Ovince St. Preux

Ovince St. Preux (born April 8, 1983) is a Haitian American mixed martial artist who competes in the Light Heavyweight division for the UFC. He was well known for competing in the now-defunct Strikeforce promotion, going 6–1 under that banner, in addition to competing for XFC and Shark Fights.

Early life

St. Preux was born in Miami, Florida, to Haitian immigrant parents.^[1] He attended Immokalee High School in Immokalee, Florida, where he wrestled, played defensive end for the football team, and ran track. As a wrestler, he compiled a record of 26-1, and was the state's 1A runner-up in his weight class. During his senior year in football, he registered 75 tackles, including a school-record 18 sacks, and was named All-State. In track, he competed in the 110-meter hurdles, the 300-meter hurdles, the discus throw, and the 4x400 relay.^[2]

St. Preux played college football for the Tennessee Volunteers from 2001 to 2004. After redshirting in 2001, he played primarily as a reserve at both defensive end and linebacker.^[3] He earned varsity letters in 2002 and 2004, appearing in seventeen games during his college career.^[4] He graduated in 2004 with a degree in sociology, and began to train in kickboxing and grappling.^[5]

After two unsuccessful attempts at professional football, St. Preux gave up the sport and began to take an interest in martial arts as a form of training. St. Preux, who currently trains at Knoxville Martial Arts Academy in Knoxville, Tennessee, began to fight professionally at the suggestion of his coach.^[1]

Mixed martial arts career

Ovince's professional mixed martial arts debut came at VFC 1 - Vengeance Fighting Championship against Rodney Wallace, which he lost by decision. In his second MMA match, he suffered another decision loss. His next match came against Robert Turner which he won by a brutal head kick at XFC 7 - School of Hard Knox. St. Preux was a runner-up for Inside MMA's Submission of The Year for 2009 with a calf slicer against Ombey Mobley, but was beaten by Toby Imada's reverse triangle.

Strikeforce

In June 2010, Ovince signed a multi-fight deal with Strikeforce.^[6] His debut match came against Chris Hawk at Strikeforce: Nashville, which he won due to TKO (punches) in the first round.

After knocking out UFC veteran Jason Day in eight seconds outside the Strikeforce organization, he returned to fight Antwain Britt in his second Strikeforce fight on a ShoMMA Strikeforce Challengers event. He won by unanimous decision.^[7]

Ovince returned to action less than a month after his win over Britt to fight UFC and Strikeforce veteran Benji Radach on the main card of Strikeforce: Henderson vs. Babalu II.^[8] St. Preux defeated Radach via unanimous decision (30–27, 30–26, 30–25).

St. Preux competed in his third Strikeforce fight in less than seven weeks and faced Abongo Humphrey on January 7, 2011, at Strikeforce Challengers: Woodley vs. Saffiedine.^[9] He won the fight via unanimous decision.

St. Preux faced Joe Cason on July 22, 2011, at Strikeforce Challengers: Bowling vs. Voelker III.^[10] He won the fight via submission to strikes in the first round. In his post-fight interview, St. Preux asked for either Renato Sobral or Gegard Mousasi as his next opponent.

St. Preux next fought Gegard Mousasi on December 17, 2011, at Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Masvidal.^[11] He lost the fight via unanimous decision.

St. Preux fought T. J. Cook on August 18, 2012, at Strikeforce: Rousey vs. Kaufman. He won the fight via third round KO with a punch.

Ultimate Fighting Championship

In January 2013, the Strikeforce organization was closed by its parent company Zuffa with a majority of the Strikeforce fighters being brought over to the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

For his UFC debut, St. Preux faced fellow promotional newcomer Gian Villante on April 27, 2013, at UFC 159.^[12] The fight ended in unusual fashion as St. Preux accidentally poked Villante in the right eye with his thumb and referee Kevin Mulhall immediately called an end to the fight after asking Villante if he could see. As a result of the injury, the fight went to the judges' scorecards and St. Preux won a majority technical decision.^[13]

For his second bout with the promotion, St. Preux faced Cody Donovan on August 17, 2013, at UFC Fight Night 26.^[14] He won the fight via knockout at 2:07 in the first round.

St. Preux was briefly linked to a bout againist Thiago Silva on January 15, 2014 at UFC Fight Night 35.^[15] However, Silva pulled out of the bout less than 24 hours after the announcement.^[16] The bout was rescheduled for March 15, 2014 at UFC 171.^[17] It was scrapped again, however, on February 7, 2014, after Silva was apprehended by Florida police on attempted murder charges.^[18] St. Preux will now face Nikita Krylov at UFC 171.^[19]

Mixed martial arts record

References

External links

• Professional MMA record for Ovince St. Preux from Sherdog
• UFC profile
• Ovince St. Preux's Greatest Knockouts – MMA Digest site with videos of three of St. Preux's "greatest" knockouts