Louis Taylor (born May 12, 1979) is an American formermixed martial artist who most recently competed in thewelterweight division of theProfessional Fighters League. A professional competitor from 2007 to 2018, Taylor also formerly competed forStrikeforce andBellator. He was the first PFL Middleweight Tournament champion.

Born and raised in the heart ofChicago's South Side, Taylor learned to defend himself from a young age. After being arrested at around age 16 for fighting a group of four gang members attacking him, in which he broke an assailant's collarbone, Taylor was introduced to ahigh school wrestling coach and former Olympic alternate Ken Binge, by his pastor. Taylor, a sophomore at the time, later moved in with an uncle so that he could attend the school and compete. Highly talented, Taylor was a two-time state qualifier, and became the first competitor from his school to place at the state tournament.^[1] He later went on to wrestle forLassen Community College inSusanville, California, where he was roommates with UFC light heavyweight championRampage Jackson.^[2] At-then junior college powerhouse Lassen, Taylor was introduced to MMA and wrestled for two seasons before transferring toEastern Illinois University. Competing at 174 lbs. under legendary former UFC champion and EIU coachMatt Hughes, Taylor excelled. Later, Taylor returned to Chicago to coach his former high school team, before transitioning to MMA at the age of 28.^[3] He was the high school wrestling coach of UFC welterweight championBelal Muhammad and was later instrumental in training Muhammad for the latter's amateur career.^[2]

Taylor had three amateur fights before making his professional debut in 2007 as aLight Heavyweight. Taylor compiled a record of 4–0 before debuting forStrikeforce.

Taylor was at the tryouts forThe Ultimate Fighter 13 on November 4, 2010.^[4] He did not make the final cast to get onto the show which debuted on March 30, 2011.

Taylor made his Strikeforce debut atStrikeforce: Fedor vs. Rogers on November 7, 2009, againstNate Moore and was defeated via submission due to punches in the second round.

He would make his next appearance for the promotion in the main event ofStrikeforce Challengers: Riggs vs. Taylor on August 13, 2010, against formerWEC Welterweight ChampionJoe Riggs and was defeated via submission due to punches in the third round.

Taylor fought Jason Louck on May 14, 2011, to determine the Middleweight Combat USA State Champion of Illinois. Taylor won the fight by submission (strikes) and was then supposed to face the Middleweight Combat USA State Champion of Wisconsin,Herbert Goodman. Unfortunately, Taylor Combat USA would not release Taylor from his contract.

Taylor first fought forBellator atBellator 14 on April 15, 2010, and won by KO due to a head kick in the first round over Ryan Sturdy.

Taylor fought for the promotion again on December 14, 2012, atBellator 84 against UFC veteranJoe Vedepo. Taylor defeated Vedepo via first-round knockout.

After an injury forcedCostas Philippou out of his bout withUriah Hall, it was announced on January 2, 2015, that Taylor had signed on to face Hall on short notice atUFC Fight Night: McGregor vs. Siver on January 18, 2015.^[5] However, on January 11, it was announced that Taylor pulled out of the fight due to apulled muscle in his back and had his contract terminated as result.^[6]

On March 12, 2016, Taylor made hisWorld Series of Fighting debut atWSOF 29 againstCory Devela.^[7] He won via guillotine choke submission in 29 seconds of the first round.

On July 30, 2016, Taylor faced undefeated fighterPhil Hawes atWSOF 32.^[8] He won via guillotine choke submission in the second round.

Taylor faced Anderson Goncalves at PFL 3 in Washington, D.C., on July 5, 2018. He won the fight via TKO in the third round.

In the fall of 2018, Taylor entered thePFL Middleweight tournament. AtPFL 10 on October 20, 2018, he defeated Rex Harris by unanimous decision in the quarterfinal round. He then foughtJohn Howard to a technical draw in the semifinal round; Taylor advanced to the finals by having won the first round. Taylor facedAbusupiyan Magomedov in the finals atPFL 11 on December 31, 2018. He won the fight via knockout just 33 seconds into the first round, winning the PFL Middleweight Championship and earning the $1 million cash prize.

For the second season of PFL, Taylor was expected to drop down to welterweight and faceChris Curtis on May 9, 2019.^[9] However just a week before the second season's start, Taylor announced that he had withdrawn from the tournament.^[10]

Taylor is married and has children.^[11]

• World Series of Fighting
  • Fastest Submission in WSOF History (0:29)vs.Cory Devela
• Professional Fighters League
  • 2018 Middleweight Tournament champion

• List of current PFL fighters

• Louis Taylor atSherdog
• Louis Taylor at Tapology.com
• Louis Taylor atFight Matrix
• Louis Taylor atESPN
• Louis Taylor atESPN.com
• Louis Taylor on MMAviewers.com
• Louis Taylor onInstagram

• 1979 births
• Living people
• American male mixed martial artists
• Middleweight mixed martial artists
• Mixed martial artists utilizing collegiate wrestling
• Mixed martial artists utilizing Brazilian jiu-jitsu
• Martial artists from Chicago
• Mixed martial artists from Illinois
• African-American mixed martial artists
• American male sport wrestlers
• Amateur wrestlers
• American practitioners of Brazilian jiu-jitsu
• 21st-century African-American sportsmen
• 20th-century African-American sportsmen
• 21st-century American sportsmen
• 20th-century American sportsmen

• Articles with short description
• Short description is different from Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from October 2024
• Articles using sports links with data from Wikidata
• Pages using navbox columns without the first column