Heath Herring (born March 2, 1978 in Waco, TX, raised in Amarillo, TX ) is an American Heavyweight professional mixed martial artist who attained popularity fighting for PRIDE FC in Japan and now fights in the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He is primarily known for fighting the world's top heavyweight talent, such as Fedor Emelianenko, Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipović, Antonio Rodrigo "Minotauro" Nogueira and Brock Lesnar.

Career

Herring is an MMA fighter who practices sambo and muay thai. He currently lives in Las Vegas and trains at Warrior Training Center under the Dutch Kickboxing/Muay Thai legend Rob Kaman.

Herring is known for unique hairstyles and colors as well as wearing a cowboy hat and duster coat to the ring. His appearance is very popular among the Japanese crowd. According to commentary during his PRIDE Shockwave '03 fight against Giant Silva, he wears contact lenses.

PRIDE Fighting Championship

Herring is a long time veteran in PRIDE, where he participated in 17 fights . He took part in the first Heavyweight title fight against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira where he lost by unanimous decision. Despite his earlier championship loss to Rodrigo Nogueira he was widely considered the number one contender until his first round loss to Fedor Emelianenko. His most notable wins are over Evan Tanner, Igor Vovchanchyn, Mark Kerr, and Cheick Kongo.

He parted ways with PRIDE in late 2004 because of management and payment disputes.

New Year's Eve Kiss

Herring was involved in a memorable MMA moment on December 31, 2005 during K-1's Dynamite 2005 show. During the pre-fight staredown, his opponent, Yoshihiro Nakao, leaned in and kissed him on the lips. Herring reacted, delivering a right hook to the jaw of Nakao, knocking him out cold. Herring was immediately disqualified and Nakao was carried from the ring. Shortly thereafter, Nakao's cornermen attacked Herring and a brief melee ensued. Herring's trainers, Ricardo Pires and Sergio Penha fought off Nakao's trainers until security stopped the fight. The fight result has since been changed by K-1 from a disqualification loss for Herring to a no contest, as K-1 judges ruled that Nakao's kiss and Herring's subsequent knockout punch were both fouls.

Transition to the UFC

Herring was long suspected to be an acquisition of the UFC's purchase of the World Fighting Alliance. Herring had signed a contract with the WFA in 2006, and it was soon confirmed that he had become integrated into the UFC roster following the WFA buyout. Herring considered himself a hired gun to shake up the UFC's heavy weight division. He lost to Jake O'Brien via unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night 8 in his UFC debut.

On Saturday, April 7, 2007, at UFC 69 Heath faced off against The Ultimate Fighter 2 heavyweight finalist Brad Imes. Herring won the match by unanimous decision after 3 rounds.

At UFC 73, Herring lost via unanimous decision to Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, but not before he landed a left high kick to Nogueira's head late in the first round. Nogueira was sent to the ground, visibly stunned, but Herring did not engage him and attempt to finish the fight, opting to stand up shortly after the kick and beckoned Nogueira to stand as well. The referee motioned Noguiera to stand up after the brief flurry on the ground, giving Herring the advantage but Herring was not able to finish the fight in the first round. Nogueira then controlled the action for the next two rounds with Herring backing away constantly.

At UFC 82 Heath won a three round split-decision against rising contender Cheick Kongo. While both are considered strikers, much of the fight took place on the ground. After the fight Heath said he wasn't happy with the fight, he wanted to give the fans a stand-up fight and Kongo refused to stand with him. Herring also said after the fight that he did not even train at all for the ground game.

Herring fought Brock Lesnar at UFC 87 after Mark Coleman was forced to withdraw due to a knee injury. The fight went the full 3 rounds and Lesnar was declared winner by unanimous decision. Herring was seen struggling with the larger, physically more dominant opponent, and was knocked down early in the first round with a straight right. According to Heath Herring's official Facebook profile in a note titled "6 Months To Rest", Herring is said to have suffered a broken orbital bone from the first punch of the fight. Herring was scheduled to fight Cain Velasquez at UFC 99, but was forced to withdraw due to an undisclosed injury suffered from training.

Herring has added that the reason he has not fought since UFC 87 is because of his recent movie deals and how they pay more than the UFC.

Film career

Heath Herring starred in Never Surrender, that was released by Lions Gate Entertainment in 2009. According to an October 6 comment on Herring's Facebook page, he has completed work in several other recent or upcoming films, including Hell's Chain, Devil Dogs, Unrivaled, and Salt (which will star Angelina Jolie).

