Nik Lentz

Nik Lentz (born August 13, 1984) is an American mixed martial artist. Lentz is currently signed with the Ultimate Fighting Championship, fighting in the Featherweight division. As of August 17, 2015, he is #10 in the official UFC featherweight rankings and ranked the #9 Featherweight in the world by Sherdog since September 28, 2014.

Background

Lentz was born in Texas but grew up in Minnesota, attending Bloomington Jefferson High School. After graduating in 2003, he attended the University of Minnesota.

Mixed martial arts career

Training background

He wrestled throughout high school and after graduating in 2003 was awarded a scholarship to wrestle for the University of Minnesota. In 2005, Lentz started training in MMA. He began training MMA & Chinese martial arts with Luis Quiroz, switched to Team Bison, and then switched to Minnesota Martial Arts Academy alongside former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar, former UFC lightweight champion Sean Sherk and former Strikeforce and UFC middleweight Paul Bradley.

Michael McBride

Michael McBride (Irish: Mícheál Mac Giolla Bhríde; born 20 January 1982) is an Irish Gaelic footballer who plays for Derry, with whom he has won a National League title. He plays his club football for St. Colm's Ballinascreen. For both club and county he usually plays in the half back line. His brother Dermot has also played on occasion for Derry.

Playing career

Inter-county

McBride was a substitute on the Derry panel that finished runners-up to Tyrone in the 2005 Dr. McKenna Cup. He was later called up to the Derry panel during the 2007 Championship for cover, but did not play in any games. He worked his way into the Derry team in the 2008 McKenna Cup (where Derry again reached the final) and the 2008 National League, which Derry won defeating Kerry in the final. He made his Championship debut later that year in the defeat to Monaghan.

Details of Championship matches

Club

McBride won a Derry ACFL Division 2 title with Ballinacreen in 2008, promoting the club back into Division 1.

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.

B.J. Penn

Jay Dee "B.J." Penn (born December 13, 1978) is an American professional mixed martial artist and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner. Penn debuted and competed in the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), and later in K-1. Prior to fighting for the UFC, he became the first American Gold medalist of the World Jiu-Jitsu Championship. In mixed martial arts, Penn has competed in the Featherweight, Lightweight, Welterweight, Middleweight, and Heavyweight divisions. As a former UFC Lightweight Champion and UFC Welterweight Champion, he is only the second fighter in UFC history to win titles in multiple weight classes. Penn was also a Co-Champion in the UFC 41 Lightweight Tournament, due to an eventual draw opposite Caol Uno in the tournament finale. Through his tenures as champion, Penn unofficially unified the UFC Lightweight Championship (against Sean Sherk) and broke the all-time lightweight title defense record. Penn was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame, as the inaugural inductee in the Modern-Era Wing by his career-long adversary, Matt Hughes, during International Fight Week in conjunction with UFC 189 in July 2015.