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 January 17, 2014, he is #8 in official UFC featherweight rankings ^[2] and ranked the #7 featherweight in the world by Sherdog.^[3]

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.

Early career

Lentz made his professional debut in 2005 against Anthony White. The fight ended after Lentz knocked out White sometime during the first round. His next fight ended in the same way as the first with Lentz earning himself his second consecutive KO win. His third fight showed off Lentz's power in his hands after he forced his opponent to submit to punches.

Lentz went 4–0 after securing a rear naked choke submission win over Kenneth Allen. His first loss came out the hands of Sherron Leggett from a razor thin split decision. Lentz bounced back with a knock out win over Chris Powers. On a card held by Ultimate Combat Sports, Lentz submitted Jake Hoyer using a rear naked choke.

On August 2006, Lentz took his second loss from Brian Green who submitted him using an armbar in the first round. Lentz won his next three fights, all with first round knockouts; one of the three was against Bellator lightweight, Carey Vanier.

Lentz had a grueling back-and-forth battle with Mark Moreno before the fight ended in disappointment when the cage-side doctors ruled Lentz unable to continue. After the loss to Moreno, Lentz went on to compile a 7–0–1 record in his next 8 fights including a victory over UFC veteran, Drew Fickett. He was then signed by the UFC and entered with a 16–3–1 record.

Ultimate Fighting Championship

In August 2009, it was announced Lentz had been signed with the UFC, and he would make his debut at UFC 103. He replaced an injured Dan Lauzon and upset Rafaello Oliveira, winning via unanimous decision with scores of 29–28, 29–28, and 30–27.

Again being the underdog, Lentz faced Thiago Tavares at UFC Fight Night 20, with the fight ending in a rare majority draw.^[4]

At UFC Fight Night 21 in North Carolina, Lentz moved his UFC record to 2–0–1 by defeating TUF 5 alummus, Rob Emerson via unanimous decision.

In his fourth UFC appearance, Lentz defeated Andre Winner at UFC 118 via unanimous decision (30–27 (twice) and 29–28). The match was shown on Spike TV before the Pay-Per-View event. Lentz scored multiple take-downs throughout the fight but was not able to capitalize on them. The fight was criticized for lack of action.^[5][6]

Lentz got a huge victory over Tyson Griffin on November 20, 2010, at UFC 123 via controversial split decision.^[7]

At UFC Fight Night 24, Lentz fought and defeated division II national wrestling champion, Waylon Lowe.^[8] After Lowe won the first and second rounds convincingly, Lentz came back in the third and scored an impressive come from behind submission win.^[9]

Lentz faced Charles Oliveira on June 26, 2011 at UFC Live: Kongo vs. Barry.^[10] The fight ended in the second round after Oliveira hit Lentz with an illegal knee which went unnoticed by the referee and submitted the dazed Lentz via rear naked choke. However, after reviewing the incident, the Pennsylvania State Athletic Commission overturned the result and declared it a no contest.^[11] The back and forth action earned both fighters Fight of the Night honors.

Lentz was defeated by Mark Bocek on December 10, 2011 at UFC 140 via unanimous decision.^[12] Lentz was taken down all three rounds and controlled despite threatening Bocek twice with a guillotine choke in rounds 1 and 2.

Lentz lost to Evan Dunham due to doctor stoppage because of a large cut under his left eye on January 28, 2012 at UFC on Fox 2, having replaced an injured Paul Sass.^[13]

Lentz made his featherweight debut against Eiji Mitsuoka on August 11, 2012 at UFC 150.^[14] Lentz controlled the entirety of the fight and won the fight via TKO in the first round.^[15]

In his second fight at featherweight, Lentz faced Diego Nunes on January 19, 2013 at UFC on FX: Belfort vs. Bisping.^[16] He won the fight via unanimous decision in what is arguably the biggest victory of his career.

Lentz next faced Hacran Dias on May 18, 2013 at UFC on FX 8, replacing an injured Manvel Gamburyan^[17] He won the back-and-forth fight via unanimous decision.

Lentz was briefly linked to a bout with Dennis Bermudez on November 6, 2013 at UFC Fight Night 31.^[18] However, Lentz was pulled from the pairing with Bermudez and instead faced Chad Mendes on December 14, 2013 at UFC on Fox 9.^[19] He lost the fight via unanimous decision.

Mixed martial arts record

References

External links

• Official UFC Profile
• Professional MMA record for Nik Lentz from Sherdog