Patrick Smith

On October 10, 2015, Smith came out of retirement at age 51 to fight Dave Huckaba at Gladiator Challenge – Collision Course. He was defeated via KO at 1:33 of round 1.

On April 11, 2008 Smith came in as a late replacement for Gary Goodridge and defeated Eric “Butterbean” Esch via submission due to strikes in a “Masters Superfight” at YAMMA Pit Fighting’s inaugural event.

After the Hug victory, Smith’s K-1 career never took off. He lost to Andy Hug in a rematch at the K-1 Revenge event and then failed to qualify for the following year’s K-1 Grand Prix at K-1 Grand Prix ’95 Opening Battle. His last match in K-1 was against rising local star Musashi, a match he lost by KO, and he was released from his K-1 contract, finishing 1 and 4 with the organization. Despite little international success, Smith had more success at home, accumulating an overall 66-8 kickboxing record by the time he retired in 2000.

In 1999, Smith was convicted of sexually assaulting a 14-year-old girl. He was later arrested in 2008 after failing to register as a sex offender.

Patrick Smith first rose to fame in the US for his kickboxing prowess. In 1994 he entered the K-1 Grand Prix ’94 where he caused one of the biggest upsets in K-1 history by flooring three times and subsequently knocking out legendary karateka and future K-1 star Andy Hug with an uppercut after just 19 seconds of the first round in their quarterfinal match. Smith was unable to build on this success as he was soundly defeated by eventual champion Peter Aerts in the semifinals. Some pundits, most notoriously Dave Meltzer, have expressed their belief that Hug’s loss was a fight fixed in order to increase Smith’s popularity.

He was a 3rd degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do and also held a black belt in Hapkido, American Kenpo, and Tang Soo Do. In 1993, Smith was ranked No. 1 as a Super Heavyweight kickboxer in the United States and held a ranking of No. 5 internationally. He was the 1993 Enshin Karate Sabaki Challenge Heavyweight champion, an annual full contact karate tournament held in Denver which allows grabs, sweeps and throws, and competed in the 1993 Seidokaikan full contact Karate World Cup tournament in Japan.

Smith participated the first Ultimate Fighting Championship event, UFC 1, in November 1993. The event featured an eight-man single-elimination tournament with very few rules, awarding $50,000 to the winner. Art Davie, the promoter, placed advertisements in martial arts magazines and sent letters to anyone in any martial arts directory he could find to recruit competitors for the event. With the event being held in Smith’s hometown of Denver, he was an easy addition. Smith’s first and only match was against shoot wrestler Ken Shamrock, who took Smith down easily and submitted him with a heel hook. The fans in Denver booed heavily as they were unaware of the submission rules and were displeased with the fact that the match ended so quickly without a knockout.

Patrick Smith (August 28, 1963 – June 18, 2019) was an American kickboxer and mixed martial artist. He started his mixed martial arts career by participating in the first two Ultimate Fighting Championship events.