Dean Lister
Dean Richard Lister is an American mixed martial artist and a former King of the Cage Middleweight Champion. He currently fights in the middleweight division after moving down from light heavyweight. Lister's sparring partner and former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, Tito Ortiz, invited him to be his assistant grappling coach on the third season of the Spike TV reality show, The Ultimate Fighter.
Biography
Lister grew up in a military family and lived in several South American countries, including Venezuela and Panama. Lister speaks several languages. He lived in Panama during the U.S. invasion in 1989, and, according to Lister, he was "right in the middle of a serious combat zone". After living in several different cities in the United States, Lister's family settled in San Diego for Lister's high school years, where he attended Hilltop High SchoolCareer
Lister often fought as a kid, mostly due to a combination of being the "new kid", a foreigner, and being small for his age. The need to protect himself led Lister to wrestling and martial arts. He started wrestling in high school, and became the high school division wrestling champion and a U.S. National Sambo Champion. Shortly after graduating from high school, Lister visited the Fábio Santos Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Academy in San Diego with his wrestling teammates, and became very interested in the sport. He started competing in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu in 1996, six months after he started training.From 1997-2003, Lister worked as an instructor for Santos. Lister teaches both beginner and advanced students at Victory MMA in San Diego. The classes typically begin with Dean teaching submission grappling techniques from various grappling arts he's accumulated during the years, followed by sparring.
He maintains that it is "the biggest and most challenging sport that exists". Lister does not favor any particular technique, although he is mostly known for his leg attacks.
Lister is a high school division wrestling champion, two-time U.S. National Sambo champion, four-time U.S. Machado National Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Champion, and a National Gracie Jiu Jitsu champion. He also holds the rank of black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, given to him by Jeffrey Higgs, who holds a black belt under Fábio Santos.
Lister was invited three times to the Abu Dhabi Combat Club championship, a prestigious grappling tournament consisting only of the top 16 grapplers in the world of each weight class. Lister won the Abu Dhabi Absolute Division championship in 2003, as well as two Superfights in 2003 and 2005; in addition, he set a tournament record by defeating 4 of his opponents consecutively in 2003.
It is worth noting that one of Lister's MMA losses is against Nathan Marquardt, despite previously submitting him in the 2003 ADCC tournament.
Lister was a King of the Cage Middleweight Champion, and defended his title several times before losing to Jeremy Horn in a Light Heavyweight fight. KOTC stripped Dean of his title after the loss, even though it was at a higher weight class. Years later, Lister avenged this loss by submitting Jeremy Horn with a guillotine choke in the TUF 7 finale.
Lister lost a three-round unanimous decision to Yushin Okami at UFC 92 on December 27, 2008, dropping his UFC record to 4–2. He subsequently requested to be released from his UFC contract, and has since signed with the Maximum Fighting Championship.
Dean Lister and Renato Sobral fought to a draw at Metamoris 3 a submission-only jiu-jitsu match.
ADCC
Lister won the 2003 ADCC Absolute World championship and was the 2005 Superfight champion, defeating Jean Jacques Machado. He claimed the gold medal again in 2011 in the under 99 kg division by submitting João Assis in the final by a heel hook. He also submitted jiu-jitsu world champion Rodolfo Vieira, in his weight division, also with a heel hook. At the 2013 ADCC in Beijing, China, Lister defeated Cristiano Lazzarini in the semi-finals of the under 99 kg division by heel hook but would go on to lose on points in the finals to João Assis; In the absolute division Lister submitted both Hideki Sekine and João Gabriel Rocha by heel hook before losing to Marcus Almeida in the semi-finals. Lister also lost to Keenan Cornelius in the bronze medal match both on points.Personal life
