Dan Severn

Daniel "Dan" DeWayne Severn is a retired American mixed martial artist and professional wrestler, notable for his success in the early years of Ultimate Fighting Championship tournaments.. Severn has fought and wrestled for many mixed martial arts and professional wrestling promotions, including King of the Cage, PRIDE FC, Cage Rage, WEC,, RINGS, MFC and the World Wrestling Federation. He holds a professional MMA. Record of 101–19–7 and is a UFC Hall of Famer and a former UFC Superfight, Champion. In professional wrestling, Severn is a. two-time world champion, having won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship twice, with his first reign lasting for over four years. As of September 2014,, Severn still occasionally wrestles. In amateur wrestling, Severn was an All, American at Arizona State University and a U.S. Olympic Team alternate. Career = Wrestling= Severn has a long history in Greco-Roman and freestyle wrestling. He was a. two-time All-American at Arizona State University, the original Sunkist Kid of the Sunkist Kids, and a wrestling coach at both his alma mater Arizona State and Michigan State. In addition to his home country, he has wrestled in Canada,, Mexico, Brazil, Japan, England, and several other countries., Severn failed to win in Olympic trials in 1984 and 1988, and was a finalist in. the trials. During the 1984 Olympic trials, he lost the final qualifying. match in controversial fashion to eventual gold medal winner Lou Banach, a, match that Severn credits with launching his career. "I would have retired in, 1984 from competition had everything gone the way it should have gone...I. should have been on the Olympic freestyle wrestling team and I should have won the gold medal. Instead, I went to Los Angeles as the alternate, and saw, the guy I thought I beat win the gold medal. It was really tough for me to swallow that. That’s what kept me going on." In his long career, he has held many national and international titles. He was often introduced to the UFC, Octagon as holding more than 100 in total. Severn also held the US national, record for victories by pin from 1976 to 1992.. Severn began his career in the fight game as a Greco-Roman and freestyle. wrestler. He quickly became a top high school and collegiate wrestler capturing, many titles, honors, and several national and world titles. As a high, school wrestler Severn was a two-time national champion and set eight national, records in his career. Severn was inducted into Arizona State University's wrestling hall of fame at the end of his collegiate career., After completing his degree program and graduation Severn entered numerous. competitions from 1982 to 1994 that took him to Japan, Hungary, Cuba, France, and. Turkey. On each trip, Severn captured another title. He also secured 13 National AAU wrestling championships during those years. The Beast also tried. his hand at coaching wrestling at ASU and Michigan State University as he, continued to compete and excel after his collegiate career. Severn has been profiled in the press around the world in such publications as, USA Today, People, Karate and Kung Fu Illustrated, Black Belt Magazine, MAD,. Full Contact Fighter, and many of the pro wrestling publications. Severn also runs a wrestling product company and holds annual wrestling clinics for kids, of all ages. He has appeared on 48 Hours, 20/20, The Gordon Elliott Show, Nash Bridges, and many commercials. Severn has developed a 10,000-square-foot training facility on his property called "Michigan Sports Camps" in Coldwater, Michigan. This facility is able to house and train. individuals for mixed martial arts, boxing, kickboxing, amateur wrestling and professional wrestling. = Mixed martial arts=. In 1994, Severn started competing in the Ultimate Fighting Championships. He was the first world-class wrestler to enter the UFC, foreshadowing the period of dominance by wrestlers such as Don Frye in UFC 8 and 9 and Mark Coleman in UFC 10 and 11. Severn entered the UFC in 1994 at UFC 4: Revenge of the Warriors,, where he impressed many UFC fans by executing two impressive back suplexes, on Anthony Macias. In the finals of UFC 4, Severn was defeated by Royce Gracie

