Bart Vale

Bart Vale (born June 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.^[1]

Career

Bart Vale began his martial arts training in 1970 with Kenpo Karate, in which he holds a 10th degree black belt.^[2] He later traveled to Japan where he was a professional wrestler and the Pro Wrestling Fujiwara Gumi (a shoot-style professional wrestling organization) champion for close to three years. 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.^[3]

Vale began participating in events for Fighting Network Rings in March 1993. He appeared in 5 matches for Rings, 4 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.^[4]

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.^[5] Bart Vale was to face Renzo Gracie in the semi finals but Vale 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. In addition to this, 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, back 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.^[6]

Kickboxing record

Kickboxing record
0 wins, 2 losses Result Record Opponent Method Event Date Round Time Location Notes Loss 0-2 Nobuaki Kakuda TKO (doctor stoppage) K-1 Japan '98 Kamikaze 000000001998-10-28-0000October 28, 1998 1 2:09 Tokyo, Japan Loss 0-1 Andy Hug TKO (3 knockdowns) K-1 Grand Prix '96 Opening Battle 000000001996-03-10-0000March 10, 1996 1 2:24 Yokohama, Japan Legend:   Win   Loss   Draw/No contest

Mixed martial arts record

Mixed martial arts record

1 win (1 submission), 2 losses Result Record Opponent Method Event Date Round Time Location Notes Loss 1-2 Dan Severn TKO (doctor stoppage) Continental Freefighting Alliance 1: Collision at the Crossroads 000000002000-03-25-0000March 25, 2000 2 0:36 Corinth, Mississippi, USA Loss 1-1 Kazunari Murakami TKO (punches) Extreme Fighting 3 000000001996-10-18-0000October 18, 1996 1 4:37 Tulsa, Oklahoma, USA Win 1-0 Mike Bitonio Submission (arm-triangle choke) World Combat Championship 1: First Strike 000000001995-10-17-0000October 17, 1995 1 7:10 Charlotte, North Carolina, USA Legend:   Win   Loss   Draw/No contest

References

External links

• Professional boxing record for Bart Vale from BoxRec
• Professional MMA record for Bart Vale from Sherdog
  
• Official K-1 profile
• Full video of the infamous Vale/Shamrock bout on YouTube