This Month’s MMA Birthdays: Maurice Smith Turns 60

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Maurice Smith remains one of MMA’s most overlooked pioneers. The former Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight titleholder turns 60 on Dec. 13.

Smith was a multiple-time world championship kickboxer who befriended ground specialist Frank Shamrock—together, they formed The Alliance—and unknowingly provided one of the blueprints to the cross-training methods that now dominate modern mixed martial arts. The Seattle native made his Octagon debut at UFC 14, where, despite his middling 5-7 record, he challenged the heavily favored Mark Coleman for the undisputed heavyweight championship on July 27, 1997. Smith upset “The Hammer” by unanimous decision before a crowd of 5,000 fans inside Boutwell Auditorium in Birmingham, Alabama, marking the first significant victory for a striking-based fighter in what had become a wrestling-dominated landscape. He went on to retain the title with a technical knockout of David “Tank” Abbott at UFC 15 three months later before surrendering it in a contentious majority decision loss to Randy Couture on Dec. 21, 1997. Smith closed out his career with a 14-14 record, his resume highlighted by the game-changing win over Coleman and two stoppage victories against Marco Ruas. He was inducted into the pioneer wing of the UFC Hall of Fame in 2017.

Others in MMA celebrating a birthday during the month of December:

DEC. 1

Scott Barrett, 38
Rivaldo Junior, 38
Shinsho Anzai, 36
Chad Anheliger, 35
Weber Almeida, 34
Curtis Millender, 34
Richard Walsh, 33
Saul Rogers, 32
Kailan Hill, 27
Jamal Pogues, 26

DEC. 2

LaVerne Clark, 48
Dennis Hallman, 46
Mike Wessel, 44
Caio Alencar, 43
Vitor Vianna, 42
John Orr, 38
Billy Vaughan, 38
Ali Bagov, 31
Marlon Vera, 29
Yadong Song, 24

DEC. 3

Vernon White, 50
Robert Hitte, 46
Cristiano Marcello, 44
Seth Petruzelli, 42
Jonatas Novaes, 40
Icho Larenas, 39
Nina Nunes, 36
Murad Machaev, 35
Shoki Omichi, 34
Tomasz Narkun, 32

DEC. 4

Sean Daugherty, 46
Josh Machan, 35
Mario Soto, 35
Tyler Bialecki, 33
Bryce Logan, 32
Mike Rhodes, 32
Ryan Roddy, 32
Roldan Sangcha-an, 31
Max Holloway, 30
Gianni Subba, 29

DEC. 5

Daijiro Matsui, 49
Amy Davis, 47
Tetsuji Kato, 44
Kenichiro Togashi, 41
Roger Bowling, 39
Mats Nilsson, 38
Brendan Loughnane, 32
Brok Weaver, 30
Austin Clem, 29
Jared Gooden, 28

DEC. 6

Royler Gracie, 56
Jens Pulver, 47
Freddie Aquitania, 42
Peggy Morgan, 42
Igor Araujo, 41
Vladimir Starcencov, 39
Vanessa Marie Grimes, 37
Silvana Gomez Juarez, 37
Todd Duffee, 36
Chris Rollins, 32

DEC. 7

Juan Mott, 56
Ronaldo Souza, 42
K.J. Noons, 39
Mike Mucitelli, 38
Dongi Yang, 37
Justin Patterson, 36
Michael Chiesa, 34
Claudia Gadelha, 33
Stephen Banaszak, 31
Brandon Moreno, 28

DEC. 8

Frank Shamrock, 49
Lucio Linhares, 48
Makoto Takimoto, 47
Clay Guida, 40
Naoyuki Kotani, 40
Drew Pendleton, 38
Luiz Andrade I, 36
Steve Cantwell, 35
Billy Quarantillo, 33
Pannie Kianzad, 30

DEC. 9

Chris Guillen, 49
Derek Bohi, 42
Aaron Riley, 41
Joey Beltran, 40
Carlos Eduardo , 40
Bobby King, 38
Terrell Hobbs, 36
Maria Oliveira, 35
Frank Buenafuente, 34
Egor Golubtsov, 34

DEC. 10

John Olav Einemo, 46
Andreas Kraniotakes, 40
Zoila Frausto, 38
Jamie Varner, 37
Zarah Fairn dos Santos, 35
Flore Hani, 35
Ben Sosoli, 32
Soo Chul Kim, 30
Marilia Santos, 29
Tracy Cortez, 28

DEC. 11

Yuka Tsuji, 47
Toni Tauru, 37
Mark Drummond, 36
Amir Aliakbari, 34
Jason Ponet, 33
Anthony Rocco Martin, 32
Mateusz Gamrot, 31
Alexander Romanov, 31
Chris Disonell, 29
Uros Jurisic, 29

DEC. 12

Royce Gracie, 55
Evangelista Santos, 44
Yuki Shojo, 41
Court McGee, 37
Tristan Connelly, 36
Luke Sanders, 36
Neiman Gracie, 33
Derrick Adkins, 32
Alessio Di Chirico, 32
Spencer Jebb, 32

DEC. 13

Maurice Smith, 60
Mike Nickels, 50
Todd Brown, 45
B.J. Penn, 43
Amilcar Alves, 42
Sarah D'Alelio, 41
Garett Whiteley, 41
Dennis Bermudez, 35
Johnny Eblen, 30
Justin Tafa, 28

