrestling for Omaha Central High School; a school that was ranked the 10th best athletic program in the nation by Sports Illustrated in 2008. Along with his state title, Brilz was an Academic All-American in 1993. At the University of Nebraska-Omaha, Brilz was a three time Academic All-American, a four-year letter winner and compiled a 63–34 career record.

Mixed martial arts career

Brilz made his MMA debut in 2000. He went on to achieve an 11-win streak and has entered into various talks with the UFC throughout the years with the aim of joining the organization. Brilz finally secured his debut deal to fight in his native Omaha, Nebraska, at the UFC Fight Night 15 event.

Ultimate Fighting Championship

Brilz defeated Brad Morris in his UFC debut via TKO (punches) midway through the second round.

Jason

Jason (/ˈdʒeɪsən/; Greek: Ἰάσων Iásōn) was an ancient Greek mythological hero who was famous for his role as the leader of the Argonauts and their quest for the Golden Fleece. He was the son of Aeson, the rightful king of Iolcos. He was married to the sorceress Medea. Because he belongs to mythology, he may have existed before the Greek Dark Ages (1100–800 BC.) The people who wrote about Jason lived around 300 BC.

Jason appeared in various literary works in the classical world of Greece and Rome, including the epic poem Argonautica and the tragedy Medea. In the modern world, Jason has emerged as a character in various adaptations of his myths, such as the 1963 film Jason and the Argonauts and the 2000 TV miniseries of the same name. Jason is also the main character in the British TV series Atlantis.

Jason has connections outside the classical world, being the mythical founder of the city of Ljubljana, the capital of Slovenia.

Early years

Family

Jason's father is invariably Aeson, but there is great variation as to his mother's name. According to various authors, she could be:

Vladimir Matyushenko

Vladimir Vladimirovich Matyushenko (Belarusian: Владимир Владимирович Матющенко, Uladzimir Uladzimiravič Maciušenka; born January 4, 1971) is a retired Belarusian mixed martial artist who fought in the Light Heavyweight division. He has competed for Bellator MMA, UFC, Affliction, Jungle Fight, and is the former IFL Light Heavyweight Champion.

Wrestling career

Matyushenko is an accomplished freestyle wrestling athlete who competed for both the Soviet Union and Belarus. He was a Soviet and Belorussian National Wrestling Champion. At 90 kg, he won a silver medal in the 1994 European championships, and placed 11th in the 1994 world championships. He utilized his wrestling background extensively in his fights.

His nickname of "The Janitor" was coined by Dave Schultz as a joke to the U.S. wrestling team after Matyushenko beat members of their formidable squad (including Olympian Kevin Jackson) during a meet in Siberia. Their first impression of him had been when he was cleaning the mats in poor-looking clothing.

UFC 129

UFC 129: St-Pierre vs. Shields was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on Saturday, April 30, 2011 at Rogers Centre in Toronto, Canada.

Background

The event was the sixth that the UFC has hosted in Canada and the first mixed martial arts event in Ontario since the sport was legalized in the province in August 2010. The Toronto event was originally titled UFC 131 by the promotion, but later changed to UFC 129 as its early 2011 schedule started to fall more firmly into place.

It was the largest UFC event in North American history and coincided with a two-day UFC Fan Expo at the Direct Energy Centre. UFC officials had originally planned for the Rogers Centre to be configured to hold 42,000 fans for UFC 129. The UFC put those tickets on sale to UFC Fight Club members in a special pre-sale on February 10, 2011, selling nearly all of them. They released and sold more tickets the following day to UFC newsletter subscribers in a second special pre-sale. UFC 129 then sold out when tickets went on sale to the general public on February 12, with officials scrambling to up the number of seats to 55,000. Selling out all 55,000 tickets for gate revenues exceeding $11 million, the event shatters both MMA attendance and gate records in North America.

Ultimate Fighting Championship

The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is a mixed martial arts promotion company. It is the largest in the world and features most of the top-ranked fighters in the sport. Based in the United States, the UFC produces events worldwide that showcase ten weight divisions and abide by the Unified Rules of Mixed Martial Arts. The UFC has held over 300 events to date. Dana White serves as the president of the UFC while brothers Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta control the UFC's parent company, Zuffa, LLC.

The first Ultimate Fighting Championship event was held on November 12, 1993 at the McNichols Sports Arena in Denver, Colorado. The purpose of the early Ultimate Fighting Championship competitions were to identify the most effective martial art in a fight, with minimal rules, between competitors of different fighting disciplines, including boxing, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Sambo, wrestling, Muay Thai, karate, judo, and other styles. In subsequent competitions, fighters began adopting effective techniques from more than one discipline, which indirectly helped create an entirely separate style of fighting known as present-day mixed martial arts.