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Don Frye Bio

Don Frye (born November 23, 1965) is a retired American mixed martial artist, actor, and professional wrestler. Frye rose to fame fighting in early Ultimate Fighting Championship events, winning the UFC 8 and Ultimate Ultimate 96 tournaments.

Biography

Don Frye began wrestling as a freshman in 1984 for Arizona State, where he was trained by fellow future Ultimate Fighting Championship legend, then assistant wrestling coach, Dan Severn. In 1987, he won the freestyle and Greco-Roman events during an Olympic qualifier. A year later, he transferred to Oklahoma State, where he encountered another future UFC star amongst his teammates: Randy Couture.

UFC

In 1995, Frye helped train his old friend Dan Severn for the Ultimate Ultimate 1995, accompanying Severn's entourage to Denver. Severn returned the favour in 1996, when he acted as Frye's manager for UFC 8. Fighting three times in one night, Frye dispatched all of his opponents in just under a minutes total, winning the tournament with relative ease. At this event Frye set the record, since broken by Todd Duffee, for fastest KO in the UFC at just 8 seconds. However, due to the controversial nature of the event, Frye was barred from both firefighting, his previous occupation in Sierra Vista, Arizona, and from training in the Buena High School gym he had used since his ASU days. Along with Marco Ruas, Frye is considered one of the original "cross trained" MMA competitors who had a background in multiple disciplines. Along with his collegiate wrestling experience, Frye holds a 2nd degree black belt in Judo and a professional boxing record.

Instantly a fan favorite in the UFC, Frye returned at UFC 9 to take a single bout TKO victory over Brazilian Amaury Bitetti instead of the scheduled Marco Ruas. At UFC 10, Frye returned to tournament format and defeated Mark Hall and Brian Johnston both by TKO. But in the finals for UFC 10, Frye faced his toughest challenge yet - Mark Coleman. Coleman came out on top via TKO after eleven minutes, handing Frye his first loss in seven fights.

Frye would return to his winning ways at U-Japan in November 1996, taking a submission victory over Mark Hall. Just one month later, Frye entered the UFC's Ultimate Ultimate 96 tournament, held to find the best of the best from past UFC winners and runners up. Frye took wins over Gary Goodridge, and Mark Hall (for the third time), with both wins coming by submission. In the finals of UU 96, Frye faced feared striker Tank Abbott, who landed early devastating shots, opening a cut on Frye's face, and causing swelling but Abbott lost his balance and fell, allowing Frye to secure a Rear Naked Choke, to take the title of Ultimate Ultimate 96 Champion, his second UFC Tournament Championship. After winning the Ultimate Ultimate 96 tournament, Don Frye retired from the UFC.

New Japan Pro Wrestling

After leaving the UFC, Frye went into professional wrestling and debuted for New Japan Pro Wrestling in August 1997. By 1998, Frye began to rise in the ranks as he quickly became one of the companies lead heels, on April 4, 1998, Frye won the Antonio Final Opponent tournament on April 4, 1998 to earn the right to wrestle New Japan Pro Wrestling founder and wrestling legend: Antonio Inoki in his retirement match which took place later that night which Frye lost. After a brief feud with Kensuke Sasaki at end the year, Frye joined Masahiro Chono's new stable: Team 2000 in early 1999. After joining, Frye would spend most of 1999 and early 2000 feuding with Scott Norton over the unoffical title of Gaijin Ace, took part in the G1 Tag League in 1999 with Chono, and make two challenges for the IWGP Heavyweight Championship but was unsuccessful in each attempt . After being in Team 2000 for two years, Frye left the group, turned babyface and joined Keiji Mutoh's new stable: BATT where he made a third attempt at the IWGP Title but came up short again . In September 2001, Frye won the G1 World Climax tournament (a tournament similar to New Japan's G1 Climax only for gaijins), after the tournament win, Frye left New Japan and returned to Mixed Martial Arts. Frye would make a one time appearance at New Japan's Fighting Spirit Memorial Day Tokyo Dome show on May 2, 2002 where he defeated Tadao Yasuda.

