The Blackzilians was a professional team of fighters in mixed martial arts , boxing , kickboxing , amateur wrestling and catch wrestling located in South Florida . The team had included former UFC champions Rashad Evans , Vitor Belfort , Eddie Alvarez and Kamaru Usman .
25-397: Owned by Glenn Robinson, Blackzilians, started when MMA fighters Jorge Santiago , Danillo Villefort , Yuri Villefort , and Gesias Cavalcante left American Top Team . The name 'Blackzilians' was coined when Strikeforce Middleweight Danillo Villefort was looking through their management's website and pointed out to Robinson that every fighter (at the time) was Black or Brazilian. It
50-494: A catchweight bout at KSW 52 on December 7, 2019. He lost the fight via unanimous decision. Khalidov next challenged Scott Askham for the KSW Middleweight Championship in a rematch bout at KSW 55: Askham vs. Khalidov 2 on October 10, 2020. He reclaimed the title via first-minute knockout. Khalidov defended his title against Roberto Soldić on December 18, 2021, at KSW 65: Khalidov vs. Soldić . He lost
75-546: A confusing first round where Harris slammed Santiago and Harris believed he had tapped. However, the referee was stopping the action to deduct a point from Santiago for blatantly grabbing the cage during Harris' slam. Following the confusion, the fight continued and Santiago would go on to lose via unanimous decision. Jorge Santiago announced on Dec. 14, 2013 to Ariel Helwani that he has retired from MMA competition. Mitsuyo "Count Koma" Maeda → Carlos Gracie, Sr. → Carlson Gracie → Ricardo Liborio → Jorge Santiago Santiago
100-559: A mixed martial artist and began training mixed martial arts , Muay Thai , combat sambo , Brazilian jiu-jitsu and grappling . As of December 2011, Khalidov has fought eleven times under the KSW banner, though never featuring in a tournament, instead fighting individually such opponents as Daniel Tabera and Matt Lindland . Khalidov made his US debut with EliteXC on their October 10, 2008 ShoXC card against American Jason Guida . After almost two hard-fought rounds, Khalidov stopped Guida on
125-546: A multi-fight contract to return to the Ultimate Fighting Championship . Santiago lost in his UFC return to former WEC Light Heavyweight Champion Brian Stann at UFC 130 via TKO in the second round. Santiago then lost by unanimous decision to Brazilian jiu-jitsu specialist Demian Maia at UFC 136 . Following the loss to Maia, Santiago was released from the promotion. On March 2, 2012, Santiago won his return fight, knocking out Leonardo Pecanha with
150-525: A non-title bout. Khalidov won by first round knockout; Santiago's first loss since 2006. He avenged this loss in March 2010 with a split decision victory over Khalidov at Sengoku 12. Santiago defended his title for a second time when he defeated Kazuo Misaki via TKO at Sengoku 14 in August 2010. On February 8, 2011, Santiago requested and was granted his release from World Victory Road . On February 16, he signed
175-501: A straight right at 1:48 in the first round at Titan Fighting Championships 21 On June 15, 2012 Santiago fought Justin Guthrie at Titan Fighting Championship 23 winning the fight via submission in the first round. Santiago was re-signed by Strikeforce (now owned by the UFC 's parent company Zuffa, LLC ) in August 2012, where he was expected to drop to Welterweight for a bout with former King of
200-504: Is a retired Brazilian mixed martial artist . He was the first Sengoku Middleweight Champion and is the former Strikeforce Middleweight Grand Prix Champion . He has also competed for the UFC , King of the Cage , Titan FC , It's Showtime , and BodogFIGHT. Santiago started his mixed martial arts career at Reality Fighting 2 in 2002 with a win over Jose Rodriguez. In the following years Santago fought for Absolute Fighting Championships, King of
225-404: Is married. He has a daughter from a previous relationship. Mamed Khalidov Mamed Khalidov (Russian: Мамед Магомедович Халидов , romanized : Mamed Magomedovich Khalidov , IPA: [mɐˈmʲɛt maɣɔmʲɛdɔvʲit͡ʂ xɐˈlʲidəf] ; Polish : Mamed Chalidow [ˈmamɛt xaˈlidɔf] ; born 17 July 1980) is a Polish mixed martial artist . He is best known for competing in
250-825: The Middleweight division of Polish MMA promotion KSW , where he is the former KSW Light Heavyweight and KSW Middleweight Champions . He is currently ranked #1 in the KSW Middleweight rankings . Mamed Khalidov was born in Grozny , Soviet Union . He began practicing Kyokushin around the age of 12 or 13, where he also holds a black belt. At the age of 17, he fled from his homeland to Poland and continued practicing Kyokushin, while adding other combat styles to his repertoire such as Taekwondo , Shotokan , wrestling and boxing soon after his arrival. He also became competitive in all sports. Later he also became interested about becoming
275-580: The Middleweight Championship , which Khalidov lost via controversial unanimous decision. At KSW XIII Mamed fought Ryuta Sakurai to a draw. Sakurai secured a kimura early in the first round, but Khalidov escaped. During the rest of the fight he had 6 submission attempts including 4 guillotine chokes, 1 ankle lock and 1 heel hook, but couldn't force the tap from Sakurai. Mamed Khalidov was expected to face Thales Leites and later Matt Lindland at KSW XV However, both fighters were pulled from
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#1732876597722300-483: The Cage , and a few other small organizations earning an 11–5 record. In 2006 he signed with Ultimate Fighting Championships, where he competed three times. He won his UFC debut at UFC Ultimate Fight Night 5 against Justin Levens by first round KO . He returned at UFC Fight Night 6 and UFC Fight Night 7 , losing by KO to former WEC Middleweight Champion , Chris Leben in the second round and to Alan Belcher by KO in
