Travis Fulton (May 29, 1977 – July 10, 2021) was an American mixed martial artist and a professional boxer in the heavyweight division of both sports. Known as a longtime veteran in mixed martial arts, he competed in over 300 sanctioned bouts and while he was perhaps best known for competing in smaller US-based promotions, he also competed in the UFC, the USWF, the WEC, Pancrase, M-1 Global, the Chicago Red Bears of the IFL, King of the Cage, RINGS, and Oktagon MMA. He also holds the record for the most sanctioned mixed martial arts bouts, with 320 bouts; in addition to that, he also holds the most wins in mixed martial arts history (255).

Background

Fulton was born in Waterloo, Iowa and raised in Cedar Falls, Iowa. His father worked for the John Deere company and was eventually laid off, sending the family to deep poverty. In school, Fulton was seriously bullied, up to a point where he contrived a plan to kill his tormentors and subsequently himself. However, success in multiple sports made him popular: Fulton began wrestling when he was in elementary school, following his older brother's footsteps. Fulton was also a skilled baseball player and later attended Cedar Falls High School, where he was a state competitor in wrestling, but was kicked off the team several times for skipping classes. He was also a Golden Gloves boxer and a second-degree black belt in American Kenpo. Fulton fell in love with the sport of mixed martial arts after seeing UFC 3 on pay per view. At the age of 18, Fulton took up submission fighting and later trained with Miletich Fighting Systems led by legendary coach and fellow Iowa native Pat Miletich.

Mixed martial arts career

Fulton has fought more documented MMA matches than any other fighter, racking up over 300 fights in just over 15 years. He debuted on July 26, 1996, when he was 19 years old against Dave Strasser in an event entitled "Gladiators". He lost by submission via a rear naked choke. Within just over two years of his debut, he had fought 50 Vale Tudo fights including five fights across two tournaments in one month in September 1997, compiling a record of 37-11-2 in that span. He won the World Vale Tudo Heavyweight Championship at a Tournament in Brazil in 1998. Fulton fought over 40 professional mixed martial Arts bouts in 1998 alone. He won 10 tournaments including the prestigious WVC in Brazil. Fulton also defeated undefeated Super Brawl champion Kawika Pa'alhui in Hawaii in August 1998. He fought to a draw against Ikuhisa Minowa in Japan in October 1998. By early 1999, at just 22 years old, Fulton was recognized as one of the top young Vale Tudo fighters in the United States and was invited to fight at UFC 20, where he lost to Pete Williams by submission via an armbar. He returned at UFC 21, defeating David Dodd via a unanimous decision, though it was his last time fighting in the UFC. Fulton was scheduled to compete in UFC 23 against Scott Adams, but was sidelined with a broken hand just six days prior to the event. In 2008, Fulton was chosen to appear in The Ultimate Fighter reality series, but was unable to make weight in time for filming. While posting a winning record 2001-05 were dogged by losses to up-and-coming fighters that went on to become top-level UFC fighters, such as Andrei Arlovski, Renato Sobral, Ricco Rodriguez, Evan Tanner, Dan Severn, Rich Franklin, Forrest Griffin, Ian Freeman, Jeremy Horn, Branden Lee Hinkle, and Ben Rothwell. Fulton has thrived in many MMA organizations. He won the International Fighting Championships (IFC) world title 3 times, and has also won 3 tournaments in the organization. His only IFC losses were to Matt Lindland by choke at 22:13 (although Fulton submitted Lindland via armbar submission less than 2 minutes into their fight, but Lindland protested and Fulton agreed to continue the match) and Vladimir Matyushenko by neck crank at 15:33. Fulton competed in the main event of World Extreme Cagefighting's debut event in June 2001 and lost a decision to UFC Hall of Famer Dan Severn. Fulton returned to compete in IFL Chicago in May 2007 when he took on IFL Heavyweight Champion Ben Rothwell. Fulton took the fight on a week's notice, but gave Rothwell his greatest challenge to date in the IFL organization before losing via kimura in round 2. Fulton fought former UFC Heavyweight Champion Andrei Arlovski at ProElite 2 in November 2011 and lost via a head kick KO with only one second remaining in the fight. The bout served as the co-main event. Fulton was the #1 ranked heavyweight in Iowa for nearly a decade. He formerly held the Iowa Challenge, Cedar Valley Fighting Championships, and ISKA Mid West Muay Thai Heavyweight Championship titles. On April 4, 2019, in Fulton's last fight, he captured the M-1 Global Super Fight World title when he defeated Shannon Ritch in Winterhaven, California by forearm choke. Fulton holds the record for the most mixed martial arts fights in history. Shannon Ritch is second only to Fulton in number of mixed martial arts fights.

ISCF - International Sport Combat Federation

Fulton won the ISCF Pro Super Heavyweight United States Title on August 8, 1999, in Tempe, Arizona, when he defeated Dan Chase by knockout at :40 of round 1.

Iowa Challenge

In August 2012, Fulton competed at Iowa Challenge 69, facing Brad Scholten. He won the fight via split decision. After being inactive from MMA, Fulton returned to face Ryan Scheeper at Iowa Challenge 80 in March 2013, which he won by submission strikes. Fulton returned to Iowa Challenge in August 2013, where he faced Blake Breitspreacher, and won by TKO.

Boxing career

In parallel to his MMA career, Fulton has also boxed professionally since 1999, mainly in the Midwestern circuit, often serving as a trial horse for up-and coming fighters such as Tye Fields, Chris Koval, Brian Minto, David Rodriguez, Albert Sosnowski, Chauncy Welliver, Travis Walker, Alonzo Butler, and Steve Collins (not the famous Irish boxer). While not as prolific as his MMA career, he has had 75 professional boxing matches, racking up a record of 25 wins against 48 losses and 2 draws, with twenty-three of his wins coming by way of knockout.

Personal life

Fulton lived alone in rural Iowa and had one daughter and had a second, much younger child with a different woman, he was not paying child support on. He wrote his autobiography in 2017 which has not been published.

Federal child pornography charges

On February 17, 2021, Fulton was charged with possession of child pornography, as well as the sexual exploitation of a child. Per the charging document, Fulton had attempted to get a minor under the age of 18 to "engage in sexually explicit conduct for the purpose of producing visual depictions of such conduct" and was also accused of receiving and attempting to receive child pornography via "interstate and foreign commerce". He was alleged to have possessed and attempted to possess child pornography through a USB drive transported across state lines between November 2018 and November 2020. If convicted, Fulton would have faced up to 70 years in prison. According to court records, Fulton made his first court appearance on February 19, 2021 with the United States District Court for the Northern District of Iowa in Cedar Rapids. He pleaded not guilty to one count of sexual exploitation of a child, one count of possession of child pornography, and one count of receipt of child pornography.

Death

While in custody for the child pornography charges, Fulton, age 44, was found dead by deputies at the Linn County Jail on the morning of July 10, 2021. The cause of death was suicide by hanging. The Sheriff of Linn County later reported his autopsy cause of death as strangulation.

Championships and accomplishments

Mixed martial arts record

Professional boxing record

Bare-knuckle boxing record