This Month’s MMA Birthdays: Murilo Bustamante Turns 50
Former Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight titleholder and Brazilian Top Team co-founder Murilo Bustamante will go down in the annals as one of the most underappreciated and influential figures of MMA’s formative years. Bustamante will celebrate his 50th birthday on July 30.
A Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt under the late Carlson Gracie, Bustamante made his UFC debut in April 2000 with a second-round arm-triangle choke submission on Yoji Anjo. A little less than two years later, he captured the middleweight championship by stopping Dave Menne with second-round punches at UFC 35 in Uncasville, Connecticut. Bustamante made one successful defense -- he guillotined Olympic silver medalist Matt Lindland on May 10, 2002 -- before vacating the title to sign with Pride Fighting Championships. He compiled a 4-5 record in the Japanese organization, reaching the final of the 2005 Pride welterweight grand prix, where he lost a split decision to Dan Henderson.
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Others in MMA celebrating a birthday during the month of July:
JULY 1
Amar Suloev (1976-2016)Vener Galiev (41)
Forrest Griffin (37)
Cat Zingano (34)
Ali Yaakub (32)
Karlos Vemola (31)
Norman Paraisy (30)
William Macario (25)
JULY 2
Brad Cardinal (48)Vinny Magalhaes (32)
Godofredo Castro (29)
Brett Cooper (29)
Hakeem Dawodu (25)
JULY 3
Mike Bencic (50)Wanderlei Silva (40)
Tommy Depret (37)
Sascha Weinpolter (30)
JULY 4
Dave Vader (39)Julia Budd (33)
Shamil Zavurov (32)
JULY 5
Kevin Knabjian (32)Ian McCall (32)
Waqar Umar (26)
JULY 6
Tom Erikson (52)Masaaki Sugawara (37)
Hans Stringer (29)
JULY 7
Jason Brilz (41)Pat Barry (37)
Eliot Marshall (36)
Stav Economou (30)
Patricio Freire (29)
Cody Garbrandt (25)
JULY 8
Randy Brown (26)Angela Lee (20)
JULY 9
Renato Sobral (41)Tim Credeur (39)
George Sotiropoulos (39)
Gerald Turek (37)
Peter Davis (35)
Cristiane Justino (31)
Ashlee Evans-Smith (29)
JULY 10
Pete Williams (41)Gleison Tibau (33)
Brock Jardine (31)
JULY 11
Josh Clopton (35)Brandon Thatch (31)
JULY 12
Keiichiro Yamamiya (44)Brock Lesnar (39)
Carlos Eduardo Rocha (35)
Mitch Whitesel (35)
Cody Pfister (26)
JULY 13
Dave Strasser (47)Hidehiko Hasegawa (38)
Jonathan Goulet (37)
Tom Watson (34)
Rina Tomita (32)
JULY 14
Kazushi Sakuraba (47)Mostapha Al-Turk (43)
Falaniko Vitale (42)
Wagnney Fabiano (41)
Rolles Gracie (38)
Leonard Garcia (37)
Shane Roller (37)
Ray Sloan (31)
Alex Garcia (29)
Conor McGregor (28)
Nicholas Lee (21)
JULY 15
Antony Rea (40)Matt Mitrione (38)
Viktor Pesta (26)
JULY 16
Javier Vazquez (39)Toby Imada (38)
Kazuhiro Nakamura (37)
Walel Watson (32)
Lacey Schuckman (28)
JULY 17
Alexander Otsuka (45)Yuki Kondo (41)
Sean McCorkle (40)
Ricardo Arona (38)
Mamed Khalidov (36)
Travis Browne (34)
Saul Elizondo (31)
Mike Byrnes (26)
JULY 18
Crosley Gracie (37)Hatsu Hioki (33)
Ben Askren (32)
Alexander Yakovlev (32)
JULY 19
Jeremiah Constant (42)Raphael Assuncao (34)
Alan Patrick Silva Alves (33)
Elvis Mutapcic (30)
Jon Jones (29)
JULY 20
Aaron Simpson (42)Pat Healy (33)
Ryan Healy (33)
Gilbert Burns (30)
JULY 21
Chris Leben (36)Yushin Okami (35)
Antonio Dos Santos Jr. (28)
Filip Pejic (24)
JULY 22
Carlos Barreto (48)Adrienna Jenkins (35)
Mark Hominick (34)
Eddie Gordon (33)
Cain Carrizosa (30)
Rory MacDonald (27)
JULY 23
Guram Gugenishvili (1987-2014)Georgy Kaysinov (45)
Akira Kikuchi (38)
Sergio Moraes (34)
LeVon Maynard (33)
Chad Laprise (30)
Marcus Vanttinen (29)
Teruto Ishihara (25)
JULY 24
Jason DeLucia (47)Takahiro Kajita (40)
Nathan Coy (38)
Mike Lullo (37)
Tim Carpenter (36)
Josh Sampo (32)
Julian Lane (29)
JULY 25
Tiequan Zhang (38)Michel Richard Cunha dos Prazeres (33)
Chris Honeycutt (28)
JULY 26
Yukio Sakaguchi (43)Anthony Smith (28)
JULY 27
Drew McFedries (38)Lauren Murphy (33)
Daniel Straus (32)
Julia Borisova (31)
Rafael Carvalho (30)
Jessica Eye (30)
JULY 28
Dana White (47)Danny Davis Jr. (34)
Cain Velasquez (34)
Ilir Latifi (33)
George Pacurariu (32)
Darrell Horcher (29)
Gunnar Nelson (28)
JULY 29
Dave Menne (42)Yoshihiro Akiyama (41)
Jay Hieron (40)
Steve Bosse (35)
Matt Grice (35)
JULY 30
Murilo Bustamante (50)Fabricio Werdum (39)
Marius Zaromskis (36)
Robert Emerson (35)
Anthony Christodoulou (29)
JULY 31
Jim Theobald (39)Tito Jones (35)
Joseph Benavidez (32)
Uriah Hall (32)
Julian Erosa (27)
Aljamain Sterling (27)
Thomas Almeida (25)
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