Charles Bennett (fighter)
Charles Daniel Bennett is an American mixed martial artist currently competing in the featherweight division.
Characterized by his unpredictable and explosive fighting style and persona, Bennett has been a professional competitor since 1999, with time spent in PRIDE Fighting Championships, Rizin FF, EliteXC, King of the Cage, World Extreme Fighting, and ShoXC. Although he has never won a championship in MMA, Bennett has gained a considerable cult following among fans.
Background
Bennett was born in Gainesville, Florida and is the second-oldest boy of 11 siblings. Bennett lived in Gainesville for the first eight years of his life before moving to Ocala, Florida to live with his father after his mother was arrested on a drug charge. Bennett had a troubled upbringing as he came from a broken home, often getting into fights, and both of his parents abused crack cocaine. Growing up, Bennett was a self-described "black sheep" of the family, but was very athletic and was a talented football player in high school, where he played running back, linebacker, and was even a defensive lineman despite his small stature. However, Bennett was kicked off of the team during his sophomore year. During his junior year, his father kicked him out of the house and Bennett eventually dropped out of high school before turning his attention to selling narcotics. In between jail stints, he found a newspaper advertisement for a mixed martial arts gym in Ocala and decided to sign up and join the gym. His coaches were very impressed with his speed and strength, but at this time Bennett was still dealing drugs. Eventually, he gave up dealing drugs and focused on mixed martial arts, with the birth of his first child as his main motivation to change his lifestyle although he continued to be arrested on drug charges until 2011. He also credits King of the Cage owner Terry Trebilcock Jr. to helping Bennett turn his life around.Mixed martial arts career
Early career
Bennett made his professional debut when he was only 19 years old for a regional promotion in Atlanta, Georgia in September 1999, competing in the lightweight weight class, where he lost to John Swift via submission. In his next bout a year later, he received his first professional win after he knocked out Todd Carney with a slam in the first round at the New Blood Conflict event for World Extreme Fighting. In Bennett's second WEF bout, he lost to Rich Clementi after tapping out to strikes in the first round. Bennett won his next two fights via strikes before making his King of the Cage debut at KOTC 10 against Duane Ludwig. Bennett lost after he submitted due to exhaustion in the second round. Bennett then won 9 of his next 10 fights, including a win over former U.S. Marine Gerald Strebendt via submission due to strikes. His four-fight winning streak was snapped by future Pancrase Featherweight Champion Takumi Nakayama via submission.Pride Fighting Championship and King of the Cage
With a record of 12-5, Bennett signed with Japanese promotion Pride Fighting Championships, making his promotional debut against Takanori Gomi at on October 14, 2004, in what was also Bennett's overseas debut. Bennett lost via kimura within the first round. After a return to King of the Cage in which he achieved mixed results, Bennett returned to Pride at on May 22, 2005, defeating Yoshiro Maeda via knockout just under two minutes of the first round.Bennett made his next appearance for the promotion at on September 25, losing a bout to Dokonjonosuke Mishima by submission in the first round. After failing to capture the King of the Cage Bantamweight Championship fight against future WEC Featherweight Champion Urijah Faber, Bennett fought at against Japanese fighter Ken Kaneko, and won via armbar submission. After winning the bout, Bennett tackled the referee who in response pulled out a yellow card.
After his bout with Kaneko, Bennett was involved in a backstage altercation with Cristiano Marcello, member of Chute Boxe Academy. In a video posted on Chute Boxe's official website, Bennett is seen attacking Marcello. Bennett supposedly insulted the Chute Boxe Academy and Wanderlei Silva, prompting a scuffle between Marcello and Bennett. Bennett charged at Marcello while throwing punches, and both men went to the ground where Marcello put Bennett to sleep with a triangle choke before the fight was broken up.
Bennett made his last appearance for the organization in at on June 4, 2006 against Tatsuya Kawajiri. Bennett lost the bout via kneebar submission in the first round. He held a record of 2-3 with the promotion.
EliteXC
Bennett made his debut for EliteXC, at the company's inaugural event on February 10, 2007 against KJ Noons. Bennett defeated Nons via knockout in an upset.Later career and other ventures
In 2004, Bennett, along with fighters Din Thomas and Aaron Riley, appeared in the Chris Fuller film Loren Cass.Bennett showed up at the tryouts for in September 2010, but did not make it to the final cast.
Return to MMA
After being away from the sport for nearly three years, Bennett returned to active MMA competition in October 2015 for his former organization, King of the Cage. Bennett fought six times in the next eleven months and posted a record of four wins and two losses.In September 2016, Bennett made an appearance for Rizin Fighting Federation, competing in the featherweight division, defeating Minoru Kimura by technical knockout in 7 seconds of the first round at the.
Bare-knuckle boxing
Bennett faced Michael McDonald at a Bare Knuckle FC event held on August 25, 2018. He lost the fight via TKO in the 4th round with 10 seconds left.Legal troubles
Between 1999 and 2009, he was arrested 14 times on charges that included selling cocaine, burglary, aggravated battery on a pregnant woman, and possession of MDMA. The charge on the pregnant woman in 2002 was dropped and he was found guilty on two drug charges in 2000 and 2001 and was also found guilty for another aggravated battery in 2008, which stemmed from a domestic dispute.On January 16, 2011 Bennett was training at a gym in Bernalillo County, New Mexico and got into a physical altercation with a teammate. According to a police report, tempers flared between the two and the other fighter knocked down Bennett, who then got dressed and left the building but came back 15 minutes later with a heavy piece of steel and attacked the fighter from behind. He was charged with aggravated battery.
Bennett was charged for aggravated battery by the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department after the incident on January 16, 2011. In 2013, he was again arrested for battery.