PRIDE FC

In 2001, because of his Japanese Pro-wrestling career Frye was still a successful celebrity in Japan, PRIDE Fighting Championships signed The Predator to a multi fight contract. Appearing for the first time in five years, Frye was noticeably bigger, ripped and seemed much stronger. In a controversial bout at PRIDE 16, Frye faced Dutch kickboxer Gilbert Yvel, who repeatedly gouged Frye's eyes and was eventually disqualified for continuously holding the ropes. Three months later, at a joint New Year's Eve show Inoki Bom-Ba-Ye 2001 K-1 vs. Inoki, Frye submitted Cyril Abidi by Rear Naked Choke. Frye returned to PRIDE in February 2002, facing long-time rival Ken Shamrock at PRIDE 19. After an exciting hard tough battle, Frye pulled out a decision victory. Even though Shamrock had injured Frye's ankles, later leading to dependency on painkillers, the two hugged after the fight ended, putting an end to their rivalry. Many MMA fans agree that both fighters were never the same again, as both their careers began a steady downturn after the fight.

Just four months after defeating Ken Shamrock, Frye returned to face Japanese professional wrestler Yoshihiro Takayama at PRIDE 21. In a fight that many consider to be one of PRIDE's most exciting matches, Frye and Takayama clinched in a "hockey fight" pose, each holding the head and hitting, with Takayama finally going to the body after more than a full minute of unrelenting, undefended shots. This would happen three times in the fight, until the referee stopped the bout after Frye mounted Takayama, who was visibly much worse for the wear.

Riding a new wave of popularity, Frye returned at PRIDE 23 to face Japanese Olympic Gold Medalist Hidehiko Yoshida. Taking his first loss since fighting Mark Coleman in 1996, Frye was submitted by Yoshida via armbar in the first round. While Frye did not tap out, the referee stopped the bout in fear of serious injury. Just one month later, Frye fought at the K-1/PRIDE New Year's Eve event, PRIDE Shockwave, taking on K-1 Champion Jérôme Le Banner. The match was not a mixed martial arts event as kickboxing rules were followed. It should be noted that Frye had mentioned in an interview prior to the fight that (besides some knee strikes) he had never thrown a kick in his life. Frye's disadvantage was obvious as he couldn't use his wrestling skills and at 1:30 of the first round, for the first time in his career, Don Frye was knocked out.

Frye took seven months off following the loss to Le Banner, and returned at PRIDE 26 to try and avenge his loss to Mark Coleman. In a rather long battle, Frye lost a unanimous decision to Coleman after three rounds. Another rematch was on tap for PRIDE Shockwave 2003, when Frye faced Gary Goodridge for the third time. In a stunning bout that lasted all of 0:39, Goodridge scored a vicious high kick to the head, knocking Frye out completely. He made his Pride return at PRIDE 34 fighting James Thompson and lost by strikes.

K-1 & HERO's

In 2004 Frye signed with Japan's K-1 mixed martial arts promotion HERO's, which held both kickboxing and mixed martial arts matches. In K-1 MMA-Romanex, Frye faced Japanese firebrand Yoshihiro Nakao, but the bout was called a no contest in the first round due to an accidental headbutt. The pair would face off at K-1's New Year's Eve show K-1-Premium 2004 Dynamite to settle the score, with Frye ultimately losing a unanimous decision. After another brief retirement, Frye returned in May 2006 to fight Akebono at K-1 Hero's 5, winning by guillotine choke in the second round.

Just ten days later, in his first appearance in the US since 1996, Don Frye took on Ruben Villarreal in King of the Cage: Predator. After three rounds of what many considered to be a lackluster fight, the bout was ruled a draw. 3 months later he defeated Yoshihisa Yamamoto at K-1 Hero's 6 using the Rear Naked Choke in the end of the first round. In his latest appearance, Frye faced Min Soo Kim at K-1 Hero's 7 and knocked him out with a punch in the second round.

IFL

In 2007 Frye assembled and coached the Arizona based Tucson Scorpions in the International Fight League, but on November 9, 2007 Don announced on TAGG radio, that he and the IFL had parted ways. They were one of four new teams established at the beginning of the 2007 season. He also wrote a humorous weekly column called "Dear Don: Advice from The Predator" in which he gives fans advice on love, life, friendship, and more. However, Don is currently on MMA Junkie radio on Fridays on a segment known as "Don Fryedays" which is a follow up to his Dear Don segments from the IFL.

Post IFL

On February 8, 2008, Frye announced on TAGG Radio that he would be fighting Oleg Taktarov on the debut card for YAMMA Pit Fighting on April 11 in the Trump Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, NJ. The fight will be the first fight in YAMMA's Masters Division, a division for fighters over the age of 39. However, he had to withdraw due to an injury and was replaced by UFC 1 entree Pat Smith.

