Pat Smith • Highlight

Full Contact Karate Sabaki Challenge Heavyweight Champion 3rd degree black belt in Taekwondo Black belt in Tang Soo Do Black belt in Hapkido Black belt in American Kenpo Purple belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu Patrick Smith first rose to fame in the US for his kickboxing prowess. In 1994 he entered the K-1 Grand Prix ’94 where he caused one of the biggest upsets in K-1 history by flooring three times and subsequently knocking out legendary karateka and future K-1 star Andy Hug with an uppercut after just 19 seconds of the first round in their quarterfinal match. Smith was unable to build on this success as he was soundly defeated by eventual champion Peter Aerts in the semifinals. After the Hug victory, Smith’s K-1 career never took off. He lost to Andy Hug in a rematch at the K-1 Revenge event and then failed to qualify for the following year’s K-1 Grand Prix at K-1 Grand Prix ’95 Opening Battle. His last match in K-1 was against rising local star Musashi, a match he lost by KO, and he was released from his K-1 contract, finishing 1 and 4 with the organization. Despite little international success, Smith had more success at home, accumulating an overall 66-8 kickboxing record by the time he retired in 2000. Smith participated the first Ultimate Fighting Championship event, UFC 1, in November 1993. Despite his loss, Smith’s performance got him invited to UFC 2. The peak of his performance, however, came technically through striking: after being pitted against ninjutsu fighter Scott Morris in the second round, Smith dropped him with knee strikes from the clinch, mounted him on the ground, and then unloaded barrage after barrage of punches and elbow strikes, completely knocking Morris out. This finish is considered one of the most brutal in the history of UFC. Finally, Smith reached the finals and his desired match against Royce Gracie, but it was short and one-sided, with Gracie taking him down and landing several palm strikes from mount before the kickboxer tapped out. On April 11, 2008 Smith came in as a late replacement for Gary Goodridge and defeated Eric “Butterbean“ Esch via submission due to strikes in a “Masters Superfight“ at YAMMA Pit Fighting’s inaugural event. On October 10, 2015, Smith came out of retirement at age 51 On June 18, 2019, Smith died of cancer at age 55.