Thomas Denny (fighter)


Thomas Denny is an American mixed martial artist. He competes in the Welterweight division, and is the former King of the Cage Welterweight Champion. In addition to King of the Cage, Denny has also competed in the WEC, EliteXC, Shooto, MFC, and ShoXC.

Background

Denny was born in Hesperia, California, where he also runs his own training camp, Team Wildman Vale Tudo. Growing up, however, Denny faced many hardships as a child, being raised in a very dysfunctional family, he found boxing when he was 10 years old, before turning to kickboxing when he was 19. While training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, he viewed an International Vale Tudo fight that featured Jose Landi and Denny became hooked to mixed martial arts.

Mixed martial arts

Denny made his debut in 1999 against future UFC veteran, Doug Evans, winning by rear-naked choke. However, the inexperienced Denny would only win one of his next seven fights, with three of the losses to future stars, Yves Edwards, Tetsuji Kato, and Jutaro Nakao.
However, he would eventually get himself back on track, holding a record of 17-11 before being given a shot at the King of the Cage Welterweight Championship against James Franshier. Denny lost by split decision, but would later win the King of the Cage Welterweight Championship in a rematch with Franshier, winning by TKO from punches. Denny then dropped two straight fights, losing his belt in the next fight and then losing again to future UFC veteran Alex Karalexis, before winning his next fight against UFC and future Strikeforce veteran Tony Fryklund via submission. Five fights later, in 2008 Denny fought against Joe Camacho for the King of the Cage Junior Welterweight Championship, but lost by knockout from a punch.
Denny then rebounded with a TKO win against Thai kickboxer Malaipet Sasiprapa, before facing future Strikeforce Welterweight Champion Nick Diaz at EliteXC: Unfinished Business and the legendary Pat Miletich, losing both fights by knockout from punches. Denny then fought in the Canadian MFC, fighting to a draw in his debut, but losing via unanimous decision in the rematch. His last fight was against judo specialist and former UFC veteran Karo Parisyan, which he also lost via unanimous decision.
Denny participated in MTV's Bully Beatdown where he fought Dennis, "The Russian Meathead". To date, he is the only professional MMA fighter on the show to not score a single submission in the first round. During the 3 minutes in the submission round, Thomas was unable to apply a submission. He also failed to knock out the bully in the kickboxing round, constituting the only time in the history of the show in which the bully got away with all the money.

Championships and accomplishments