David Rickels (born January 5, 1989) is an American professionalmixed martial artist andbare-knuckle fighter who is currently competing in theBare Knuckle Fighting Championship. A professional since 2010, he is a 23-fight veteran of theBellator MMA, and won theSeason Eight Lightweight Tournament.

Rickels was born and raised inDerby, Kansas, a 2007 graduate ofDerby High School where he competed inwrestling. He then went on to attendButler Community College. Started his own promotion calledEvolution Fighting Championship in late 2015.^[1]

Rickels compiled an amateur record of 8-1, and made his professional mixed martial arts debut in February 2010. He won via first-round TKO and went on to compile an undefeated record of 5-0 before being signed byBellator.^[2]

Rickels made his Bellator debut on April 9, 2011, atBellator 40 where he defeated formerly undefeated Dylan Smith by a first-roundtriangle choke submission.^[3]

Rickels next foughtStrikeforce veteran Richard Bouphanouvong on May 7, 2011, atBellator 43 where he won by triangle choke in round 2.^[4]

After defeating Levi Avera with a third-straight win by triangle choke in Bellator in 2011, Rickels was featured in theBellator Season 6 Welterweight Tournament in 2012. He facedJordan Smith in the opening round of the tournament atBellator 63 and won via KO at just 22 seconds into the first round. In the semifinals atBellator 69, Rickels facedKarl Amoussou. The bout was back-and-forth but in the end, Amoussou won the fight via controversial split decision, giving Rickels his first professional loss.

Rickels returned to faceJason Fischer atBellator 82. He won via unanimous decision.

Rickels was picked to enter theLightweight Season 8 Tournament where he defeatedLloyd Woodard in the quarterfinals atBellator 87 via unanimous decision. Rickels was to faceRussian prospectAlexander Sarnavskiy, but Sarnavskiy fractured his hand during his first fight and had to withdraw from the tournament. Rickels instead facedJason Fischer in a rematch and won via unanimous decision. In the finals atBellator 94, Rickels took onSaad Awad. He dropped Awad with a right hand at the very end of the second round, but Awad remained resting on his back instead of getting up to his corner, resulting in the referee declaring an end to the match, controversially making Rickels the winner byTKO.

With the tournament win, Rickels faced undefeated 11-0Bellator Lightweight ChampionMichael Chandler atBellator 97.^[5] He lost the fight viaknockout at just 44 seconds into the first round.

In March 2014, Rickels entered into theBellator season 10 lightweight tournament, where he facedPatricky Pitbull in the opening round atBellator 113. He lost the fight via knockout in the second round.

Rickels faced Davi Ramos on October 24, 2014, atBellator 130.^[6] He won the fight via unanimous decision.

Rickels facedJohn Alessio atBellator 139 on June 26, 2015.^[7] Rickels almost finished Alessio in the first round, but an unintentional illegal knee from Rickels landed on Alessio's head when he was down and prompted the referee to stop the fight. Alessio couldn't continue and the fight was overturned to a no contest.

Rickels had a rematch withMichael Chandler on November 6, 2015, atBellator 145.^[8] He lost the fight via TKO in the second round.

Rickels facedMelvin Guillard on July 21, 2016, atBellator 159. He lost the fight via knockout in the first round. However, the loss was overturned to a No-Contest after Guillard tested positive for a non-performance-enhancing banned substance.^[9]

Rickels faced Aaron Derrow atBellator 171 on January 27, 2017. He won the fight via TKO, due to punches in the third round.^[10]

Rickels was expected to faceBrennan Ward atBellator 185 on October 20, 2017,^[11] however, an injury to Ward forced him out of the bout, and Rickels was removed from the fight card as a result.^[12]

After an injury toDerek Anderson, Rickels stepped in as a replacement to faceAdam Piccolotti atBellator 189 on December 1, 2017.^[13] He won the 160 lb catchweight fight by unanimous decision.^[14]

Rickels facedMichael Page on May 25, 2018, atBellator 200.^[15] He lost the fight via verbal submission due to a punch in the second round.^[16]

After his 23rd fight in Bellator on August 24, 2019, Rickels became a free agent.

On January 23, 2020, news surfaced that Rickels had signed withBare Knuckle Fighting Championship. He was expected to make his promotional debut on March 14, 2020 with opponent to be determined, but the event was cancelled.^[17] Instead, Rickels made his debut on October 10, 2020, defeating Cliff Wright by decision.

• Bellator Fighting Championships
  • Bellator Season 8 Lightweight Tournament Championship
  • Tied (withMichael Chandler) forfourth most fights in Bellator History (23)^[18]
  • Most wins of non-champ in Bellator history (14)

• Professional MMA record for David Rickels fromSherdog

• 1989 births
• Living people
• American male mixed martial artists
• Welterweight mixed martial artists
• Mixed martial artists utilizing wrestling
• American bare-knuckle boxers
• People from Derby, Kansas
• Mixed martial artists from Kansas

• All articles with dead external links
• Articles with dead external links from October 2022
• Articles with permanently dead external links
• Articles with short description
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