MMA Legacy 9.14.09: Frank ‘Twinkle Toes’ Trigg
Posted by Bill Wannop on 09.14.2009
With UFC 103 coming up of Saturday, MMA Legacy will examine a fighter who is making a return to the UFC on the card, Frank Trigg! Relive his epic battles with Matt Hughes and GSP and his inability to defend the rear naked choke! Plus we look at the Ultimate Fighter 10 as well as try and find a nickname for Frank Mir!
Each and every week MMA Legacy shines the spotlight on a MMA legend. The legends may be retired or may be still actively competing. The column will begin with a bio on the selected legend following his career throughout its highs and lows. With his return to the UFC happening this Saturday at UFC 103, MMA Legacy will look back at the career of one of the best talkers in all of MMA, Frank Trigg!
Early Life
Frank Trigg was born on May 7, 1972 (making him 37 years old today) in Rochester, New York. He is one of 7 children and was raised by an African American father and European American mother. As is the case with most large families, money was tight as he was growing up, and he lived in a very competitive household, with the brothers mainly competing with one another especially at sports.
Frank was a natural athlete and began wrestling at the age of 12. In high school he caught the eye of legendary wrestling coach Jack Spates, and was recruited to wrestle at the University of Oklahoma. Jack taught Frank not only skills in wrestling but also educated Trigg about business, and corporate America.
In 1995 he began studying Judo under Sensei and former Olympian Patrick Burns. He earned his first black belt shortly thereafter and was introduced to the world of MMA. He finished university earning his bachelors degree in public affairs and administration in 1997 and became a wrestling coach at the University of Oklahoma, while continuing to train for a fight career.
Early MMA
Frank Trigg made his MMA debut on October 18, 1997 at Unified Shoot Wrestling Federation 7 where he defeated Ali Elias in the first round with a knee. He would then defeat Javier Buentello and Dan Hilkbert both by submission that same evening to win the tournament. Following the victory Frank would defeat both Marcelo Aguiar and Jean Jacques Machado both by TKO to start his MMA career with a perfect 5-0 record.
After the victory Frank would move over to Japan and compete at PRIDE 8 against Fabiano Iha. In the fight Frank again used his wrestling to control the fight eventually finishing off Iha by TKO in the first round. Frank would defeat Ray Cooper by submission before gaining the first title shot of his career against SHOOTO champion Hayato Sakurai. While Trigg controlled the early portion of the fight, he was eventually caught and knocked down with multiple knees in the second round which caused the end of the fight due to a TKO, giving Frank his first MMA loss.
Entering The UFC
Frank bounced back from the defeat taking on LaVerne Clark, Jason Medina and Dennis Hallman in the WFA. Frank would defeat all men and would remain undefeated in the WFA. Due to his domination as well as his similar fighting style to Matt Hughes the UFC decided to sign Trigg and give him an immediate title shot against welterweight champion Hughes at UFC 45: Revolution. Early on in the fight Trigg was able to use his wrestling to put Hughes on his back, which is something that not many people had been able to do. Hughes however would reverse and land a huge slam on Trigg. After some more scrambling Hughes would catch Trigg with his weakness, the rear naked choke. He actually catches him with it while they are standing, and this forces Trigg to tap as he falls back to the mat in a cool visual.
Frank Trigg would bounce back again with dominant victories over Dennis Hallman at UFC 48: Payback and Renato Verissimo at UFC 50: The War of 04. These two dominant victories would give Trigg a rematch with Matt Hughes for the welterweight title at UFC 52: Liddel vs. Couture 2. In the fight Trigg hits Hughes in the groin, but the referee ignores Hughes call for time, allowing Trigg to begin pounding away on Hughes even getting full mount. Eventually Trigg locks in a rear naked choke, and Hughes face begins to go purple. Hughes somehow manages to usher up some country boy strength and picks Trigg up and marches him all the way across the octagon ending with a huge slam! Hughes begins to unload on Trigg finally brining out the rear naked choke which causes Trigg to tap.
Frank Trigg would get another tough test in the octagon at UFC 54: boiling Point where he faced off against Georges St-Pierre. In the fight GSP completely controlled all aspects eventually taking Triggs back and again finishing him off with a rear naked choke. This would be Frank Triggs last fight in the UFC.
Out of the UFC
After the loss to GSP, Trigg would fight at Rumble on the Rock 8 where he would defeat Ronald Jhun by unanimous decision. He would then take on Carlos Condit at Rumble on the Rock 9. In the fight Trigg would be upset when Condit caught him in a triangle and added an armbar to get the submission victory.
Trigg would then face Jason Miller at ICON Sport where he would use his wrestling and finish off Miller by TKO in the second round to win the ICON Sport Middleweight Title. Trigg would then defeat Kazuo Misakiat PRIDE 33: Second Coming by unanimous decision before suffering another defeat and losing his title to Robbie Lawler at ICON Sport: Epic when Robbie would knock him out with a huge right hand.
Following the devastating KO, Frank went on a tear defeating Edwin Dewees by Kimura, Makoto Takimoto, Falaniko Vitale, and Danny Babcock by unanimous decision. Following the victories Frank signed a new contract with the UFC and is looking at having one last run at the title. During his time away from the UFC he participated in TNA wrestling, where he was paired with Kurt Angle, and wrestled AJ Styles in an MMA style match that did not go over well with the wrestling fans.
