This Month’s MMA Birthdays: Gerard Gordeau Turns 70

He provided the Ultimate Fighting Championship with its first highlight-reel knockout, forever ensuring himself a prominent place in mixed martial arts lore. Gerard Gordeau turns 70 on March 30.

A decorated kickboxer and Kyokushin karate practitioner out of The Hague, Netherlands, Gordeau finished his brief but eventful MMA career with a 2-2 record. He stopped Teila Tuli in the first-ever televised UFC bout and did so in vicious fashion, as his fight-ending head kick knocked out three of the 450-pound Hawaiian sumo wrestler’s teeth—two of them were imbedded in the Dutchman’s foot, the other famously flew out of the cage—a mere 26 seconds into their UFC 1 quarterfinal on Nov. 12, 1993 in Denver. Gordeau eventually reached the tournament final, where Royce Gracie forced him to tap to a rear-naked choke in less than two minutes. He made only one subsequent appearance, submitting to a fourth-round heel hook from Yuki Nakai at a Vale Tudo Japan show in 1995.

Others in MMA celebrating birthdays during the month of March:

MARCH 1

Taisuke Okuno, 48
Danielle West, 48
Anthony Njokuani, 45
Dominique Robinson, 43
John Howard, 42
Jasmine Jasudavicius, 36
Lijiburen Wu, 35
Zabit Magomedsharipov, 34
Thanh Vu, 33
Nassourdine Imavov, 30
Aspen Ladd, 30
Sage Northcutt, 29

MARCH 2

Soichi Nishida, 58
Kito Andrews, 47
Heath Herring, 47
Ray Rodriguez, 38
Willian Hoffmann, 36
Lorenzo Hood, 36
Jeff Roman, 36
Tainara Lisboa, 34
Hunter Azure, 33
Joel Alvarez, 32
Brandon Laroco, 30
Carli Judice, 26

MARCH 3

Rodrigo Goiana de Lima, 1991-2019
Mark Hall, 64
Herschel Walker, 63
Bob Schrijber, 60
Kevin Burns, 45
Nick Gonzalez, 44
Rob Broughton, 42
Augusto Mendes, 42
Nate Mohr, 42
Renato Velame, 42
Richard White, 38
Gabriel Souza, 28

MARCH 4

Jordan Radev, 49
Abe Wagner, 45
Nick Nolte, 44
Josh Emmett, 40
Rodrigo Almeida, 39
Roque Martinez, 39
Talita Bernardo, 38
Kazuki Tokudome, 38
Corey Samuels, 32
Ago Huskic, 31
Jimmy Crute, 29
Malik Lewis, 29

MARCH 5

Tim Sylvia, 51
Chris Cope, 42
Ed Ratcliff, 42
Roberto Sanchez, 39
Brandon Hempleman, 38
Ericka Almeida, 36
Martin Nguyen, 36
Cody Peterson, 36
Rafael Fiziev, 32
Marnic Mann, 32
Julia Polastri, 27
Kyu Jun Cho, 20

MARCH 6

Anthony Johnson, 1984-2022
Royce Alger, 60
Tsuyoshi Kosaka, 55
David Perron, 44
Brandon Girtz, 40
Diara Culpepper, 38
Ben Egli, 37
Romero Cotton, 35
Mads Burnell, 31
Harrison Layne, 30
Brian Mitchell, 29
Nick Talavera, 29

MARCH 7

Jared Hamman, 43
Eun Soo Lee, 43
Xavier Foupa-Pokam, 43
Steve Kennedy, 42
Joe Merritt, 41
Toby Misech, 37
Valentina Shevchenko, 37
Journey Newson, 36
Nikita Krylov, 33
Daniel Marcos, 32
Bruno Souza, 29
Zhu Rong, 25

MARCH 8

Marlon Sandro, 48
Wes Shivers, 48
Genki Sudo, 47
Ryan Ford, 43
Viscardi Andrade, 41
Josh San Diego, 40
Eddie Ng, 39
Seo Hee Ham, 38
Edwin De Los Santos, 31
Takuya Yamamoto, 31
Jared Scoggins, 30
Tom Nolan, 25

MARCH 9

Pat Miletich, 57
Jerrel Venetiaan, 54
Chinzo Machida, 48
Gilberto Galvao, 43
Dean Amasinger, 41
Jun Nakamura, 41
Koji Ando, 40
Matunga Djikasa, 39
Drakkar Klose, 37
Karine Gevorgyan, 36
Raphael Pessoa, 36
Francis Marshall, 26

