Russ Hogue


Russ Hogue is an American kickboxer from Belleville, Illinois. He started training in martial arts under three time world kickboxing champion Jim Boucher in Belleville, Illinois. He was also a member of a National Karate competition team with other notable athletes such as Bridgett Riley, Patrick Riley, Donny Reinhardt.
He won the St. Louis Golden Gloves title in 1993 and 1994 along with several other kickboxing titles: KICK MO State Champion, USA-KIA MO State Champion, WKF and IKA United States Champion.
Throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s he was a successful karate competitor, winning several national karate tournaments for a period of 4 years, he was the #1 ranked sparring competitor in the region. He was also an alternate member of the 1991 Pan Am Games Karate Team.
In February 2007 he was inducted into the MMA Hall of Fame with Bridgett Riley and Patrick Riley. He was awarded his 5th degree blackbelt by Grand Master Rich Osborn - .

Post Fight Career

Russ retired in 1998 when he graduated from Southern Illinois University with a bachelor's degree in Management Information Systems. With a focus on building a successful business and academic career he completed a Masters in Business Administration from the University of Phoenix in 2003. In 2015, he earned the doctor of philosophy in Organizational Psychology from Walden University. His academic research has focused on leadership and building successful virtual teams .
He has also had a successful career working for the largest IT organizations in the world with a focus on enabling technologies that support the virtual workforce.