who secured a triangle choke for the victory. The submission loss came after. Severn was in Gracie's guard for almost 15 minutes. He soon returned to mixed martial arts competition, defeating several opponents to capture the tournament championship at UFC 5: Return of the Beast. Severn's, second fight was with Russian Oleg Taktarov at UFC 5. He won by TKO after, the referee stopped the fight due to a cut., After winning UFC 5, Severn was matched up with Ken Shamrock at UFC 6 to. determine the first UFC Superfight Champion, but was defeated by Shamrock. early in the fight via submission. Severn then entered the UFC's Ultimate Ultimate 1995, which at the time was the toughest and most competitive tournament. in UFC history, consisting of past UFC tournament champions and runner ups.. Severn defeated Paul Varelans, David "Tank" Abbott, and UFC 6 Tournament Champion Oleg Taktarov all in the same night to capture the tournament title., With this win, Severn earned a rematch and title shot against then current UFC Champion Ken Shamrock for the UFC Superfight Championship. Severn won a, split decision in what most fans regard as one of the worst fights in MMA. history, mainly due to legal issues surrounding the event. With the win, Severn captured his third title for the promotion.. Severn managed his friend and fellow UFC Champion Don Frye during UFC 8. In 1999, Severn founded a new mixed martial arts promotion intended to provide a platform for amateur fighters, called The Danger Zone, in which Severn has also fought. Severn has also trained and became a mentor to notable mixed martial artists. including former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Rashad Evans, The Ultimate, Fighter competitor Luke Zachrich, Sean Sherk, and former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. Severn was inducted into the UFC Hall of. Fame at UFC 52. Severn continued his MMA career on 29. January 2011 by racking up his 97th, and 8th straight, victory in a win over, Scott Fraser. In doing so he won the Elite 1 Heavyweight championship. The end came at 4:59 of Round 2 as Fraser tapped to Severn's arm triangle which he has used to secure his last three victories. The event took place at the. Casino New Brunswick in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada. He successfully defeated Cal Worsham again, this time via unanimous decision in the main event of Legends Collide 2 on 20 February 2011. Held under the long running Gladiator Challenge promotion in San Jacinto, California, Severn picked, up his 9th straight win to improve his record to 98-16-7. Severn earned his 100th career victory on April 16, 2011 with a submission, victory over Aaron Garcia at KOTC: Texas. = Professional wrestling= Severn is an accomplished professional wrestler, having worked for UWF International in Japan, the National, Wrestling Alliance, and the World Wrestling Federation. He entered the National Wrestling Alliance in 1995, and defeated Chris. Candido for his first NWA World Heavyweight Championship on a Smoky. Mountain Wrestling card. Severn would go on to win the UFC Superfight Heavyweight Championship that year, making him the first and only man to hold an MMA and a. professional wrestling championship simultaneously. Severn would go on to, hold the NWA Championship for four years, the longest reign in over two decades and currently the third-longest reign in the belt's history.. As NWA champion, Severn appeared in the World Wrestling Federation in 1998 during a storyline where the NWA invaded the WWF. He feuded with old MMA rival, Ken Shamrock, where the WWF played up their history in UFC. During his. one-year tenure, he competed in the Brawl for All tournament, beating The, Godfather in the first round. However, he withdrew prior to the quarterfinals,. allowing The Godfather to advance by default. He would also take part in the, 1998 King of the Ring tournament, defeating D'Lo Brown and Owen Hart before losing to The Rock in the semi-finals. Later that year he was involved in a storyline with Owen Hart, where Hart caused an injury to the neck. of Severn, via a piledriver. He was part of the 1999 Royal Rumble being the 8th entrant lasting almost 6 minutes before being eliminated by Mabel. He left WWF.

due creative differences. According to Severn, WWF asked to him to tattoo "666", on his forehead and become an Undertaker disciple., Severn appeared in 2000 in the short-lived WXO promotion. In 2001, he. again won the NWA World Heavyweight Championship, this time from Shinya, Hashimoto in Japan. This title reign was controversial and short-lived, as the title was stripped from Severn when he was unable to appear on the inaugural. NWA-TNA pay-per-view to defend his title; the belt was won that evening by Ken Shamrock. Severn founded Price of Glory Wrestling with Mark Pennington, based out of Coldwater, Michigan in June 2004.. Utilizing the many students at his pro wrestling school Michigan Sports Camps, they created the now popular promotion running on a monthly basis. Severn has, competed many times on Price of Glory Wrestling against the likes of Jimmy, Jacobs, N8 Mattson, CJ Otis, Jack Thriller and more., = Retirement= On January 1, 2013, Severn announced his retirement from MMA competition. Personal life. Severn was born in Flint, Michigan,and went to High School at Hill McCloy HS located in Montrose, Michigan. He has 5 children.. In professional wrestling Finishing moves, The Beast Choker Armbar, Signature moves Back to belly piledriver, sometimes, transitioned into an armbar Belly to belly suplex. Guillotine choke Heel hook. Keylock Rear naked choke Nicknames The Beast. Managers Jim Cornette, Championships and accomplishments = Amateur wrestling=. Arizona State University wrestling Hall of Famer, 1980 Summer Olympic team alternate 13 National AAU wrestling championships. from 1982 to 1994 1984 Summer Olympic team alternate 1985 Canada Cup Gold Medalist 1988 Summer Olympic team alternate = Mixed martial arts= World Extreme Cagefighting, Headlined and Won the main event of WEC Ultimate Fighting Championship. UFC 5 Tournament Winner Ultimate Ultimate 1995 Tournament Winner UFC Superfight Championship UFC 4 Tournament Runner Up. UFC Hall of Fame UFC Viewer's Choice Award, First fighter to ever be awarded a UFC title belt, Triple Crown Champion The Danger Zone. Undefeated in Danger Zone single bout competition. Elite-1 MMA Elite-1 MMA Heavyweight Championship, Continental Freefighting Alliance CFA Super Heavyweight Championship. Gladiator Challenge Gladiator Challenge Superfight Heavyweight Championship Sherdog. Mixed Martial Arts Hall of Fame MMA Freak.com Hall of Fame, Class of 2014 = Professional wrestling= Atlantic Terror Championship Wrestling ATCW Heavyweight Championship. Great American Mat Endeavors GAME Heavyweight Championship, Great American Mat Endeavors GAME Heavyweight Championship, Global Wrestling Alliance GWA Heavyweight Championship, Legends Pro Wrestling LPW Hall of Fame. National Championship Wrestling NCW Heavyweight Championship. National Wrestling Alliance NWA United Kingdom Heavyweight Championship NWA World Heavyweight Championship. Price of Glory Wrestling PoG Heavyweight Championship Pro Wrestling Illustrated PWI ranked him #35 of the top 500, singles wrestlers in the PWI 500 in 1995 PWI ranked him #252 of the top 500. singles wrestlers of the "PWI Years" in 2003, Mixed martial arts record References,