Bart Vale

Bart Vale (born May 4, 1957) is an American former kickboxer, mixed martial artist and professional wrestler. He is known for his "old school" American martial arts look, consisting of a mustache, mullet and American flag trunks.

Career Bart Vale began his martial arts training in 1970 with kenpo. He later traveled to Japan where he was a professional wrestler in the Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi (a shoot-style professional wrestling organization) champion for close to three years. He was trained by Joe Malenko. In Japan, he also studied a number of other styles and coined the term "shootfighting", a martial art that combines striking and grappling. He co-founded the International Shootfighting Association and in 1992, began the Shootfighting World Championships.

Vale began participating in events for Fighting Network Rings (a shoot-style professional wrestling organization by then) in March 1993. He appeared in five matches for Rings, four of which took place during the organization's pro wrestling period. Rings began promoting mixed martial arts bouts rather than shoot-style works in 1995.

In October 1995, Vale competed in the World Combat Championships. In the first round of the tournament he defeated Mike Bitonio via first-round submission. Fighting at 260 lbs, Vale outweighed Bitonio by 45 lbs. Vale was to face Renzo Gracie in the semifinals, but wasn't able to continue due to head lacerations. He had two further MMA bouts, in which he lost to Kazunari Murakami and Dan Severn. He also competed in the K-1 kickboxing promotion twice. In 1996, he was invited into the K-1 World Grand Prix and was defeated by Andy Hug. His next bout, against Nobuaki Kakuda in 1998, also ended in defeat. In the early days of MMA, when it was still called NHB, Vale was introduced as the man who beat Ken Shamrock in reference to a pro wrestling bout that occurred in Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi on May 15, 1992.

Kickboxing record Loss Nobuaki Kakuda K-1 Japan '98 Kamikaze Tokyo, Japan TKO (doctor stoppage)

0-2 Loss Andy Hug K-1 Grand Prix '96 Opening Battle Yokohama, Japan TKO (3 knockdowns)

0-1

Mixed martial arts record Loss

Dan Severn TKO (doctor stoppage) CFA 1: Collision at the Crossroads

Corinth, Mississippi, United States Loss

Kazunari Murakami TKO (punches) Extreme Fighting 3

Tulsa, Oklahoma, United States Win

Mike Bitonio Submission (arm-triangle choke) World Combat Championship 1: First Strike

Charlotte, North Carolina, United States