Jeremy Williams (MMA fighter)
Jeremy Williams (June 1 , 1979-May 5 ,2007) was an American professional mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter. He most notably fought for the Southern California Condors of the International Fight League.
Bio
Jeremy Williams began learning kickboxing in his early teens. After approximately three years of kickboxing training his friend and training partner, Dino introduced Jeremy to grappling. According to Jeremy, after being beaten by Dino in a wrestling match, he was determined to learn how to wrestle. Although Jeremy never performed well at highschool wrestling tournaments, he ended up becoming a professional grappler, mainly due to his introduction to Chris Brennan, whom he met at age 17. Brennan taught at the Next Generation Fight Academy and even let Jeremy stay at his house for three years. Marco Ruas was also an instructor involved in developing Jeremy's fighting ability, but the jiujitsu taught by Chris would become Jeremy's primary fighting style. Jeremy competed in many jiujitsu circuits and became recognized amongst Southern California's grapplers in the late 90's. As a young professional fighter Jeremy competed King of the Cage where he achieved victories over Yves Edwards and Shannon Ritch.
Jeremy opened APEX Jiujitsu, a school which taught kickboxing, wrestling, jiujitsu, and MMA in Lake Forest, CA at a gym called Cardio Fit. After two years his gym grew too large to sublet from Cardio Fit, so he moved to another location in Mission Viejo, CA.
After a brief layoff from fighting, Jeremy decided to return to the ring in 2007. Marco Ruas offered Jeremy the 185 pound spot on the Orange County Condors, a fight team in newly formed IFL. Jeremy won both of his matches in the IFL by way of triangle choke.
On May 5 , 2007 in Laguna Niguel, California, Williams died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. 1
On June 17th 2007 during the post match interview in the show UFC 72, Clay Guida paid tribute to his friend Jeremy Williams. Guida held a t-shirt with the name of Jeremy Williams On It. A later IFL Battleground episode included a tribute to Williams, with a fight bell ringing in a darkened arena. The episode also ran footage from Williams's memorial service mixed with tribute InterViews and footage of Williams with his team. The IFL episode made no mention of the cause of death.
Personal life
Williams is survived by his wife Lauren and two children.2
Fight Record
Win |
Kazuhiro Hamanaka |
Technical Submission (Choke) |
IFL - Los Angeles |
3/17/2007 |
1 |
0:59 |
Win |
Bristol Marunde |
Submission (Triangle Choke) |
IFL - Oakland |
1/19/2007 |
1 |
1:13 |
Win |
Shannon Ritch |
Submission (Strikes) |
FFC 1 - Force Fighting Championships 1 |
5/18/2002 |
1 |
3:00 |
Loss |
Ray Cooper |
TKO (Strikes) |
Warriors Quest 2 - Battle of Champions |
8/1/2001 |
1 |
|
Win |
Yves Edwards |
Decision |
KOTC 7 - Wet and Wild |
2/24/2001 |
3 |
5:00 |
Win |
Chris Champagne |
Submission (Triangle Choke) |
GC 1 - Gladiator Challenge 1 |
12/9/2000 |
N/A |
|
Win |
Brennan Kamaka |
Submission (Armbar) |
KOTC 4 - Gladiators |
6/24/2000 |
1 |
0:58 |
Loss |
Eric Meaders |
Decision |
KOTC 1 - Bas Rutten's King of the Cage |
10/30/1999 |
2 |
5:00 |
Win |
Chris Monly |
Submission (Armbar) |
KK 11 - Kage Kombat 11 |
1/4/1999 |
1 |
0:15 |