MARCH 10

Ben Spijkers, 64
Melton Bowen, 56
Sean Pierson, 49
Wilson Gouveia, 47
Vitor Miranda, 46
Jesse Lennox, 43
Anton Zafir, 38
Kenan Song, 35
Lipeng Zhang, 35
Clay Collard, 32
Lee Hammond, 29
Brahyan Zurcher, 29

MARCH 11

Renzo Gracie, 58
Debi Purcell, 56
Rodrigo Gracie, 50
Luis Sergio Melo Jr., 44
Sako Chivitchyan, 41
Chris Saunders, 39
Matt Ricehouse, 38
Magomed Mutaev, 36
Jordan Howard, 35
Livinha Souza, 34
Jaleel Willis, 33
Jack Jenkins, 32

MARCH 12

Chris Sanford, 57
Antonio McKee, 55
Alexis Vila, 54
Justin Wilcox, 46
Colleen Schneider, 43
Zach Freeman, 41
Ricky Musgrave, 41
Issei Tamura, 41
Rad Martinez, 38
Herbeth Sousa, 31
Akhmed Magomedov, 30
Daniel Santos, 30

MARCH 13

Masakatsu Funaki, 56
Kazuo Takahashi, 56
George Sullivan, 44
Lina Lansberg, 43
Justin Salas, 43
Nam Phan, 42
Tim Johnson, 40
Will Fleury, 36
Oleksii Polishchuk, 29
Jesus Santos Aguilar, 29
Austin Wilson, 27
Turpal-Ali Edilov, 25

MARCH 14

Josh Samman, 1988-2016
Steven Banks, 44
Manny Tapia, 44
Kiyotaka Shimizu, 41
Simeon Thoresen, 41
“Judo” Jim Wallhead, 41
Robbie Peralta, 39
Guan Wang, 39
Danny Chavez, 38
Oumar Kane, 33
Lando Vannata, 33
Anton Vinnikov, 31

MARCH 15

Norifumi Yamamoto, 1977-2018
Travis Wiuff, 47
Kyoko Takabayashi, 44
Juliana Lima, 43
Roberto Neves, 42
Zhifa Shang, 39
Sasha Palatnikov, 36
Danni McCormack, 35
Junior Albini, 34
Eduardo Ramon, 34
Cheyden Leialoha, 31
Tamerlan Chagaev, 28

MARCH 16

Shawn Tompkins, 1974-2011
Brad Imes, 48
Josh Pulsifer, 42
Jared Cannonier, 41
Vanessa Porto, 41
Montserrat Rendon, 36
Antonio Carlos Jr., 35
Aaron Roberson, 35
Marc Diakiese, 32
Jair Farias, 32
Tai Tuivasa, 32
Eduardo Neves, 25

MARCH 17

Antoine Hayes, 49
Kit Cope, 48
Fabio Maldonado, 45
Bae Yong Kwon, 44
Chan Sung Jung, 38
Jozette Cotton, 37
Jose Flores, 37
Jairzinho Rozenstruik, 37
Jamie Moyle, 36
Magnus Kelly Conrado, 30
Claressa Shields, 30
Nikita Kulshin, 25

MARCH 18

Nate Quarry, 53
Marcos da Matta, 52
Holly Lawson, 47
Kyle Noke, 45
Julie Kedzie, 44
Luiz Firmino, 43
Brendan Schaub, 42
Mike Ricci, 39
Gregor Gillespie, 38
Cody Bollinger, 34
Tyler Diamond, 34
Ange Loosa, 31

MARCH 19

Ronnie Britt, 60
Kain Royer, 45
Maia Kahaunaele, 43
Shawn Bunch, 42
Ryuichi Miki, 42
Magomedbag Agaev, 40
Jake Norsworthy, 35
Shane Burgos, 34
Yuto Hokamura, 32
Charlie Milner, 32
Sam Slater, 31
Elisandra Ferreira de Oliveira, 27

MARCH 20

Jimmy Ambriz, 48
Daniel Cormier, 46
Rogent Lloret, 46
Robbie Lawler, 43
John Moraga, 41
Goran Reljic, 41
Rafael Silva, 40
Jingliang Li, 37
Tiffany Van Soest, 36
Casey Kenney, 34
Aya Saied Saber, 34
Joe Hamilton, 33

