| Seth Petruzelli | |
|---|---|
| Born | Seth Christopher Petruzelli (1979-12-03)December 3, 1979 (age 45) Cape Coral, Florida, United States |
| Other names | The Silverback |
| Residence | Orlando, Florida, United States |
| Height | 6 ft 0 in (183 cm) |
| Weight | 205 lb (93 kg; 14 st 9 lb) |
| Division | Heavyweight Light Heavyweight |
| Reach | 75 in (191 cm) |
| Fighting out of | Orlando, Florida, United States |
| Team | The Jungle MMA and Fitness |
| Rank | 3rd degree Black belt inBrazilian Jiu-Jitsu 4th degree black belt inShitō-ryū |
| Years active | 2000–2013 (MMA) |
| Kickboxing record | |
| Total | 3 |
| Losses | 3 |
| By knockout | 3 |
| Mixed martial arts record | |
| Total | 22 |
| Wins | 14 |
| By knockout | 12 |
| By submission | 1 |
| By decision | 1 |
| Losses | 8 |
| By knockout | 3 |
| By submission | 4 |
| By decision | 1 |
| Other information | |
| Mixed martial arts record fromSherdog | |
Last updated on: September 8, 2012 | |
Seth Christopher Petruzelli (born December 3, 1979) is an American retiredmixed martial artist,kickboxer,professional wrestler and entrepreneur. Petruzelli competed in theHeavyweight andLight Heavyweight divisions for theUFC,WEC,EliteXC,King of the Cage,BAMMA, andBellator. On October 21, 2015, Petruzelli signed with professional wrestling promotionWWE, to work at their Performance Center as a striking coach.[1] Currently, he wrestles forMajor League Wrestling.[2]
Petruzelli was born inCape Coral, Florida and is a native ofFort Myers, Florida. He began training inkarate at the age of seven and continued on training through high school. Petruzelli attendedBishop Verot High School as a freshman before transferring toMariner High School to take advantage of the school's elitewrestling team. He also played football and ran in track and field. Petruzelli was a three-sport letterman all four years of high school and was also all-state center infootball. Petruzelli was offered a scholarship to wrestle and play football in college but ended up turning professional in mixed martial arts right out of high school. He holds a 3rd degreeblack belt inShitō-ryū karate and aBlack belt inBrazilian jiu-jitsu. He eventually went on to study psychology at theUniversity of Central Florida.[3]
Petruzelli was a member of the cast of the Ultimate Fighting Championship'sThe Ultimate Fighter 2 as aHeavyweight. He was eliminated in the semi-finals byBrad Imes after having defeatedDan Christison by unanimous decision in an elimination bout. He later had the opportunity to fight in the UFC in 2006, but was cut after losses toMatt Hamill andWilson Gouveia.
On October 4, 2008, atEliteXC: Heat, he defeatedKimbo Slice in 14 seconds byTKO. He was offered the fight on short notice afterUFC Hall of FamerKen Shamrock received a cut over his left eye in pre-fight practice and was forced to back out. Petruzelli was also outweighed by around 30 lbs. as he weighed in at the Light Heavyweight threshold of 205.5 and Slice at 234.5 lbs.[4]
On October 10, 2008, six days after the fight with Slice, he told the radio showThe Monsters in the Morning:
"The promoters kinda hinted to me and they gave me the money to stand and throw with him, they didn't want me to take him down. Let's just put it that way. It was worth my while to try and stand up, punch him."[5][6]
EliteXC Vice President Jared Shaw immediately denied what could be perceived as them trying to fix the fight,[5] and Petruzelli later clarified his statement telling respectively Yahoo! Sports and FiveOuncesofPain.com:
What that meant was they offer a knockout bonus, submission bonuses, fight of the night bonuses. I think it just got misconstrued. I wanted to have an exciting fight and I wanted the knock out bonus so I wanted to keep it standing. [...] They just said, ‘we want to see an exciting fight no matter what happens.’ I took it as I wanted the knockout bonus.[5]
What was meant to be said was that I wanted to keep the fight standing for myself because I knew that was what the crowd, the promoters, and everyone wanted to see because that’s more exciting than just taking someone to the ground. That was my thing only. I wanted to keep it exciting so I decided to keep it standing. It had nothing to do with anybody else. That was all me.[7]
On October 23, 2008, theFlorida Department of Business and Professional Regulation concluded its investigation of the bout and found no wrongdoing.[8]
In December 2008, Petruzelli opened "The Jungle MMA & Fitness"(http://jungleorlando.com) with Tom Lawlor and Mike Lee in Orlando, Fl.On August 22, 2009, Petruzelli fought in the Art Of Fighting 4 at the USF Sundome in Florida.