MMA record

Professional record breakdown

43 matches 28 wins 14 losses

By knockout 7 4

By submission 16 2

By decision 4 8

By disqualification 1 0

Draws 0

No contests 1

2008-08-09 Loss 28–14 (1) Brock Lesnar Decision (Unanimous) UFC 87: Seek and Destroy 3, 5:00

2008-03-01 Win 28–13 (1) Cheick Kongo Decision (Split) UFC 82: Pride of a Champion 3, 5:00

2007-07-07 Loss 27–13 (1) Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira Decision (Unanimous) UFC 73: Stacked 3, 5:00

2007-04-07 Win 27–12 (1) Brad Imes Decision (Unanimous) UFC 69: Shootout 3, 5:00

2007-01-25 Loss 26–12 (1) Jake O'Brien Decision (Unanimous) UFC Fight Night 8 3, 5:00

2006-03-15 Win 26–11 (1) Gary Goodridge TKO (Punches) K-1 Hero's 4 2, 1:55

2005-12-31 NC 25–11 (1) Yoshihiro Nakao No Contest (Both committed fouls) K-1 Dynamite!!! 2005 Pre Fight Herring knocked Nakao out after Nakao kissed him during the Staredown

2005-03-26 Loss 25–11 Sam Greco TKO (Knee Injury) K-1 Hero's 1 1, 2:24

2004-10-21 Win 25–10 Hirotaka Yokoi KO (Knees) PRIDE 28 1, 1:55

2004-06-20 Loss 24–10 Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira Submission (Anaconda Choke) PRIDE Critical Countdown 2004 2, 0:30

2004-04-25 Win 24–9 Yoshiki Takahashi KO (Punches) PRIDE Total Elimination 2004 1, 4:53

2004-02-01 Win 23–9 Gan McGee Decision (Split) PRIDE 27 3, 5:00

2003-12-31 Win 22–9 Giant Silva Submission (Rear Naked Choke) PRIDE Shockwave 2003 3, 0:35

2003-11-09 Win 21–9 Yoshihisa Yamamoto Submission (Choke) PRIDE Final Conflict 2003 3, 2:29

2003-06-08 Loss 20–9 Mirko Filipovic TKO (Strikes) PRIDE 26 1, 3:17

2002-11-24 Loss 20–8 Fedor Emelianenko TKO (Doctor Stoppage) PRIDE 23 1, 10:00

2002-09-29 Win 20–7 Iouri Kotchkine TKO (Knees) PRIDE 22 1, 7:31

2002-02-24 Win 19–7 Igor Vovchanchyn Decision (Unanimous) PRIDE 19 3, 5:00

2001-11-03 Loss 18–7 Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira Decision (Unanimous) PRIDE 17 3, 5:00 This match was for the Pride Heavyweight Championship

2001-07-29 Win 18–6 Mark Kerr TKO (Knees) PRIDE 15 2, 4:56

2001-05-27 Loss 17–6 Vitor Belfort Decision PRIDE 14 3, 5:00

2001-03-25 Win 17–5 Denis Sobolev Submission (Keylock) PRIDE 13 1,:22

2000-12-09 Win 16–5 Enson Inoue TKO (Strikes) PRIDE 12 1, 4:52

2000-10-31 Win 15–5 Tom Erikson Submission (Rear Naked Choke) PRIDE 11 1, 6:17

2000-06-04 Win 14–5 Willie Peeters Submission (Rear Naked Choke) PRIDE 9 1, 0:48

2000-04-29 Loss 13–5 Ramazan Mezhidov TKO (Cut) IAFC-Pankration World Championship 2000 Day 2 1, 4:55

2000-03-05 Win 13–4 Rene Rooze DQ (Excessive Fouling) 2H2H 1–2 Hot 2 Handle 1, 3:20

1999-09-27 Win 12–4 Bob Schrijber TKO (Punches) WVC 9-World Vale Tudo Championship 9 1, 2:19

1999-09-27 Win 11–4 Sean McCully Submission (Kimura) WVC 9-World Vale Tudo Championship 9 1, 0:43

1999-09-27 Win 10–4 Michael Tielrooy Submission (Keylock) WVC 9-World Vale Tudo Championship 9 1, 1:14

1999-09-07 Loss 9–4 Bobby Hoffman Decision (Unanimous) SB 13-SuperBrawl 13 2, 5:00

1999-09-07 Win 9–3 Rocky Batastini Submission (Rear Naked Choke) SB 13-SuperBrawl 13 1, 1:00

1999-07-01 Loss 8–3 Alexandre Ferreira Decision WVC 8-World Vale Tudo Championship 8 1, 30:00

1999-07-01 Win 8–2 Kavkaz Soultanmagomedov Submission (Punches) WVC 8-World Vale Tudo Championship 8 1, 1:18

1999-07-01 Win 7–2 Erwin van den Steen Submission (Punches) WVC 8-World Vale Tudo Championship 8 1, 4:33

1999-06-01 Win 6–2 Gabe Beauperthy Submission (Armlock) BRI 3-Bas Rutten Invitational 3 1, 4:43

1999-06-01 Win 5–2 Hoss Carter Submission (Keylock) BRI 3-Bas Rutten Invitational 3 1, 1:07

1999-05-15 Loss 4–2 Travis Fulton Decision EC 24-Extreme Challenge 24 1, 12:00

1999-04-17 Win 4–1 Phil Deason Submission (Keylock) WVF-Durango 1, 0:13

1999-04-17 Win 3–1 Nik Bickle Submission (Strikes) WVF-Durango 1, 0:32

1997-11-22 Win 2–1 Evan Tanner Submission (Rear Naked Choke) PSDA: PSDA 1, 8:20

1997-10-18 Loss 1–1 Evan Tanner Verbal Submission (Exhaustion) USWF 7: Unified Shoot Wrestling Federation 7 1, 6:19

1997-04-12 Win 1–0 Chris Guillen Submission (Rear Naked Choke) USWF 4-Unified Shoot Wrestling Federation 4 1, 6:19