Cody Durden

Cody Durden is an American professional mixed martial artist who competes in the lightweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He began his career competing for various regional promotions and was signed by the UFC in 2018. Since then, he has gone on to become one of the most successful fighters in the promotion’s history.

Durden grew up in Tulsa, Oklahoma, where he developed a passion for martial arts at a young age. During his teenage years, he trained extensively under renowned grappling coach Jimmie Rivera at Team Elevation Combat Sports Academy. It was here that Cody honed his Brazilian jiu-jitsu skills and began competing professionally in 2009.

Over the next few years, Durden competed regularly on smaller MMA promotions such as King of The Cage and Shark Fights. His impressive performances earned him recognition from major promotions like Bellator MMA, where he made two appearances before being signed by UFC president Dana White during late 2017.

Since joining UFC in 2018, Durden has enjoyed tremendous success inside the octagon and quickly established himself as one of their top contenders within lightweight ranks. In 2020 alone, he won three out of four fights against some notable opponents including Islam Makhachev and Joe Solecki among others; with his only defeat coming against Arnold Allen via split decision at UFC Fight Night: Smith vs Teixeira last April 2021in Jacksonville Florida – which was widely regarded as controversial by many observers due to judge scoring discrepancy controversy afterwards .

Despite this setback ,Durden has continued to show significant improvement throughout all areas of mixed martial arts while developing into a complete fighter both mentally and physically ; however ,most notably it’s been demonstrated through recent striking prowess showcased recently with knockouts over Michael Trizano & Austin Hubbard back-to-back had given him emergence into proverbial spotlight along with entire country even beyond sport itself . This success doesn’t come without hard work outside off cage too so far it’s proven fruitful though behind scenes training regimen & dieting tactics employed by well respected coaches legendary Mike Winkeljohn & Greg Jackson respectively which credited foremost from Bryan Caraway ( former bantamweight contender ) whom affiliated with since beginning early days . Although lately there’s speculations if we will see move associated weight classes whether lower or higher remains to be seen but regardless whatever lies ahead near future Cody Dedren can rest assured fans continue flock around each performance full support win or lose no matter what !