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Jamie Yager (born November 29, 1983^[3]) is an American mixed martial artist. He was a cast member of Spike TV's The Ultimate Fighter: Team Liddell vs. Team Ortiz. He was also a member of T.I's MMA team on the BET special Iron Ring^[4]

Early life [edit]

Yager attendied South Pasadena High School in California. While there, Yager was a standout varsity letterman in baseball, wrestling and football, earning his school's 2001 Athlete of the Year honors.

Upon graduation in 2001, Yager enrolled at Pasadena City College, where he played football.

Mixed martial arts [edit]

Two years into college, Yager picked up training MMA as a hobby. He was taking jiu jitsu classes at a local gym; after getting submitted by guys much smaller than he, Yager wanted to improve and started training in all aspect of MMA. Jamie then decided to start training full-time. Not long after training MMA full-time, Yager was called by Rampage Jackson's former MMA coach, Juanito Ibarra, about potentially appearing on BET's "Iron Ring", which was looking for amateur fighters. Yager made his pro debut for the BET television show and fought Franz Mendez, winning the fight in the second round via knockout.

Almost a year later, Yager competed in his second professional bout under the Art of Fighting banner. Yager defeated his opponent, Eric Haritakis, after the doctor stepped in and claimed Haritakis was unable to continue.

Yager's only professional defeat prior to The Ultimate Fighter came as the result of a disqualification in June, at the Art of Fighting 3 event.

The Ultimate Fighter [edit]

Yager was selected to be a part of the eleventh season^[5] of The Ultimate Fighter. In order to move into the house, Yager had to win his fight against Ben Stark. Yager defeated Stark in just 38 seconds,^[6] winning via knockout from numerous head kicks. He was chosen for Tito Ortiz's team.

Yager had several confrontations with members of the house, including his own teammates. Yager and Kyacey Uscola both expressed a dislike for the other. Yager also caused trouble on the show, annoying team-mate Nick Ring, by cheering for rival team member Brad Tavares whom he had formed a close friendship with, alongside Kris McCray and Kyle Noke.

In his second fight for the show, Yager defeated Charles Blanchard via TKO (punches) in round 1, giving Team Ortiz their first win in the competition. Yager was the much taller fighter and the advantage showed as he neutralized the takedown attempts by Blanchard, before utilizing a strong superman punch that knocked his opponent down. Yager finished the fight with follow-up punches and advanced to the quarterfinals.

In the quarter-finals, Yager was matched up with Josh Bryant who had earlier defeated Yager's friend, Kris McCray. The fight went two rounds, but was declared a draw by the judges. Yager did not answer the call of the bell for the third round, forcing the referee to end the fight and give the TKO win to Bryant.^[7]

After being eliminated from the competition, Yager's troubles with fellow cast-members continued. In the final episode, Yager attempted to prank his housemates in retaliation for their air-horn prank. After James Hammortree was hit by a bag of flour, he saw Yager by the window that it had been thrown from. Believing that Yager had thrown it, Hammortree responded by throwing household items onto Yager's bed.

A face-off ensued, before Hammortree, Clayton McKinney and Kyacey Uscola all began to argue with him, before confessing in interviews that they would like to face Yager at the live finale. Uscola then challenged Yager to a fight outside and waited for him, while Yager went back to his room. Instead of going outside to fight Uscola, Yager looked out of the window to establish if Uscola was being serious and closed the window without facing Uscola.

Yager made his UFC debut on the main card of The Ultimate Finale 11 against Team Liddell fighter Rich Attonito.^[8][9] He lost via TKO, 4:25 into round two, and was subsequently released from the UFC. After the fight, Ortiz asserted that Yager had quit, and that you can't teach heart.^[10]

Independent [edit]

Yager's first post-TUF fight was against Marcus Gaines, he won via submission due to an rear-naked choke at 2:14 in the first round.^[11] His next fight was scheduled for May 6, 2011 but pulled out due to a severe groin injury.

Yager picked up his second submission win by defeating Willie Parks via guillotine choke at MMA Fight Pit: Genesis on August 13, 2011. Post-fight he stated he would be moving down to the welterweight division.

Yager was defeated by UFC veteran Josh Burkman via submission due to a guillotine choke at Showdown Fights - Burkman vs. Yager on August 25, 2012.

Personal life [edit]

Yager has a son.^[12] Besides appearing on The Ultimate Fighter, Yager was also on BET's Iron Ring in 2008. He also appeared on an episode of "Judge Joe Brown" that originally aired on 05/03/2012, where he sued his former friend and training partner, Savant Young for partial value of a vehicle (a red 1988 Camaro) that Young was supposed to be storing for Yager, but which Young allegedly disposed of without Yager's permission. Young alleged that Yager had abandoned the vehicle, that it sat in Young's backyard for over a year and a half, that the keys to the vehicle had been lost, and that he had asked Yager repeatedly to move the vehicle, which Yager failed to do. After listening to both sides, the judge declared that Young was not being truthful, and found in favor of Yager in the amount of $1,000.00.

Yager made a very small cameo on Face off Season 3 working out in the gym.

Mixed martial arts record [edit]

Res.	Record	Opponent	Method	Event	Date	Round	Time	Location	Notes
Loss	6–4	Joe Williams	TKO (strikes)	Bellator 85	02013-01-17January 17, 2013	1	4:02	Irvine, California, United States	Bellator Debut.
Loss	6–3	Josh Burkman	Submission (guillotine choke)	Showdown Fights - Burkman vs. Yager	02012-08-25August 25, 2012	2	3:25	Orem, Utah, United States
Win	6–2	Danny Davis Jr.	Decision (unanimous)	Superior Cage Combat 4	02012-02-16February 16, 2012	3	5:00	Las Vegas, Nevada, United States	Welterweight debut
Win	5–2	Mozzy Afra	TKO (punches)	Samurai MMA Pro 2011	02011-10-21October 21, 2011	1	4:58	Culver City, California, United States	Catchweight of 175 lbs.
Win	4–2	Willie Parks	Submission (guillotine choke)	MMA Fight Pit: Genesis	02011-08-13August 13, 2011	2	0:21	Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States
Win	3–2	Marcus Gaines	Submission (rear naked choke)	The Warriors Cage: Beatdown	02011-01-21January 21, 2011	1	1:30	Porterville, California, United States
Loss	2–2	Rich Attonito	TKO (punches)	The Ultimate Fighter 11 Finale	02010-06-19June 19, 2010	2	4:25	Las Vegas, Nevada, United States
Loss	2–1	CT Turner	DQ (illegal head kick)	Art of Fighting 3: Rumble at Robarts 3	02009-06-13June 13, 2009	1	0:27	Sarasota, Florida, United States
Win	2–0	Eric Haritakis	TKO (doctor stoppage)	Art of Fighting 1: Rumble at Robarts 1	02009-01-24January 24, 2009	1	2:04	Sarasota, Florida, United States
Win	1–0	Franz Mendez	KO (punches)	Iron Ring	02008-02-18February 18, 2008	2	1:44	New Orleans, Louisiana, United States

References [edit]

External links [edit]

• Professional MMA record for Jamie Yager from Sherdog
• Ultimate Fighter Profile
• Fight with Alan Jouban