Duane Ludwig

At UFC 42, Duane Ludwig fought Genki Sudo. Sudo showed his theatrical side, walking backwards towards Ludwig and doing the robot dance before taking him down. Despite the initial domination by Sudo, Ludwig started inflicting damage while standing, avoiding a rolling kneebar and several takedown attempts. Whilst it seemed the momentum had shifted in Ludwig's favor, Sudo came back in the third round and took him down, pounding and bloodying him with punches and elbows. Whilst Ludwig was taking a beating, referee John McCarthy interrupted and stood the two fighters up to check on Ludwig's nose. When the doctor allowed the fight to resume they did not restart from the same previous dominant position held by Sudo. Ludwig took advantage of the indirect rest given to him and avoided, with the aid of the referee's decision, the unfavorable position that he was in. He dominated the end of the fight landing hurtful shots on Sudo to win a split decision. Ludwig mocked Sudo after the final bell with a crane kick pose.

At UFC Fight Night 3, Ludwig faced Jonathan Goulet. Ludwig won the fight via quick knockout, though many fans disagreed with the timekeeping of the finish, which was 11 seconds despite the referee pulling Ludwig away from Goulet at around the 6 second mark. Following multiple online campaigns to overturn the timekeeping error,[5] on Christmas Eve 2011, UFC President Dana White informed Ludwig that he was being given the official fastest knockout time.[5] Two days later, Keith Kizer and the Nevada State Athletic Commission denied that Ludwig would be given the record, with Kizer stating: "There's no legal avenue to overturn it" before going on to say "I timed it myself with a stopwatch. It was eight seconds. Officially, it's got to stay at 11 seconds, but unofficially, it could be at eight."[5] Two days later, Dana White, along with his production crew posted a video to YouTube showing the times of UFC fights that hold the "Fastest Knockout" tag. Ludwig's knockout was timed at 6.06 seconds, compared to Chan Sung Jung's knockout at 6.26 seconds and Todd Duffee's knockout at 7.56 seconds.[6]

In 2019, Jorge Masvidal beat Ludwig's time with a knockout in five seconds.[7]

On December 17, it was announced that Ludwig was set to return to the UFC at UFC 108, facing Jim Miller, replacing an injured Sean Sherk. He lost to Miller via armbar in the first round.

Ludwig was scheduled to face Spencer Fisher on March 21, 2010, at UFC LIVE: Vera vs. Jones,[8] but Fisher was forced off the card with an injury. Ludwig instead faced UFC newcomer Darren Elkins.[9] Ludwig lost via TKO after he suffered a serious ankle injury during the first round.[10][11]

Ludwig moved up to the Welterweight Division to face Nick Osipczak on November 13, 2010, at UFC 122.[12] The fight was supposed to be on the preliminary part of the event, but a last minute illness to main card fighter Alessio Sakara moved the bout to the main card. Ludwig scored with strikes, including multiple grazing headkicks in the first round until Osipczak landed a combination, buckling the veteran. The round ended with Osipczak landing ground and pound from the top, bloodying Ludwig. The second round was pretty even with mixed striking exchanges and takedown attempts. The third round saw Ludwig land a big left early on and basically stalk Osipczak the rest of the round, scoring but failing to finish as Osipczak was seemingly out on his feet, walking away from exchanges and covering up.[13] The bout was Ludwig's first since an eight-month recovery from a severe leg injury.[14] Ludwig won by split decision.

Ludwig was expected to face Amir Sadollah on March 26, 2011, at UFC Fight Night 24, but was unable to fight due to a sternum injury. James Wilks took his place in the match instead.[15][16]

Ludwig vs. Sadollah eventually took place on August 14, 2011, at UFC on Versus 5.[17] Ludwig won the fight via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).[18] Ludwig outstruck and rocked Sadollah in both the first and second rounds while also showing greatly improved takedown defense throughout the fight.

Ludwig next faced Josh Neer on January 20, 2012, at UFC on FX: Guillard vs. Miller.[19] Despite hurting Neer on several occasions via punches, Ludwig lost the fight via technical submission in the first round.

Ludwig fought Dan Hardy on May 26, 2012, at UFC 146.[20] Ludwig suffered a knockout loss to Hardy when he was hit by a flush left hook and followed up elbows.

Ludwig faced Che Mills on September 29, 2012, at UFC on Fuel TV 5.[21] The bout was stopped after Ludwig was unable to continue after tearing a knee ligament while attempting to defend a takedown in the opening round.[22]

After his loss to Mills, Ludwig retired from MMA competition.[23]

From December 2012 to May 2014, Ludwig was the head coach at Team Alpha Male.[24] Ludwig left Team Alpha Male after UFC 173 to focus on growing his own gym, BANG Muay Thai.[25]

• TKO Major League MMA
  • 2003 U.C.C. World Lightweight Champion
• Extreme Shoot Fighting
  • 2000 Extreme Shoot Fighting Lightweight Champion
• Sherdog Awards
  • Fighter of the Year Honorable Mention (2003)[31]
  • Fight of the Year Honorable Mention (2003) vs. Genki Sudo at UFC 42[31]
• World MMA Awards
  • The "Shawn Tompkins" Coach of the Year Award (2013)[30]
  • The "Shawn Tompkins" Coach of the Year Award (2014)
  • Gym of the Year (2013)[30]
• Yahoo! Sports
  • Trainer of the Year (2013)[32]

• K-1
  • K-1 2002 World MAX USA Champion -70 kg
• International Sport Karate Association
  • I.S.K.A. 2004 Muay Thai Light Middleweight World Champion -72.5 kg
• World Kickboxing Association
  • W.K.A. 2000 Muay Thai Super Middleweight USA title -76 kg
• International Kickboxing Federation
  • IKF 1999 Muay Thai Light Middleweight U.S Amateur Tournament Champion -72.5 kg
  • IKF 1999 Muay Thai Super Middleweight U.S Amateur Champion -78 kg
  • IKF 1999 Regional Middleweight Muay Thai Champion
  • IKF 1999 Fighter of the Year
• International Muay Thai Council
  • I.M.T.C. 2001 Muay Thai Super Middleweight North American Champion -76 kg