Rick Roufus vs. Maurice Smith (K-1 2003)

Rick “The Jet” Roufus Loses His MMA Debut

Former Milwaukee resident, Rick “The Jet” Roufus lost his MMA debut last night to Maurice Smith. The fight was shown live on HDNet Fights and was part of a Strikeforce card entitled Strikeforce at the Dome, which took place in the Tacoma Dome.

Fighting in front of his hometown crowd, it took less than two minutes for the former UFC Heavyweight Champion to submit Roufus with a Kimura. Here is the play-by-play accrording to Sherdog:

”Roufus gave up a takedown in the opening minute. Smith went to half-guard and mount, where he looked for a Kimura. Roufus fought off the technique for several seconds, but tapped at 1:53 of the first when his arm was semi-straightened.”

In interviews leading up to the fight, Roufus stated that he had traveled to Greg Jackson’s camp to train with MMA fighter and wrestler, Mike Van Arsdale for the bout and had worked his Jiu-Jitsu extensively under his instructor Heath Wiggington. Undoubtedly, the Van Arsdale training was to learn takedown defense as Roufus stated he belived Smith would be looking to take the fight to the ground.

With the win, Maurice Smith is able to avenge a 2003 kickboxing loss he suffered to Roufus. It is unclear what the future holds for Rick Roufus in MMA since he is relatively inexperienced in MMA fighting and is very old to begin learning the many skillsets necessary to compete at such a high level including wrestling and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.

Rick "The Jet" Roufus to fight tonight on HDNet Fights vs. Maurice Smith

Former Milwaukee resident, Rick “The Jet” Roufus will fight Maurice “Mo” Smith on the Strikeforce card tonight on HDNet Fights. The card is to be headlined by Bob “The Beast” Sapp. Roufus was originally slated to make his MMA debut in January against Mark Kerr on a WCO card. Roufus was not cleared by the California State Athletic Commission to fight Kerr due to his paperwork missing the deadline. Had Roufus made the deadline the fight would not have occurred anyway due to the CSAC forcing WCO to cancel the event due to not having the funding for fighter purses. Roufus will be the smaller man in this fight having only weighed in at 207lbs vs. 235lbs for Maurice Smith. For a recap of my previous article on Rick Roufus click read more.

Roufus is a former world champion kickboxer in the IKF or International Kickboxing Federation in both the light heavyweight and heavyweight divisions. In the 1990’s he gave up kickboxing for a short time to focus on traditional boxing and compiled a record of (13-5-1) according to www.boxrec.com. Roufus’ boxing career was highlighted by winning the WBC’s Continental America’s Cruiserweight title. In September of 2003, he retired from kickboxing due to an ACL injury with a record of (61-7) with 41 knockouts according to www.ikfkickboxing.com.

In early 2004, Roufus opened a gym in Tempe, Arizona and made headlines that year when it was reported that he had signed a contract to fight former heavyweight boxing champion, Mike Tyson in K-1. The Mike Tyson fight never ended up happening.

Since then, the 41 year old, Roufus has come out of retirement and has fought in various organizations. This fight however will mark the first MMA fight of his career. Roufus does hold a kickboxing win over his opponent Maurice Smith.

Maurice “Mo” Smith is a former UFC Heavyweight Champion and holds a (10-10) MMA record. Last May, Smith made his MMA return against Marco Ruas in the IFL, winning via TKO – Corner Stoppage. His last fight had been in November of 2000 when he lost to Renato Sobral at UFC 28 via decision. Despite his mediocre record, he has fought a list of who’s who in MMA, fighting in organizations such as the UFC, Pancrase, Rings, and the IFL. He won the UFC Heavyweight Championship by defeating Mark Coleman. Smith had one successful title defense against Dave “Tank” Abbott before losing to Randy Couture in 1997.

Rick Roufus to make his MMA debut vs. Maurice Smith

Earlier this week Sherdog.com reported that Rick “The Jet” Roufus has signed to fight Maurice Smith on the Strikeforce show on February 23, 2008. The card is to be headlined by Bob Sapp.

Roufus is a former Milwaukee, Wisconsin resident and former world champion kickboxer in the IKF or International Kickboxing Federation in both the light heavyweight and heavyweight divisions. In the 1990’s he gave up kickboxing for a short time to focus on traditional boxing and compiled a record of (13-5-1) according to www.boxrec.com. Roufus’ boxing career was highlighted by winning the WBC’s Continental America’s Cruiserweight title. In September of 2003, he retired from kickboxing due to an ACL injury with a record of (61-7) with 41 knockouts according to www.ikfkickboxing.com.

In early 2004, Roufus opened a gym in Tempe, Arizona and made headlines that year when it was reported that he had signed a contract to fight former heavyweight boxing champion, Mike Tyson in K-1. The Mike Tyson fight never ended up happening.

Since then, the 41 year old, Roufus has come out of retirement and has fought in various organizations. This fight however will mark the first MMA fight of his career. Roufus does hold a kickboxing win over his opponent Maurice Smith.

Maurice “Mo” Smith is a former UFC Heavyweight Champion and holds a (10-10) MMA record. Last May, Smith made his MMA return against Marco Ruas in the IFL, winning via TKO – Corner Stoppage. His last fight had been in November of 2000 when he lost to Renato Sobral at UFC 28 via decision. Despite his mediocre record, he has fought a list of who’s who in MMA, fighting in organizations such as the UFC, Pancrase, Rings, and the IFL. He won the UFC Heavyweight Championship by defeating Mark Coleman. Smith had one successful title defense against Dave “Tank” Abbott before losing to Randy Couture in 1997.

This article was originally posted on http://www.wicombatsports.com/ on 12-14-07.