Duke Roufus | |
---|---|
Born | Jeffrey Ryan Roufus 19 February 1970 Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States |
Nationality | American |
Height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) |
Weight | 235 lb (107 kg; 16.8 st) |
Division | Super Heavyweight |
Style | Kickboxing, Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Taekwondo, Karate |
Fighting out of | Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States |
Team | Roufusport |
Rank |
4th degree black belt in Kickboxing 3rd degree black belt in Taekwondo Purple belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu |
Years active | 1988 - 2001 (Kickboxing) 2005 - 2007 |
Kickboxing record | |
Total | 45 |
Wins | 36 |
By knockout | 26 |
Losses | 8 |
Draws | 1 |
No contests | 0 |
Other information | |
Notable relatives | Rick Roufus, brother |
Notable students | Alan Belcher, Stephan Bonnar, Matt Mitrione, Anthony Pettis, Jens Pulver, Ben Rothwell, Ben Askren, Erik Koch, CM Punk, Tyron Woodley |
Jeffrey Ryan "Duke" Roufus (born February 19, 1970) is an American former kickboxer and head coach of the Roufusport competition team based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. He is a well-known striking coach in North America.
Duke Roufus started training in martial arts at an early age. He is the younger brother of kickboxer Rick "The Jet" Roufus.
His professional kickboxing career saw him collect a number of titles including the W.K.A. North American Super Heavyweight Championship, W.A.K.O. World Super Heavyweight Championship, W.K.B.A. World Super Heavyweight Championship and the K.I.C.K. World Super Heavyweight Championship during the 1990s.
Roufus won the IKF International Kickboxing Federation Pro Muay Thai Rules World Super Heavyweight Title on December 4, 1998 in Milwaukee Wisconsin, USA over Hiriwa TeRangi of New Zealand by unanimous decision 50-43 on all 3 judges cards.
On March 19, 1999, in Milwaukee Wisconsin, USA in his only defense of the title, Roufus quickly defeated Australia's WKA World Champion Grant Barker With a combination of strikes which included a leg kick, 2 knees to Barker's head and finished with a high head kick, Roufus only took 39 seconds to knockout the Australian in the opening round of the scheduled 5 round Muay Thai bout.
Roufus voluntarily vacated his Super Heavyweight Title to move down to the Heavyweight Muay Thai Division and soon after, retired. However, at the end of October, 2000, Roufus announced he would come out of retirement to fight in the K-1 USA tournament. He lost his second round bout in the May, 2001 K-1 USA tournament and his opening round bout in the August, 2001 K-1 USA tournament.
On December 11, 2002, Roufus made his retirement official. His final kickboxing record was 36-8-1/26 and in pro boxing he was 2-0/1.
On two further occasions Roufus has come out of retirement to fight in the ring to record wins against Sinisa "Thunderman" Andrijasevic on June 3, 2005 and Eduardo Maiorino on May 25, 2007.