Future Outlook
Frank Trigg has truly had an up and down career in MMA. He was brought in to the UFC to challenge Matt Hughes for the title, but aside from his trash talk, he did not live up to the billing. While he has found success against lesser competition he always seems to falter against the top dogs in his weight class. I see this last comeback and run at the title to be no different. He is older then he once was and the competition is much better then it once was. I don't see Frank defeating Josh Koscheck and quite frankly I don't see him defeating anyone of the top 10 welterweights in the division. He is not well rounded enough to be successful anymore in the UFC. I believe that this comeback will be short lived, however it should end with an fun fight with Matt Hughes to end both of their careers!
Major News
Mir –Kongo at UFC 107, Plus Frank Mir Needs a Nickname
The fight has been verbally agreed upon and I think that this fight is very interesting. I think the fighter with more to lose is Frank Mir, as he wants to prove to everyone that his win over Nogueira was not a fluke and that his stand-up is as good as he says it is. So he signs a fight with a kick boxer and will probably stand and trade with him. I think Josh Koscheck and Sean Sherk both have some good advice for Frank. Stick to what got you to the game. Sure fans love big knock outs but they are becoming more educated all the time, and a slick submission can also get you a ton of fans. Remember Frank, you breaking Tim Sylvia's arm is caused a huge rise is popularity and is what people will probably remember you for. Kongo has difficulty on the ground and for whatever reason likes to take fights to the ground. The winner fo this fight is probably the fighter who is forced out of their game plan. That means if Mir stops the takedowns of Kongo, Mir will get knocked out, while if Mir gets taken down he will submit Kongo. This fight brings up another point that has been bugging me for awhile. Frank Mir has no nickname. I can't even think of a good one, the only two that come to mind is Frank"Fracture" Mir or Frank "Motorcycle" Mir. Anyone else got one?
This is what is will look like if the fight goes to the ground
Rampage-Evans fight at UFC 107 is off
This is completely devastating and Dana White and fight fans everywhere should be pissed off. So the story is that Rampage accepted the offer to star as B.A. Barakus in the upcoming A-Team movie, with filming starting around when the fight was supposed to happen. I think that Dana should teach Rampage a lesson and cancel this fight altogether, perhaps make him fight lower on the card, maybe against Mark Coleman. Why Mark Coleman? WellColeman would be able to take Rampage down (and Rampage seems to have weak takedown defence and ground game from the bottom), and lay and pray a boring victory. Or if he really wanted to punish him he could just put him in there with Machida. Rampage showed his true loyalty by ditching the huge fight with Evans in December, in his home town no less. And Dana paid another price for taking people at their word, as apparently nobody signed the contract for the fight, which allowed Rampage to sign on for the movie. Bad move on Dana's part, but I must admit I am interested to see Rampage as BA Barakus.
Ultimate Fighter 10!
The Ultimate Fighter 10, The Heavyweights kicks off on Wednesday, and I can't say that I have been as excited for any season as I am for this upcoming season. There is a ton of talent in there including 4 former NFL players, Roy Nelson and of course Kimbo, plus two coaches that are always entertaining. It is interesting, because to the casual fan Kimbo is the huge favourite to win. To the educated fan Roy Nelson is the favourite to win and Kimbo is the underdog. For me in the previews Nelson has come off as a cocky jackass, and he seems to think that he is too good to be here and that he has already won. Plus I have to give Kimbo props for putting himself out there to try and prove he is legit, so I will be rooting for Mr. Slice to take home the title.
That does it for another week here at MMA Legacy, enjoy UFC Fight Night, The Ultimate Fighter and UFC 103, and next week MMA Legacy will look at the career of one of the all time greats, Bas Rutten!
Each and every week MMA Legacy shines the spotlight on a MMA legend. The legends may be retired or may be still actively competing. The column will begin with a bio on the selected legend following his career throughout its highs and lows. With his return to the UFC happening this Saturday at UFC 103, MMA Legacy will look back at the career of one of the best talkers in all of MMA, Frank Trigg!
Frank Trigg would bounce back again with dominant victories over Dennis Hallman at UFC 48: Payback and Renato Verissimo at UFC 50: The War of 04. These two dominant victories would give Trigg a rematch with Matt Hughes for the welterweight title at UFC 52: Liddel vs. Couture 2. In the fight Trigg hits Hughes in the groin, but the referee ignores Hughes call for time, allowing Trigg to begin pounding away on Hughes even getting full mount. Eventually Trigg locks in a rear naked choke, and Hughes face begins to go purple. Hughes somehow manages to usher up some country boy strength and picks Trigg up and marches him all the way across the octagon ending with a huge slam! Hughes begins to unload on Trigg finally brining out the rear naked choke which causes Trigg to tap.
Frank Trigg would get another tough test in the octagon at UFC 54: boiling Point where he faced off against Georges St-Pierre. In the fight GSP completely controlled all aspects eventually taking Triggs back and again finishing him off with a rear naked choke. This would be Frank Triggs last fight in the UFC.
