Andre Winner
Andre Winner has been a regular in the UK scene since making his Professional debut in 2006. This 28 year old Leicester based fighter has impressed fans and pundits at home and abroad over the last three years thanks to his exciting fight style. He formally signed with Warrior Promotions Fighter Management (WPFM) in 2009, after fighting on many of their Cage Warriors Fighting Championship events and on other projects too.
Winner is a team mate of such top UK names as Dan "The Outlaw" Hardy, Paul "Semtex" Daley, and “Judo” Jim Wallhead and made a bright start to his MMA career with five straight wins (four of which were inside the distance) in just eight months. These wins included impressive performances against the likes of Paul Cooper, Sami Berik and (the now TUF 9 veteran) Jeff Lawson.
Although Winner came unstuck at “Enter The Rough House 2” in April 2007, when he lost his unbeaten record due to a Guillotine choke by (the now Bellator veteran) Greg Loughran. Winner soon bounced back in style at FX3: Fight Night 5, when he captured the FX3 Lightweight World Title with a convincing points victory over Loughran's team mate Aiden Marron.
Winner then scored wins at Cage Warriors: Enter The Rough House 3 and 4 where he defeated the rugged Welsh brawler Daniel Thomas and the previously unbeaten Tsunami Gym member AJ Wenn. Winner used his superior striking and clinch skills in both bouts and exploded into life in round 2 of his bout against AJ Wenn after landing a superb flying knee which completely changed the fight into his favour. The skilful striker ended his 2007 campaign at FX3: Fight Night 6 when he defeated the Shooto Japan and KOTC veteran Mario Stapel. Yet again Winner was able to punish his opponent from the outside with his lightening quick strikes and once again dominated the action from the inside due to his clinch skills and takedown defence, which led him to another unanimous decision victory.
However 2008 contained many frustrating moments for the Team Rough House fighter, as his long awaited bout with Kevin Roddy in Florida was cancelled just minutes before it started due to a technical hitch. Whilst Winner encountered more frustration in October when Joakim Engberg pulled out of their proposed bout at K-1 “Rumble Of the Kings” with just days to go because of a late injury.
Things did not improve when Winner actually got into the cage as in April 2008 he dropped a close decision to the highly rated French grappler Bendy Casimir, despite a spectacular third round flurry which nearly sealed the win. Whilst in July 2008, Winner went to a controversial draw against the former Cage Rage British Lightweight Champion Abdul Mohammed at “Enter The Rough House 7”.
Despite these setbacks, Winner profited from increased exposure in the MMA media and like many other Cage Warriors veterans he entered the UFC “The Ultimate Fighter 9” Trials at Earls Court in October 2008. Winner impressed enough during the various interview stages to be offered a place on the popular Reality TV series ,which was broadcasted in the USA on Spike TV and in the UK on Virgin 1 and Setanta Sports.
In the season's opening episode Winner made it into the TUF house in Las Vegas by defeating Gary Kelly (the brother of UFC star Paul Kelly) in the UK eliminators at the Wolfslair Academy. Winner finished the fight after landing a powerful knee from the clinch. See here for more details.
Once in the United States; Winner worked alongside the rest of Team UK as they prepared with coach Michael Bisping for their fights against Team USA. However Winner did not fight again until Episode 5 of the series when he defeated Santino DeFranco via TKO after landing a barrage of unanswered ground strikes late in the first round. For details of that fight go here and to see photos go here
Then on the 11th episode of the series Winner faced Cameron Dollar. (who defeated Martin Stapleton in his first round match-up) With both men keen to advance to the live finale, the pressure was on and Winner didn't crack, as he landed some hard shots on Dollar early on before finally submitting his American opponent midway through the first round with a triangle choke. For more information on that fight go here and for photos go here
Winner then faced his team mate and fellow WPFM stablemate Ross Pearson in the live Finale at the luxurious Pearl at the Palms resort in Las Vegas on June 20th. Despite suffering from food poisoning in the run-up to the fight, Winner was able to take the first round against Pearson using his striking and clinch work to dictate the pace. However Pearson recovered and ultimately won the bout and the series via a close decision after three rounds, in a bout that was shown on live TV in both the USA and UK. For reports and photos of this fight go here and here
However Winner was given the chance to redeem himself at UFC 105 in Manchester, England last November. Winner opened up the stacked card in style and put on on one of his best performances to-date by knocking out the TUF 8 cast member Roli Delgado with a thunderous with a overhand right that sent him sprawling to the canvas mid-way through round 1. This win was so impressive that it also made the TV portion of the Spike and ESPN UK telecast.
This win showed that Andre Winner had truly arrived on the world stage and this exciting young Leicester based fighter is currently awaiting a call from the UFC Matchmaker Joe Silva to fight on a future UFC event in 2010. And once again the likeable Team Rough House fighter is determined to make an impact the next time he steps foot inside the Octagon.
To see Andre's TUF Profile go here and to check out his profile on the main UFC.com website go here
For more information on this exciting young fighter, please contact Ian Dean of WPFM
Likewise if you are interested in sponsoring Andre Winner, then please contact the WPFM Commercial Director Tony McDonagh
Fighter Stats
| Won | 10 |
|---|---|
| Lost | 3 |
| Draw | 1 |
| NC | 0 |
| Weight | Lightweight |
Fight Record
| Opponent | Method | Result | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Roli Delgado | KO (Punch) | WIN | 14/11/09 |
| Ross 'The Real Deal' Pearson | Judges Decision (Spilt) | LOST | 20/06/09 |
| Abdul Mohammed | Judge's Decision | DRAW | 12/07/08 |
| Bendy Casimir | Decision (Majority) | LOST | 19/04/08 |
| Mario Stapel | Decision (Unanimous) | WIN | 24/11/07 |
| A J Wenn | Decision (Unanimous) | WIN | 14/10/07 |
| Daniel 'Denzil' Thomas | Decision (Unanimous) | WIN | 21/07/07 |
| Aidan 'Snake Hips' Marron | Judge's Decision | WIN | 07/07/07 |
| Greg 'Hitman' Loughran | Submission (Guillotine Choke) | LOST | 28/04/07 |
| Wesley Felix | Judge's Decision | WIN | 10/03/07 |
| Sami Berik | TKO | WIN | 12/11/06 |
| Paul Cooper | Submission (Triangle Choke) | WIN | 16/09/06 |
| Jeff Lawson | Submission (Verbal Tapout) | WIN | 20/08/06 |
| Denas Banevkgicius | Submission (Strikes) | WIN | 15/07/06 |
