Bobby Southworth (born December 16, 1969) is an American retiredmixed martial artist who fought in theLight Heavyweight division.

He has fought inPRIDE FC and appeared on Season 1 ofThe Ultimate Fighter. He was the firstStrikeforce Light Heavyweight Champion.

Southworth was born inMadison, Wisconsin, and was adopted when he was six weeks old.^[4] Southworth has three sisters. He grew up inSanta Cruz, California. He likedsurfing as a hobby, as well as playingfootball andbasketball, andtrack.^[2] After graduating fromSoquel High School, Southworth continued toCabrillo College, thenUC Davis, playing basketball at both.^[4]

His initial interest in martial arts was sparked after seeingRoyce Gracie atUFC 1 andUFC 2.^[2] While Southworth was looking for a sport to stay fit, a friend invited him to a jiu-jitsu class in a nearby gym.^[2] Instantly hooked by the discipline, Southworth joinedCesar Gracie Jiu-Jitsu academy before moving on to Gracie Systems, which was formed after Cesar's cousinRalph Gracie moved stateside.^[2] Subsequently, Ralph opened his own academy inMountain View, California, where Southworth continued teaching and training jiu-jitsu.^[2] Southworth grew interested in taking a no-holds-barred bout, which Gracie disapproved of, leading to Southworth's departure from the academy.^[2] Subsequently he joinedAmerican Kickboxing Academy, which at the time had no proper Brazilian jiu-jitsu program, so he took the responsibility of teaching the discipline.^[2]

Southworth's first major exposure in the mixed martial arts world was when he facedVitor Belfort on two-weeks short notice atPRIDE 13 on March 25, 2001.^[2] Southworth was overwhelmed by the Brazilian veteran and lost byrear naked choke in the first round.

In late 2003, Southworth had a falling out over money with Javier Mendez and briefly retired from the sport. Still having the spark to compete, Southworth mended fences with Mendez and rejoined the academy about a year later.^[2]

Southworth then appeared onSeason 1 ofThe Ultimate Fighter. He won his first preliminary fight againstLodune Sincaid, but lost the second versusStephan Bonnar by split decision. Bobby returned to the house as a possible replacement forForrest Griffin, should he not have been medically cleared to fight in the semifinals, but Forrest's cut healed safely and Southworth did not fight again until the undercard of the finale, where he fought a man he picked on in the houseSam Hoger and was defeated. It was a unanimous decision victory forSam Hoger.

Southworth next moved toStrikeforce, where his first fight was againstJames "The Sandman" Irvin. The bout was declared a No-Contest after a mere 17 seconds when in a freak accident, Southworth and Irvin's clinch pressed against the cage, pushing open the cage door and causing Irvin to fall out of the ring.

In his next fight, Southworth was given the opportunity to fight for Strikeforce's vacant light heavyweight championship againstVernon "Tiger" White. Southworth won a decision victory, taking White down repeatedly and controlling the pace of the match.

Southworth's next fight was a non-title bout against Anthony Ruiz, a fight that Ruiz won by way of TKO (cut) in round 2. A rematch was set up, but this time it would be for Southworth's championship. In a rather slow-paced fight, Southworth defeated Ruiz via 5-round Unanimous Decision on June 27, 2008 and thus became the only man to successfully defend the Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Championship.

In his next title defense, atStrikeforce: Destruction on November 21, 2008, Southworth lost the light heavyweight championship against former UFC Light Heavyweight fighterRenato Sobral "Babalu" by TKO (cut) of the 1st round at 5:00. Southworth was winning the round, having scored a takedown and controlling the clinch, until "Babalu" opened up a horrendous gash above Bobby's left eye with ten seconds to go."Big" John McCarthy stopped the action to let doctors inspect, and Southworth finished the round by dropping "Babalu" with a punch just before the bell. However, when doctors got a better look at the wound between rounds, the fight was stopped due to the size and depth of the cut. Southworth announced he would like a rematch and Sobral verbally agreed, however a rematch was never organized and following Sobral's 2013 retirement it is unlikely a rematch would ever occur.

Southworth also tried out for11th season ofThe Ultimate Fighter. However, despite the fact that both the Middleweights and Light-Heavyweights were invited to try out, the UFC decided that the season would focus exclusively on Middleweights.^[5]

In the last bout of his career, Southworth faced Aaron Boyes at Xtreme MMA 2 on July 31, 2010. He won the fight via first-round knockout.

Bobby has four children, three daughters and one son.^[6]

Bobby co-founded the American Kickboxing Academy Sunnyvale in 2008.^[7] In 2015, Southworth began coaching at UFC Gym Hollow Brook inSan Antonio, Texas.^[2][8]

• Strikeforce
  • Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Championship (One time, First)
  • One Successful Title Defense
  • The only fighter to have successfully defended the Light Heavyweight Championship

• Professional MMA record for Bobby Southworth fromSherdog
• Bobby Southworth atUFC
• American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) Sunnyvale

• Living people
• American male mixed martial artists
• African-American mixed martial artists
• Light heavyweight mixed martial artists
• Mixed martial artists utilizing Brazilian jiu-jitsu
• Strikeforce (mixed martial arts) champions
• American practitioners of Brazilian jiu-jitsu
• People awarded a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu
• 1969 births
• 21st-century African-American sportsmen
• 20th-century African-American sportsmen
• 21st-century American sportsmen
• 20th-century American sportsmen

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