Ovince Saint Preux

Ovince Saint Preux

Ovince Saint Preux is a Haitian-American professional mixed martial artist who competes in the light heavyweight division of the UFC. A professional competitor since 2008, he has also formerly competed for Strikeforce, the XFC, and Shark Fights. He is known for his unorthodox fighting style, and has gained notability and notoriety for having won multiple fights using the rare Von Flue choke submission.

About Ovince Saint Preux in brief

Summary Ovince Saint PreuxOvince Saint Preux is a Haitian-American professional mixed martial artist who competes in the light heavyweight division of the UFC. A professional competitor since 2008, he has also formerly competed for Strikeforce, the XFC, and Shark Fights. He is known for his unorthodox fighting style, and has gained notability and notoriety for having won multiple fights using the rare Von Flue choke submission. As of November 23, 2020, he is #15 in the UFC Light Heavyweight rankings.Saint Preux was born in Immokalee, Florida, to Haitian immigrant parents. He played college football for the Tennessee Volunteers from 2001 to 2004, appearing in seventeen games during his college career. He graduated in 2004 with a degree in sociology, and began to train in kickboxing and submission grappling. He currently trains at Knoxville Martial Arts Academy in Knoxville, Tennessee, and is a member of Omega Psi Phi fraternity. He has a record of 5-1 within the Strikeforce organization. In January 2013, the organization was closed by its parent company Zuffa with the majority of theStrikeforce fighters being brought over to the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) For his UFC debut, he faced fellow promotional newcomer Gian Villante on April 27, 2013, at UFC 159. The fight ended in unusual fashion as Saintpreux accidentally poked Villante in the right eye with his thumb and referee Kevin Mulhall immediately called an end to the fight after asking if he could see a result.

He lost the fight via third-round knockout with a punch to the face. He next fought Gegard Mousasi on December 17, 2011, at Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Masvidal. In August 2012, he fought T.J. Cook on the main card of Strikeforce vs. Kaufman, the fight was the first time he had been in the ring with Ronda Rousey. He won the fight by unanimous decision in the second round. Saint PreUX is currently ranked No. 14 in the lightweight division. He was a runner-up for Inside MMA’s Submission of The Year for 2009 with a calf slicer against Ombey Mobley, but was beaten by Toby Imada’s reverse triangle. In June 2010, he signed a multi-fight deal with Strikeforce. He made his professional MMA debut at VFC 1 against Rodney Wallace, which he lost by decision. In his second MMA match, he suffered another decision loss. His next match came against Robert Turner which he won by a brutal head kick at XFC 7: School of Hard Knox. He competed in his third Strikeforce fight in less than seven weeks and faced Abongo Humphrey on January 7, 2011. He beat him via unanimous decision. He returned to action less than a month after his win over Britt to fight UFC and Strikeforce veteran Benji Radach.