Fighter Profile: Joe Stevenson

Overall Record: 36-11

UFC Record: 8-5

Hometown: Torrance, CA

Height: 5’7”

Age: June 15, 1982

Joe Stevenson is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt and former collegiate wrestler from Torrance, CA. Joe currently resides and trains out of Victorville, CA at Cobra Kai. His head trainer at Cobra Kai is Irvin Bounds.

“Joe Daddy”, which is his nickname on fight nights, got his start in MMA as a 17 year old fighting on Indian reservations. He had to have his mothers’ permission to fight at his age. He began his UFC career on The Ultimate Fighter 2 reality series on Spike TV. He went on to dominate the welterweight tournament, win the six figure contract and car that came with the victory.

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Soon after the UFC contract was signed, Joe moved to the lightweight division. He has been ranked consistently as one of the top 10 lightweight fighters in the world in a number of different polls.

Joe is known mostly as a submission specialist (13 submission wins) but has the ability to knock his opponent out (6 TKO/KO wins) or go the entire distance (9 decision wins). His favorite move to use in the octagon is the guillotine choke.

Stevenson has built up a 6-3 UFC record over the last three plus years in the octagon. He holds some notable wins with the organization. His first win came at The Ultimate Fighter 2 finale in November of 2005 against Luke Cummo. He fought three tough rounds with Cummo to earn the unanimous decision victory. He also went the distance in an August 2007 fight against Kurt Pelligrino at UFC 74 to earn a lightweight title shot.

His biggest loss in the UFC was probably the UFC 80 title fight against current champion B.J. Penn. Unfortunately, for Joe it will be remembered for the wrong reasons. That title fight was one of the bloodiest fights in history. Penn opened up a cut on Stevensons’ head with an elbow that bled profusely until the fight was over as Penn submitted him late in the second round.

Joe will begin his journey back up the lightweight division at UFC 95. Joe will welcome Diego Sanchez to the division, in his first lightweight fight. A win would put Joe back in the conversation as contenders and top 10 lightweight fighters.

Recent Joe Stevenson MMA News:

• Defeated Spencer Fisher at UFC 104 on October 24, 2009 - UFC 104 results

• Lost to George Sotiropoulos at UFC 110 by Unanimous Decision on February 20, 2010 - UFC 110 results

By Nick Russell
ProFighting-fans.com Staff Writer
Published February 2009, record updated February 22, 2009