Jens Johnnie Pulver (born December 6, 1974) is an American mixed martial artist (MMA). He was the first Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) lightweight champion and was a coach on the The Ultimate Fighter 5 reality show, which aired on Spike TV. He was formerly signed as a featherweight with World Extreme Cagefighting (WEC), which is owned by Zuffa (the parent company of the UFC). Pulver holds notable wins over BJ Penn, Caol Uno, Cub Swanson and Dennis Hallman. He is one of only two men to defeat Penn at lightweight, the other being former UFC Lightweight Champion Frankie Edgar.
The son of a licensed horse jockey, Jens Pulver grew up in Maple Valley, Washington (approximately an hour's drive from Seattle). He was the oldest of four children (two brothers, Dustin and Abel, and one sister, Jamaica). Pulver has heterochromia, a harmless medical condition that gives eyes different colors; in Pulver's case his right eye is blue, while his left eye is brown.
Pulver was raised in what he referred to as a "daily hell." His childhood house was one of continual violence and abuse, stemming mostly from his alcoholic father. Many examples of the abuse Pulver faced as a youth are depicted in his autobiography, Little Evil, One Ultimate Fighter's Rise to the Top, the most extreme of which include an incident where his father threatened the then-seven-year-old Jens by placing a gun in Jens' mouth and then removing it, stating, "Shit, ain't worth a bullet."