Duke Roufus

Duke Roufus
Born Jeffrey Ryan Roufus
(1970-02-19) 19 February 1970
Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States
Nationality American
Height 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
Weight 235 lb (107 kg; 16.8 st)
Division Super Heavyweight
Style Kickboxing, Muay Thai, Taekwondo, Karate, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Fighting out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States
Team Roufusport
Rank 4th degree black belt in Roufusport Kickboxing
3rd degree black belt in Taekwondo
Purple belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu
Years active 1988–2001 (Kickboxing)
2005–2007
Kickboxing record
Total 45
Wins 36
By knockout 26
Losses 8
Draws 1
No contests 0
Other information
Notable relatives Rick Roufus, brother
Notable students Alan Belcher, Stephan Bonnar, Matt Mitrione, Anthony Pettis, Jens Pulver, Ben Rothwell, Ben Askren, Erik Koch, CM Punk, Tyron Woodley

Jeffrey Ryan "Duke" Roufus[1] (born February 19, 1970) is an American former kickboxer and head coach of the Roufusport competition team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States.[2][3] He is a well-known striking coach in North America.[3]

Career

Duke Roufus started training in martial arts at an early age.[4] He is the younger brother of kickboxer Rick "The Jet" Roufus.

His professional kickboxing career saw him collect a number of titles including the W.K.A. North American Super Heavyweight Championship, W.A.K.O. World Super Heavyweight Championship, W.K.B.A. World Super Heavyweight Championship and the K.I.C.K. World Super Heavyweight Championship during the 1990s.

Roufus won the IKF International Kickboxing Federation Pro Muay Thai Rules World Super Heavyweight Title on December 4, 1998 in Milwaukee Wisconsin, over Hiriwa TeRangi of New Zealand by unanimous decision 50-43 on all three judges' cards.

On March 19, 1999, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in his only defense of the title, Roufus quickly defeated Australia's WKA World Champion Grant Barker with a combination of strikes which included a leg kick, 2 knees to Barker's head and finished with a high head kick, Roufus only took 39 seconds to knockout the Australian in the opening round of the scheduled 5 round Muay Thai bout.

Roufus voluntarily vacated his Super Heavyweight Title to move down to the Heavyweight Muay Thai Division and soon after, retired. However, at the end of October, 2000, Roufus announced he would come out of retirement to fight in the K-1 USA tournament. He lost his second round bout in the May, 2001 K-1 USA tournament and his opening round bout in the August, 2001 K-1 USA tournament.

On December 11, 2002, Roufus made his retirement official. His final kickboxing record was 36-8-1/26 and in pro boxing he was 2-0/1.

On two further occasions Roufus has come out of retirement to fight in the ring to record wins against Sinisa "Thunderman" Andrijasevic on June 3, 2005 and Eduardo Maiorino on May 25, 2007.

Following his retirement, he has become a well-known trainer, working with many UFC/WEC MMA fighters including former UFC Lightweight Champion Anthony Pettis, Alan Belcher, Pat Barry, Erik Koch, Ben Rothwell, Matt Mitrione and former U.S. Olympian and former Bellator World Champion Ben Askren. Other former students include former UFC Lightweight Champion Jens Pulver and The Ultimate Fighter Season One star Stephan Bonnar.

Duke Roufus and business partner Scott Joffe operate Roufusport Martial Arts Academy in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

Roufus has also served as color commentator for K-1 on ESPN2 and has appeared on TSN in Canada, Walker Texas Ranger and Fox's Best Damn Sport's Show Period. In January 2003, he was named one of Milwaukee Magazine's "50 People You Should Know."

Honors and titles

Kickboxing record

Kickboxing record

Legend:   Win   Loss   Draw/no contest

See also

References

  1. ↑ "NSAC report of K-1 World Grand Prix 2001 in Las Vegas" (PDF). Boxing.nv.gov. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
  2. ↑ Dale De Souza. "Duke Roufus, the Roufusport Fight Club and the Power of Quality over Quantity". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
  3. 1 2 "Duke Roufus: MMA's Busiest Man in Milwaukee". UFC. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
  4. ↑ Alireza Fadaie. "Exclusive Interview With Duke Roufus". Bleacher Report. Retrieved 3 November 2014.
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