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Alex Andrade

The Lion's Den was one of the first celebrated fight camps in MMA. Ken Shamrock, Guy Mezger and Vernon "Tiger" White all created a hardcore training environment that prided itself on explicit attempts to get people to quit--to pass a try-out you had to do hundreds of squats, pushups, situps, run several miles up and down hills and stadium steps, do pull-ups until their arms failed, and would then have to go through several rounds of sparring to prove their ability to fight after their bodies had given out. It was brutal, and arguably deleterious, but its results in those early days of MMA were undeniable: The camp produced a half-dozen champions and a score more that never won a title, but were tough as hell.

Alex "El Toro" Andrade was firmly in the latter category. An early Ken Shamrock protege, Andrade was one of the first students to try out for the Lion's Dean and one of their early success stories, a mix of the forceful Shamrock grappling style and the kicking-focused striking game of recent team addition Maurice Smith, and in the world of mid-90s MMA that well-roundedness was a major benefit for a heavyweight fighter, leading to victories in both Pancrase and the World Pankration Championships and an invitation to UFC 26, where he would be betrayed...by his feet.

Before the adoption of the unified rules of mixed martial arts in 2001 (or 2009, but that's a long story) the standards for what you could do and wear during a fight were only vaguely established. When Alex Andrade came to UFC 26 to fight Brazilian legend Amaury Bitetti, he wore wrestling shoes--legal at the time--and was warned by Big John McCarthy that he could wear the shoes, or he could throw kicks, but not both. Andrade dominated Bitetti, and was well on his way to victory, but he couldn't stop kicking him in the head--and after his third kick, McCarthy made good on his word and disqualified him. He would never be invited back to the UFC.

He'd follow his mentor to Pride a year later, showing up at Pride 18 to challenge Murilo "Ninja" Rua, but lost a decision and not a particularly close one. That was the end of his prime--he retired from MMA, unable to justify the career. He'd be coaxed out of retirement in 2007 by the mainstream MMA boom, and actually put together a three-fight winning streak--and then, in the strangest rerun I've ever seen, got invited to a bigger show only to lose by DQ when he wouldn't stop kneeing Krzysztof Soszynski in the groin.

Sometimes you can't stop. He'd show up for a couple fights in the just-started Bellator, back when it was a weekly show that only aired on ESPN's Spanish-language affiliate ESPN Deportes, but retired after one more regional fight--he was 35, his prime was over, and he was a realist about his prospects. He ended his career at a respectable 9-5, and even though he didn't notch any huge victories for himself, he helped train some of the future champions of the sport. There are far worse fates.

Moveset, stats, logic and four attires (KOTC 7 vs Imamura / UFC 26 vs Bitetti / Pride 18 vs Ninja / Pancrase: Alive 7 vs Hasegawa).