325-656: The Cage Welterweight Champion Quinn Mulhern at Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Healy on September 29, 2012. However, the event was cancelled the following month due to an injury to headliner Gilbert Melendez , and the Santiago/Mulhern bout was not rescheduled before Strikeforce's closure and absorption into the UFC in January 2013. Already signed with Strikeforce, and following his own back-to-back wins outside
350-436: The acclaimed Kazuo Misaki at World Victory Road Presents: Sengoku no Ran 2009 . He was set to face former UFC 12 Heavyweight Tournament Champion and former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion , Vitor Belfort at Affliction: Trilogy , but the match was scrapped after the cancellation of the event. Santiago then fought at World Victory Road Presents: Sengoku 11 against current KSW Middleweight Champion , Mamed Khalidov in
375-399: The bout and his title via knockout after getting caught with a left hook in the second round. Khalidov faced Mariusz Pudzianowski at KSW 77: Khalidov vs. Pudzianowski on December 17, 2022. He went on to defeat Pudzianowski via first-round TKO stoppage after Pudzian tapped to ground and pound. Khalidov faced Scott Askham in trilogy at XTB KSW 83: Colosseum 2 on June 3, 2023. He won
400-454: The bout in the third round after hitting Askham with flying switch kick and finishing him with punches. On February 24, 2024, in the main event of XTB KSW Epic: Chalidow vs Adamek , he fought Tomasz Adamek in a boxing match. He lost due to a hand injury after the third round. Khalidov acquired Polish citizenship in 2010. In June 2019 news surfaced that the police arrested Khalidov due to alleged illegal import of stolen cars. Khalidov
425-470: The card. Instead, Khalidov faced James Irvin at the event and won via submission at 0:33 into the first round. He eventually faced Lindland at KSW 16 in May 2011 and won via submission in the first round. Khalidov was originally scheduled to face Paulo Filho at KSW 17 . However, Filho was forced out of the bout due to him going into rehab for a drug addiction and he was replaced by Jesse Taylor . Khalidov won
450-442: The feet with an unanswered torrent of punches. Following the collapse of EliteXC, Khalidov has expressed interest in a hasty return to KSW, as previously outlined by his signing with ProElite in favor of non-exclusive contract status. Due to a broken hand, Khalidov was unable to return for KSW X on December 12, 2008. Following his recovery, he fought PRIDE veteran Daniel Acacio at KSW XI on 15 May, knocking him out at 1:10 of
475-485: The fight via submission (kneebar) in the first round. Khalidov next competed against former UFC fighter Rodney Wallace on May 12, 2012, at KSW 19. He won the fight via KO in the first round. On December 1, 2012, he defeated Kendall Grove and won the fight via submission (achilles lock). Khalidov next faced Melvin Manhoef at KSW 23 on June 8, 2013, winning the fight by front choke in the first round. On July 30, 2018, it
500-535: The first round to win the newly created KSW Light Heavyweight Championship . Khalidov signed a three-fight deal with World Victory Road Sengoku and his first appearance for the promotion was on the November 7th card against Sengoku middleweight champion Jorge Santiago . Although, the fight was not a title bout, Khalidov defeated Santiago via first-round TKO. A rematch of the bout was held at World Victory Road Presents: Sengoku Raiden Championships 12 on March 7, 2010, for
525-531: The organization, Santiago was called back to the UFC to take on Gunnar Nelson in a welterweight bout on February 16, 2013 at UFC on Fuel TV: Barão vs. McDonald , replacing an injured Justin Edwards . Santiago lost the fight via unanimous decision and was subsequently released from the promotion for the third time. Santiago signed with World Series of Fighting in 2013 and made his promotional debut on August 10, 2013 against Gerald Harris at WSOF 4 . The bout had
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#1732876597722550-636: The third round. He then left the UFC. In his first fight after leaving the UFC, Santiago was victorious against Andrei Semenov at the Bodog Fight: Clash of the Nations show in Russia. In his next fight he had to deal with longtime veteran Jeremy Horn and submitted Horn in the first round. The next challenge for Santiago was the Strikeforce Middleweight tournament on November 16, 2007. Competing in
575-485: The tournament as the underdog, Santiago won the Grand Prix by defeating Sean Salmon and Trevor Prangley on the same night. Continuing on his path of success, Santiago became Middleweight Champion , by defeating Yuki Sasaki , Logan Clark , Siyar Bahadurzada , and Kazuhiro Nakamura . The last two fights were on the same night. Santiago was then crowned World Victory Road 's first Middleweight Champion by defeating
600-483: Was announced that Khalidov had vacated his middleweight championship belt in order to pursue a rematch against KSW Light Heavyweight champion Tomasz Narkun . On October 9, 2018, it was announced that the rematch would happen at KSW 46: Narkun vs. Khalidov 2 on December 1, 2018. Khalidov lost the rematch via unanimous decision and retired from the sport in the cage. In September 2019, news surfaced that Khalidov will be returning from retirement to face Scott Askham in
625-634: Was reported on September 20, 2018, that Glenn Robinson, Blackzilians founder, had died of a suspected heart attack. As of 2017, the Blackzilians as a gym is considered defunct. Many of its members have left to join Sanford MMA , now Kill Cliff Fight Club (founded by Blackzilians trainers Henry Hooft and Greg Jones ) which is considered a successor to the Blackzilians. Jorge Santiago Jorge Santiago Rodrigues ( Portuguese pronunciation: [ˈʒɔʁʒi sɐ̃tʃiˈaɡu] ; born October 9, 1980)
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