Following his tenure with the IFL and a one-off fight with Texas-based promotion NoLimit Fighting, Don Frye competed in his inaugural fight with the DEEP organization, fighting Japanese fan favorite Ikuhisa "The Punk" Minowa. Minowa won via kneebar at the 3:56 mark of Round 1, dropping Frye's record in Japan to 8-6. Frye later admitted to not taking the fight seriously and was quoted as saying that he thought he could "charm" his way through the fight with "Minowaman" only to find out "He (Minowa) didn't find me very charming."

Frye faced Ritch Moss on Saturday, May 2, 2009 at Shark Fights in Lubbock, Texas. Frye won by Submission (Rear Naked Choke).

On Sep 12, 2009, Dave "Pee Wee" Herman took just sixty seconds to secure a TKO victory over Frye at "Shark Fights 6: Stars & Stripes" PPV at the Amarillo Civic Center Coliseum in Texas.

Retirement

In a February 2010 interview when asked if he was definitely retired Frye replied, "Yeah, yeah… I'm done with it. I just lost my desire. A lot of it was the promoters, and the time commitment. You know, to be a top athlete, it's a pretty selfish endeavor." Frye went on to name the desire to be with and raise his children as a prime factor for leaving the game.

Acting

Don Frye began acting in movies with Godzilla: Final Wars (2004), playing the role of Captain Douglas Gordon. In an interview, Frye mentions that unlike his fights where he has complete control, acting in a Godzilla film he had no control but enjoyed the experience nonetheless. The director of the film, Ryuhei Kitamura, mentioned that he wrote the role with Frye in mind since he was a fan of Frye's fighting matches. Kitamura found Frye's tough-guy/good-heart demeanor to be the perfect role for the comic book character of Gordon. Curiously, for a prominent character in a Japanese-language film, all of his dialogue was spoken in English.

2005 turned out to be a busy year for Frye as he made several appearances. In Just Another Romantic Wrestling Comedy, he played Rocco Piedra, the father of a wrestling family who dreams on marrying their child off to a famous wrestler. He also appeared in No Rules and starred in Nagurimono. In 2006, he made an appearance in Miami Vice and even lent his voice for The Ant Bully.

Frye is also set to appear in Apparitions: The Darkness (formerly Paper Dolls) and in the Rob Schneider prison comedy Big Stan, along with fellow MMA fighters, Randy Couture and Bob Sapp.

He played Clarence Hurt, a Texas Ranger, in Public Enemies, by director Michael Mann.

Since he competed in Pride FC, he has also appeared in several commercial ads in Japan. The latest one is a television ad for a yakisoba product named "UFO" produced by Nissin Foods (an executive officer was a fierce fan of Frye).

Frye appeared in an episode of "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia" entitled "The Gang Wrestles for the Troops," in which he played a professional wrestler that was getting pummeled by Roddy Piper's character, The Maniac. The part did not involve any lines and he is not currently credited on IMDB for it, but his name is in the end credits of the episode.

Frye also appeared in a new AT&T mini-movie advertisement for the Blackberry Bold 9700 entitled "Stay One Step Ahead" during the 2009 holiday season.

Frye also appeared in Zombieland as one of the zombies.

Personal life

Frye is married and has two daughters, ages six and five.

Championships and accomplishments

Mixed Martial Arts

• Ultimate Fighting Championship
  • UFC 8 Tournament Winner
  • UFC Ultimate Ultimate 1996 Tournament Winner
  • UFC 10 Tournament Runner-Up

• Wrestling Observer Newsletter
  • Fight of the Year (2002)- vs. Yoshihiro Takayama on June 23

Professional Wrestling

• New Japan Pro Wrestling
  • G1 World Climax Tournament Winner (2001)
  • Antonio Inoki Final Opponent Tournament Winner (1998)

• Pro Wrestling Illustrated
  • PWI ranked him #175 of the 500 best singles wrestlers of the year in the PWI 500 in 1999
  • PWI ranked him #247 of the 500 best singles wrestlers during the "PWI Years" in 2003

MMA record

Footnotes

External links

• Professional MMA record for Don Frye from Sherdog
• Don Frye's career boxing record from Boxrec.com
• Official website
• Don Frye-days on TAGG Radio
• Don Frye's interview with John Kline of Elevation Radio
• [4]
• Don Frye at the Internet Movie Database

MMA Shirts

Don Frye Photos