Chris Tuchscherer

Chris Tuchscherer (born September 8, 1975) is a retired American mixed martial artist who last competed as a Heavyweight for the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Background Born in Rugby, North Dakota, Tuchscherer competed in wrestling for Bowman County High School, continuing with the sport at North Dakota State before eventually transferring to NCAA Division II Minnesota State University, Moorhead. At MSUM Tuchscherer participated in Heavyweight NCAA Division II competitions and became a two-time All-American as well as an NCAA Division II Championship Runner-Up.

Mixed martial arts career Early career After using up all of his college eligibility, Tuchscherer - who was already a fan of MMA - was urged by his friends to try competing himself. He tried out for and earned a spot on a local fight card where he won his first amateur match in less than a minute. Tuchscherer continued training at MSUM while helping to coach the university's wrestling team. He later began training at Minnesota Martial Arts Academy with fellow All-American Brock Lesnar.

In his first professional MMA bout Tuchscherer defeated Krzysztof Soszynski by decision. Later in his career, he won the Dakota Fighting Championships Heavyweight Championship, and at Extreme Challenge 85 on October 6, 2007, Tuchscherer defeated Jimmy Ambriz for the EC Heavyweight Championship. He later participated at YAMMA Pit Fighting's only event in a heavyweight tournament where he defeated both Tony Sylvester and Alexey Oleinik by unanimous decision before losing by unanimous decision in the final to Travis Wiuff. Tuchscherer then won the Max Fights Heavyweight Championship on July 19, 2008, by defeating Tony Mendoza at Max Fights 4 before defeating Branden Lee Hinkle on March 21, 2009, at "Beatdown 4" to win the first SNMAA heavyweight championship.

Ultimate Fighting Championship Chris Tuchscherer tried out for the tenth season of the Ultimate Fighting Championship's (UFC) reality show, The Ultimate Fighter. The UFC scouts at the tryouts noticed Tuchscherer's professional record and decided to give him a fight at a UFC event rather than go through the show's tournament. As a result, Tuchscherer debuted with the UFC at UFC 102 against Gabriel Gonzaga. Early in their fight Tuchscherer was hit with a hard kick to his groin by Gonzaga. Tuchscherer required several minutes to recover during which he nearly vomited. He managed to convince a group of officials that he was willing and able to continue in the fight. Following the restart of the match, Tuchscherer lost to Gonzaga by technical knockout at 2:27 of the first round.

His next fight was with Tim Hague who was coming off being the subject of the UFC's fastest knockout. Occurring on February 6, 2010, at UFC 109, Tuchscherer was once again faced with being on the receiving end of a low blow early in the first round. He managed to continue this time. However, conditioning for both fighters seemed to be poor as the action throughout the match was sporadic and they were visibly exhausted in the third round. Tuchscherer won the fight by majority decision (29–28, 29–28, and 28–28).

On July 3, 2010, at UFC 116, Tuchscherer faced Brendan Schaub. Tuchscherer lost the fight by TKO in the first round.

Tuchscherer's next bout was against Mark Hunt on February 27, 2011, at UFC 127. Tuchscherer suffered his second consecutive loss when Hunt knocked him out at 1:41 into the second round.

Following his loss to Hunt, Tuchscherer was released from the UFC.

Crowbar MMA Chris Tuchscherer ran his own promotion, "Crowbar MMA", that held five events in Fargo, North Dakota and Grand Forks, North Dakota.

Personal life Tuchscherer and his wife have a daughter and a son. Before becoming a professional fighter, Tuchscherer worked as a plumber.

Mixed martial arts record Loss

Mark Hunt KO (punch) UFC 127

Sydney, Australia Loss

Brendan Schaub TKO (punches) UFC 116

Las Vegas, Nevada, United States Win

Tim Hague Decision (majority) UFC 109

Las Vegas, Nevada, United States Loss

Gabriel Gonzaga TKO (punches) UFC 102

Portland, Oregon, United States Win

Jamie Klair TKO (punches) SNMMA: Extreme Beatdown

Phoenix, Arizona, United States Defended SNMAA Heavyweight Championship. Win

Branden Lee Hinkle TKO (punches) SNMMA: Beatdown at 4 Bears

New Town, North Dakota, United States Won SNMAA Heavyweight Championship. Win

Tony Mendoza Submission (armbar) Max Fights 4

North Dakota, United States Won Max Fights Heavyweight Championship. Loss

Travis Wiuff Decision (unanimous) YAMMA Pit Fighting

Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States Finals of YAMMA Heavyweight Tournament. Win

Aleksei_Oleinik Decision (unanimous) YAMMA Pit Fighting

Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States Win

Tony Sylvester Decision (unanimous) YAMMA Pit Fighting

Atlantic City, New Jersey, United States Win

Travis Fulton Decision (unanimous) Max Fights 2

Fargo, North Dakota, United States Win

Jimmy Ambriz Submission (rear-naked choke) Extreme Challenge 85

Bismarck, North Dakota, United States Won EC Heavyweight Championship. Win

Matt Eckerle TKO (punches) DFC 9: Dakota vs. the World

Grand Forks, North Dakota, United States Win

Chuck Grigsby TKO (punches) DFC 8: Proving Grounds

Fargo, North Dakota, United States Win

Demian Decorah TKO (punches) DFC 7: Revolution

Bismarck, North Dakota, United States NC

Josh Hendricks NC (overturned) Fightfest 2

Canton, Ohio, United States Win

Ed Myers TKO (punches) Royce Gracie Fightfest 1

Evansville, Indiana, United States Win

Jim Dobson TKO (punches) DFC 5: Legends of the Falls

Thief River Falls, Minnesota, United States Win

Matt Lafromboise TKO (submission to punches) NFA: Last Dam Fights

Fargo, North Dakota, United States Win

Chris Clark TKO (submission to punches) DFC 4: Nowhere to Run

Fargo, North Dakota, United States Win

Jason Miller TKO (submission to punches) NFA: Throwdown in Jamestown 2

Fargo, North Dakota, United States Win

Karl Knothe Submission (rear-naked choke) Cage Fighting Xtreme 3

Brainerd, Minnesota, United States Win

Marc Zee TKO (punches) DFC 3: Submission Impossible

Fargo, North Dakota, United States Win

Noah Inhofer TKO (punches) DFC 2: Reloaded

Fargo, North Dakota, United States Win

Krzysztof Soszynski Decision (unanimous) NFA: Title Trials

Moorhead, Minnesota, United States Win

Sean Cooke Submission (choke) Dakota Fighting Championships 1

Fargo, North Dakota, United States