MARCH 21

Joe Heiland, 43
Rony Mariano Bezerra, 41
John Salter, 40
Brice Ritani-Coe, 39
Andrew Yates, 36
Austin Vanderford, 35
Vince Murdock, 34
Oleg Olenichev, 33
Alex Perez, 33
Saginay Shukir, 30
Fares Ziam, 28
Adam Aliev, 25

MARCH 22

Andre Pederneiras, 58
Houston Alexander, 53
Jamal Patterson, 51
Kyle Kingsbury, 43
Mauro Cerilli, 42
Mike Jackson, 40
Harvey Park, 39
Joe Soto, 38
Handesson Ferreira, 37
Minna Grusander, 36
Lazar Stojadinovic, 36
Liana Jojua, 30

MARCH 23

Moti Horenstein, 61
Mark Hunt, 51
Gregory Bouchelaghem, 47
Leo Leite, 47
Eddie Yagin, 46
Mukai Maromo, 42
Rae Yoon Ok, 34
Yuri Villefort, 34
Lito Adiwang, 32
Billy Swanson, 31
Thiago Moises, 30
Rinya Nakamura, 30

MARCH 24

Nik Fekete, 45
Jake Hager, 43
Brandon Melendez, 42
Josh Neer, 42
Andy Main, 36
Lom-Ali Eskiev, 33
Mackenzie Dern, 32
Marcus Paulo Amaral, 32
Fabian Edwards, 32
Zachary Reese, 31
Cody Law, 30
Mike Kimbel, 28

MARCH 25

Tom English, 50
Mike Medrano, 47
Rory Markham, 43
Besam Yousef, 40
Chris Culley, 39
Johnny Campbell, 38
Ben Wall, 36
Gabriel Miranda, 35
Steven Ray, 35
Manuel Torres, 29
Leomana Martinez, 29
Sabina Mazo, 28

MARCH 26

Tony Fryklund, 54
Nick Penner, 45
Bor Bratovz, 43
Artur Sowinski, 38
Irene Aldana, 37
Calvin Kattar, 37
Myron Dennis, 36
Bobby Nash, 35
Alex Gilpin, 33
Kai Kara-France, 32
Paige VanZant, 31
Kaik Brito, 28

MARCH 27

Sergio Soares, 48
Nick Serra, 47
Nuri Shakir, 46
Indalecio Tat Romero, 45
Noah Thomas, 44
Matt Jaggers, 40
Alptekin Ozkilic, 39
Renee Forte, 38
Vanessa Melo, 37
Liana Ferreira Pirosin, 32
Ismael Bandiwan, 30
Ilhom Nazimov, 30

MARCH 28

Hector Ramirez, 49
Joe Pearson, 47
Joe Taylor, 41
Jake Ellenberger, 40
Joe Ellenberger, 40
Jessy Miele, 40
Matt Rizzo, 39
Micheal Gillmore, 38
Otto Rodrigues, 37
Jose Augusto, 33
Natalie Salcedo, 33
Eduardo Garvon, 29

MARCH 29

Marcus Kowal, 48
Leandro Silva, 46
Donald Cerrone, 42
Stephen Eakin, 42
Anthony Morrison, 41
Chase Beebe, 40
Jesse Chaffin, 36
Cody Durden, 34
Jesse Hannam, 32
Colbey Northcutt, 32
Cristina Stanciu, 31
Abigail Montes, 25

MARCH 30

Gerard Gordeau, 70
Bibiano Fernandes, 45
Bojan Mihajlovic, 45
Melvin Guillard, 42
Rasul Mirzaev, 39
Dan Lauzon, 37
Denise Kielholtz, 36
Jamey-Lyn Horth, 35
Johnny Walker, 33
Miles Johns, 31
Kalinn Williams, 31
Thomas Petersen, 30

MARCH 31

Naoya Ogawa, 57
Reese Andy, 52
Rich Clementi, 49
James Zikic, 48
Mike Kyle, 45
Marloes Coenen, 44
Ayaka Hamasaki, 43
Richardson Moreira, 41
Frank Gomez, 39
Terrion Ware, 39
Charalampos Grigoriou, 33
Yanal Ashmouz, 30