Petruzelli was expected to face MMA pioneer and former King of PancraseKen Shamrock on March 6, 2010 at an event called International Unlimited Fighting: The Return of Buluc but the fight was called off.[9]
Petruzelli returned to the UFC atUFC 116 to face UFC newcomerRicardo Romero. Despite having dominated the initial stages of the fight, Petruzelli lost by armbar submission and was visibly hurt.[10]
Petruzelli stated via Twitter that his arm was not broken and it had just popped. He was given another fight by the UFC, and expressed excitement to faceTito Ortiz orMatt Hamill depending on whoever loses the fight. On November 13, he facedKarlos Vemola atUFC 122 inOberhausen, Germany. He lost the fight via TKO (strikes) at 3:46 of the first round and was released from the promotion after dropping to 0–4 in the UFC.[11]
Petruzelli faced Dave Mewborn on April 22 serving as the Main Event for World Extreme Fighting 46 at the UCF Arena in Orlando Florida.[12] He defeated Mewborn by TKO at 3:06 of the first round.
Petruzelli made his Bellator debut againstRicco Rodriguez atBellator 48. He won the fight via KO in the first round. After the fight Petruzelli was rewarded with a BJJ black belt under Thiago Domingues (a De La Riva Blackbelt).
He returned in 2013 as a participant in the Bellator Season 7 Light Heavyweight tournament. He lost toJacob Noe via TKO in the opening round atBellator 85.
Petruzelli competed in Bellator's Light Heavyweight summer series tournament onSpike.[13] He facedMuhammed Lawal in the opening round of a 4-man tournament atBellator 96 on June 19, 2013 and lost via knockout in the first round. Following the loss Petruzelli announced his retirement from MMA.[14]
| 0 wins (0 KOs),3 losses,0 draws | ||||||||
| Date | Result | Opponent | Event | Location | Method | Round | Time | Record |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012-09-08 | Loss |  Xavier Vigney | K-1 World Grand Prix 2012 in Los Angeles | Los Angeles, California, US | TKO (right knee) | 2 | 1:17 | 0-3 |
| 2004-05-30 | Loss |  Aleksandr Pitchkounov | Kyokushin vs K-1 2004 All Out Battle | Tokyo, Japan | TKO (corner stoppage) | 2 | 2:18 | 0-2 |
| 2004-03-27 | Loss | Bob Sapp | K-1 World Grand Prix 2004 in Saitama | Saitama, Japan | TKO (arm injury) | 1 | 0:57 | 0-1 |
| Legend: Win Loss Draw/No contest Notes | ||||||||
| 22 matches | 14 wins | 8 losses |
| By knockout | 12 | 3 |
| By submission | 1 | 4 |
| By decision | 1 | 1 |
| Res. | Record | Opponent | Method | Event | Date | Round | Time | Location | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Loss | 14–8 | Muhammed Lawal | KO (punch) | Bellator 96 | June 19, 2013 | 1 | 1:35 | Thackerville, Oklahoma, United States | Bellator 2013 Summer Series Light Heavyweight Tournament Semifinal. |
| Loss | 14–7 | Jacob Noe | TKO (punches) | Bellator 85 | January 17, 2013 | 1 | 2:51 | Irvine, California, United States | Bellator Season 8 Light Heavyweight Tournament Quarterfinal. |