DEC. 14

Fernando Vieira, 38
Valdir Araujo, 37
Thiago de Oliveira Perpetuo, 35
Caio Magalhaes, 34
Amber Brown, 33
Graham Park, 33
Zach Zane, 32
Heili Alateng, 30
Ion Cutelaba, 28
Kazim Tumenov, 23

DEC. 15

Cleber Luciano, 48
Toni Valtonen, 43
Paul Taylor, 42
Guangyou Ning, 40
Yasubey Enomoto, 38
Jared Chaffee, 37
Ivica Truscek, 34
Poliana Botelho, 33
Roman Bogatov, 31
Fernando Padilla, 25

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DEC. 16

Bobby Southworth, 52
Narantungalag Jadambaa, 46
Elaina Maxwell, 43
James Thompson, 43
Adriano Martins, 39
Takeya Mizugaki, 38
Won Sik Park, 35
Cody McKenzie, 34
Nicco Montano, 33
Raufeon Stots, 33

DEC. 17

Chuck Liddell, 52
Kiyoshi Tamura, 52
Scott Junk, 43
David Loiseau, 42
Francisco Trevino, 40
Victor Valimaki, 40
Joe Ray, 37
Matt Dwyer, 32
Steve Kozola, 32
Aline Sattelmayer, 31

DEC. 18

Kim Couture, 46
Evan Dunham, 40
Roland Delorme, 38
Ali Isaev, 38
Davey Grant, 36
Deiveson Figueiredo, 34
Gerald Meerschaert, 34
Bojan Velickovic, 33
John Castaneda, 30
Benoit St. Denis, 26

DEC. 19

Davis Sylvester, 48
Michihiro Omigawa, 46
Guido Cannetti, 42
Satoshi Ishii, 35
Darrion Caldwell, 34
Jack Marshman, 32
Steve Montgomery, 31
Tatiana Suarez, 31
Brad Katona, 30
Maria Silva, 26

DEC. 20

Mark Coleman, 57
Steve Granieri, 47
Nandor Guelmino, 46
Taiyo Nakahara, 39
Tristan Johnson, 38
Steve Carl, 37
Alexei Kudin, 37
Peter Petties, 31
Robert Whittaker, 31
Kouya Kanda, 26

DEC. 21

Mark Kerr, 53
Mauro Ranallo, 52
Tuan Pham, 44
Masakatsu Ueda, 44
Mike Bannon, 39
Brad Tavares, 34
Levi Queen, 33
Olivier Murad, 28
Haris Talundzic, 26
Isa Kilaev, 22

DEC. 22

David Branch, 40
Bentley Syler, 39
Michel Quinones, 37
Zak Ottow, 35
Norman Parke, 35
Austin Hubbard, 30
Alex Polizzi, 30
Stephen Langdown, 29
Leonardo Morales, 29
Kyron Bowen, 28

DEC. 23

Francisco Bueno, 49
Fabricio Camoes, 43
Egidijus Valavicius, 43
Daniel Barrera, 41
Iony Razafiarison, 37
Joanne Wood, 35
Umar Yankovski, 33
Lance Wright, 29
Josiane Nunes, 28
Nick Maximov, 24

DEC. 24

Samy Schiavo, 46
Drew Fickett, 42
Jason Miller, 41
Cyril Asker, 36
Jesse Ronson, 36
Tim Elliott, 35
Aisling Daly, 34
David Khachatryan, 34
Klidson Abreu, 29
Darren Till, 29

DEC. 25

Daniel Tabera, 44
Mike Aina, 41
Rafael Natal, 39
Damien Brown, 37
Jordan Smith, 37
Rolando Velasco, 35
Dustin Ortiz, 33
Magomed Magomedov, 30
Joshua Silveira, 29
Alejandro Sanchez, 28

DEC. 26

Joe Angel Zamora, 50
Jerome Le Banner, 49
Alex Stiebling, 45
Dan Hornbuckle, 41
Jesus Martinez, 38
Gregor Gracie, 35
Advin Omic, 35
Kyle Noblitt, 32
Dominick Reyes, 32
Albert Tumenov, 30

DEC. 27

Mike Polchlopek, 58
Liron Wilson, 49
Matt Lucas, 48
Daniel Acacio, 44
Yosmany Cabezas, 38
Cale Yarbrough, 35
Teddy Ash, 32
Simone La Preziosa, 32
Joe Pingitore, 31
Sol Renato, 31

DEC. 28

Gerald Lovato, 43
Steve Mocco, 40
Richard Knepp, 38
Matt Bessette, 37
Katlyn Chookagian, 33
Ozzy Dugulubgov, 33
Niklas Stolze, 29
Brendan Allen, 26
Ismael Bonfim, 26
Kyohei Hagiwara, 26

DEC. 29

Rumina Sato, 48
Mitsuhiro Ishida, 43
Edson Claas Vieira, 43
Mika Nagano, 38
Altair Alencar, 33
Anthony Avila, 33
Hugh Pulley, 33
Sheila Gaff, 32
Camila Lima, 32
Joey Davis, 28

DEC. 30

Jason Ireland, 42
Shannon Gugerty, 40
Todd Moore, 38
Nick Osipczak, 37
Wagner Prado, 35
Magomed Alhasov, 31
Darren Stewart, 31
Diego Lopes, 27
Karol Rosa, 27
Azamat Bekoev, 26

DEC. 31

Herman Renting, 53
Ian Freeman, 51
Kevin Jordan, 51
John Renken, 49
Diego Sanchez, 40
Chance Rencountre, 35
Daniel Rodriguez, 35
Randy Steinke, 35
Chidi Njokuani, 33
Michael Trizano, 30