Nam Phan

Nhat Nam Si Phan (born March 13, 1983) is an American mixed martial artist who competes for Bellator MMA. A professional in mixed martial arts since 2001, Phan has also competed for the UFC, WEC, Strikeforce, World Victory Road, and was a contestant on The Ultimate Fighter: Team GSP vs. Team Koscheck. He has competed in Japanese MMA organization called Pancrase and has won a title of featherweight class King of Pancrase in 2015.

Born and raised in California, Phan began training in Tae Kwon Do at the age of four. A few years later, Phan began karate and he did that for eight years. By the age of 16, he had earned a second degree black belt in Việt Quyền Đạo, a Vietnamese combat martial art, and also holds a black belt in karate. Phan then began studying Brazilian jiu-jitsu in the year 2000. He is also a professional boxer with a record of 3-1.

Early career

Phan made his professional mixed martial arts debut against Jason Maxwell in October 2001, and won due to a second-round TKO. He then won his following three fights also, before tasting defeat at the hands of Rob McCullough in April 2003. In December 2006, and now with a 12-2 record, he made his promotonal debut with Strikeforce against Josh Thomson at Strikeforce: Triple Threat. He lost via unanimous decision, however, and was also defeated in his next, and last, Strikeforce fight against Billy Evangelista at Strikeforce: Melendez vs. Thomson.

He then won the Extreme Fighters World Championships by defeating Shad Smith via TKO at 1:11 of the first round on October 6, 2007.

In 2009, he took part in the Sengoku Raiden Championship's Featherweight Grand Prix where he defeated Hideki Kadowaki in the opening round. In the second round, at Sengoku 8, Phan was defeated by Michihiro Omigawa.

The Ultimate Fighter

Phan signed with the Ultimate Fighting Championship to appear on The Ultimate Fighter: Team GSP vs. Team Koscheck. On the debut episode, Phan defeated Mike Budnik via TKO after a liver shot and follow-up punches. Phan therefore earned entrance into the house, where he would be picked for Team Koscheck as Koscheck's fifth pick (ninth overall).

In the preliminary fight, Phan fought Spencer Paige, winning via unanimous decision to give Koscheck's team their first win. The first round was closely contested until the final seconds where Phan got a takedown, ground and pounded, and then applied a kimura. In between rounds, Paige told his corner that his left foot was broken. Phan would go on to continue pressuring Paige in the second round to win the fight.

For his quarter-final fight, Phan was selected to fight Cody McKenzie. Phan defeated McKenzie via TKO (punches) in round 2, securing his spot in the semi-finals. In the semi-final round, Phan faced Michael Johnson. In a back-and-forth fight, Johnson scored takedowns. The consensus at the fight was that Johnson won the opening round, whilst Phan won the second. The third round, however, was argued over, with the coach of each respective fighter believing that their fighter took it. Johnson was declared the winner via split decision.

Ultimate Fighting Championship

Phan was expected to face Alex Caceres on December 4, 2010 at the The Ultimate Fighter: Team GSP vs. Team Koscheck Finale. However, Caceres was forced out of the bout with an injury and replaced by Leonard Garcia. Phan lost the fight against Garcia via a controversial split decision. Due to the controversy surrounding the decision, both fighters were awarded a win bonus by the UFC and the fight earned Fight of the Night honors. The loss was named as 2010 Robbery of the Year by many MMA websites, most notably by Sherdog.com.

A rematch with Garcia was expected on March 26, 2011 at UFC Fight Night 24. However, Phan was forced out of the bout with an injury and was replaced by Chan Sung Jung.

Phan faced Mike Brown on August 6, 2011 at UFC 133. He lost the fight via unanimous decision.

Phan was expected to face Matt Grice on October 8, 2011 at UFC 136, replacing an injured Josh Grispi. However, Grice was forced out of the bout with an injury with Leonard Garcia stepping in to replace him. Phan won via unanimous decision, also earning both fighters Fight of the Night bonuses.

Phan next faced Jimy Hettes on December 30, 2011 at UFC 141. Phan was dominated by Hettes throughout the fight, unable to stop the many takedowns of his opponent and losing via unanimous decision.

Phan was briefly linked to a bout with Zhang Tie Quan on February 26, 2012 at UFC 144. However, for unknown reasons, the bout never materialized.

Phan faced Cole Miller on August 4, 2012 at UFC on FOX 4 and won a split decision.

Phan faced Dennis Siver on December 8, 2012 at UFC on Fox 5, replacing an injured Eddie Yagin. He was outstruck throughout all three rounds by Siver, in both stand up and ground games, losing a dominant unanimous decicion.

Phan fought Takeya Mizugaki in a Bantamweight bout on December 7, 2013 at UFC Fight Night 33. He lost the fight via unanimous decision.

Phan faced Vaughan Lee on March 1, 2014 at The Ultimate Fighter: China Finale. He lost the fight via unanimous decision and was subsequently released from the promotion.

Post-UFC career

In his first fight post-UFC, Phan faced Kenichi Ito at Grandslam MMA: Way of the Cage on July 13, 2014. He won the fight via first round TKO.

Phan then faced Yuki Baba at Pancrase 261 on October 5, 2014. Phan won the fight via rear-naked choke submission in the first round.

Bellator MMA

On October 17, 2014, it was announced that Phan has signed with Bellator. He made his debut for the promotion against Mike Richman on November 15, 2014 at Bellator 131. Phan lost the fight via knockout in the first round.

Phan takes pride in his Vietnamese heritage and is avid part of the Vietnamese-American community. He proudly displays both the American and South Vietnamese flag on his gi as a symbol of his pride in the freedom of his current home and of his lost homeland. Phan owns and runs the Madu Academy, where he teaches Brazilian jiu-jitsu as well as boxing and Muay Thai. In 2005, Phan co-founded Ma Du Entertainment, a business to promote mixed martial arts fighters.

• Ultimate Fighting Championship
  • Fight of the Night (Two times) vs. Leonard Garcia
• Pancrase Hybrid Wrestling
  • King of Pancrase Featherweight Championship (1 Time)