| Win | 14–6 | Ricco Rodriguez | KO (punches) | Bellator 48 | August 20, 2011 | 1 | 4:21 | Uncasville, Connecticut, United States | Catchweight (230 lb) bout. |
| Win | 13–6 | Dave Mewborn | TKO (punches) | World Extreme Fighting 46 | April 22, 2011 | 1 | 3:06 | Orlando, Florida, United States | |
| Loss | 12–6 | Karlos Vémola | TKO (punches) | UFC 122 | November 13, 2010 | 1 | 3:46 | Oberhausen, Germany | |
| Loss | 12–5 | Ricardo Romero | Submission (straight armbar) | UFC 116 | July 3, 2010 | 2 | 3:05 | Las Vegas, Nevada, United States | |
| Win | 12–4 | Ryan White | Submission (armbar) | BAMMA 3 | May 15, 2010 | 1 | 1:07 | Birmingham, England | |
| Win | 11–4 | Chris Baten | TKO (punches) | Art of Fighting 4: Damage | August 22, 2009 | 1 | 2:23 | Tampa, Florida, United States | |
| Win | 10–4 | Kimbo Slice | TKO (punches) | EliteXC: Heat | October 4, 2008 | 1 | 0:14 | Sunrise, Florida, United States | Heavyweight bout. |
| Win | 9–4 | Sean Sallee | TKO | Knight Fight | October 27, 2007 | 1 | 2:58 | Orlando, Florida, United States | |
| Loss | 8–4 | Wilson Gouveia | Submission (guillotine choke) | UFC Fight Night: Stevenson vs. Guillard | April 5, 2007 | 2 | 0:39 | Las Vegas, Nevada, United States | Fight of the Night. |
| Win | 8–3 | Bernard Rutherford | KO (punches) | Ultimate Warrior Challenge | February 2, 2007 | 1 | 1:47 | Jacksonville, Florida, United States | Knockout of the Night. |
| Loss | 7–3 | Matt Hamill | Decision (unanimous) | UFC: Ortiz vs. Shamrock 3: The Final Chapter | October 10, 2006 | 3 | 5:00 | Hollywood, Florida, United States | Light Heavyweight debut. Fight of the Night. |
| Win | 7–2 | Dan Severn | Decision (unanimous) | KOTC 32: Bringing Heat | January 24, 2004 | 3 | 5:00 | Miami, Florida, United States | |
| Win | 6–2 | Brian Hawkins | TKO (punches) | KOTC 21: Invasion | February 21, 2003 | 1 | 2:21 | Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States | |
| Win | 5–2 | Rocky Batastini | TKO (punches) | KOTC 18: Sudden Impact | November 1, 2002 | 1 | 4:04 | Reno, Nevada, United States | |
| Win | 4–2 | Mike Ward | TKO (doctor stoppage) | Cage Wars 1 | December 23, 2001 | 1 | 2:50 | Portsmouth, England | |
| Win | 3–2 | Keith Fielder | TKO (corner stoppage) | RSF 6: Mayhem in Myers | December 29, 2001 | 1 | 2:10 | Fort Myers, Florida, United States | |
| Win | 2–2 | Victor Majuskaus | TKO (slam and punches) | WVF: Battlejax | November 10, 2001 | 1 | 0:29 | Jacksonville, Florida, United States | |
| Loss | 1–2 | Gan McGee | Submission (heel hook) | WEC 1 | June 30, 2001 | 1 | 1:25 | Lemoore, California, United States | |
| Loss | 1–1 | Mario Neto | Submission (rear-naked choke) | World Vale Tudo Championship | June 9, 2001 | 1 | 17:36 | Recife, Brazil | |
| Win | 1–0 | Nate Robinson | KO (punch) | WVF: Battlejax | August 26, 2000 | 1 | 1:29 | Jacksonville, Florida, United States |
Petruzelli was married for around 1.5 years.[15] He and his first wife divorced after conflicts over business and his continuing to fight.[16] Seth is now married to Traci Petruzelli who he shares a daughter with, Vera Petruzelli.[17]