Lister was formerly married to model Flavia Mazoni.Mixed martial arts record
Grappling record
| Result | Opponent | Method | Event | Division | Year |
| Loss |  Muhammad Kerimov | Submission | ACBJJ | Superfight | 2015 |
| Loss |  Yuri Simoes | Points | ADCC 2015 | Absolute | 2015 |
| Win | Ricardo Mesquita | Submission | ADCC 2015 | Absolute | 2015 |
| Loss |  Orlando Sanchez | Referee Decision | ADCC 2015 | +99 | 2015 |
| Win |  Hyung Chul-Lee | Submission | ADCC 2015 | +99 | 2015 |
| Loss | Keenan Cornelius | Submission | Polaris Professional Jiu Jitsu Invitational | Superfight | 2015 |
| Loss | Josh Barnett | Submission | Metamoris IV | Superfight | 2014 |
| Draw | Renato Sobral | Draw | Metamoris III | Superfight | 2014 |
| Win |  Janne-Pekka Pietiläinen | Referee Decision | Macaco Branco Primates | Superfight | 2014 |
| Win |  Tarsis Humphreys | Submission | World Jiu-Jitsu Expo | Superfight | 2013 |
| Loss | Keenan Cornelius | Points | ADCC 2013 | Absolute | 2013 |
| Loss | Marcus Almeida | Points | ADCC 2013 | Absolute | 2013 |
| Win | João Gabriel Rocha | Submission | ADCC 2013 | Absolute | 2013 |
| Win |  Hideki Sekine | Submission | ADCC 2013 | Absolute | 2013 |
| Loss | João Assis | Points | ADCC 2013 | -99 kg | 2013 |
| Win | Cristiano Lazzarini | Submission | ADCC 2013 | -99 kg | 2013 |
| Win | Ezra Lenon | Submission | ADCC 2013 | -99 kg | 2013 |
| Win |  Jia Jing Jang | Submission | ADCC 2013 | -99 kg | 2013 |
| Loss | João Assis | Referee Decision | Grapplers Quest: UFC Fan Expo | Absolute | 2013 |
| Win | Kyle Griffin | Submission | Grapplers Quest: UFC Fan Expo | Absolute | 2013 |
| Draw | Alexandre Ribeiro | Draw | Metamoris I | Superfight | 2012 |
| Win | Ricardo Abreu | Submission | Grapplers Quest: UFC Fan Expo | Superfight | 2012 |
| Win | João Assis | Submission | ADCC 2011 | -99 kg | 2011 |
| Win | Rodolfo Vieira | Submission | ADCC 2011 | -99 kg | 2011 |
| Win |  Radek Turek | Submission | ADCC 2011 | -99 kg | 2011 |
| Win | Augusto Ferrari | Points | ADCC 2011 | -99 kg | 2011 |
| Loss | Vinny Magalhães | Points | ADCC 2009 | Absolute | 2009 |
| Loss | Glover Teixeira | Points | ADCC 2009 | -99 kg | 2009 |
| Win |  Andreas Olsen | Submission | ADCC 2009 | -99 kg | 2009 |
| Win | Jean Jacques Machado | Points | ADCC 2005 | Superfight | 2005 |
| Win | Alexandre Ferreira | Submission | ADCC 2003 | Absolute | 2003 |
| Win | Márcio Cruz | Points | ADCC 2003 | Absolute | 2003 |
| Win | Saulo Ribeiro | Submission | ADCC 2003 | Absolute | 2003 |
| Win | Nate Marquardt | Submission | ADCC 2003 | Absolute | 2003 |
| Loss | Alexandre Ribeiro | Points | ADCC 2003 | -99 kg | 2003 |
| Win |  Ilir Latifi | Submission | ADCC 2003 | -99 kg | 2003 |
| Loss | Marc Laimon | Points | Grapplers Quest West | Absolute | 2000 |
| Win |  Tony DeSouza | Points | Grapplers Quest West | Absolute | 2000 |
| Win | Sean Sprangler | Submission | Grapplers Quest West | Absolute | 2000 |
Grappling credentials
ADCC World Submission Wrestling ChampionshipsADCC 2013
–99 kg: 2nd Place
ADCC 2011
–99 kg: 1st Place
ADCC 2005
Superfight championship: Defeated Jean Jacques Machado.
ADCC 2003
–98 kg: Quarter finals
Openweight: 1st Place
ADCC 2002 North American Trials
-99 kg: 1st Place
Record of opponents:
- Won: Jean Jacques Machado, Iiir Latifi, Nathan Marquardt, Saulo Ribeiro, Marcio 'Pe De Pano' Cruz, Alexandre Ferreira 'Cacareco', Masutatsu Yano, Augusto Ferrari, Radek Turek, Rodolfo Vieira, Joao Assis, Ricardo "Demente" Abreu
- Lost: Xande Ribeiro, Ricardo Almeida, Vinny Magalhaes
- Draw: Xande Ribeiro
High school division wrestling champion.
Two-time national sambo champion.
Four-time Machado National BJJ champion.
National Gracie BJJ champion.
Three-time ADCC submission wrestling World champion