Dean Lister UFC /Pride Vet - ADCC World Champ....only at @victory_mma_bjj

Dean Lister

Dean Lister

Dean Lister is a Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt under Jeffrey Higgs with a background in Wrestling and experience in Sambo. An MMA veteran having competed in important organizations such as Price and UFC, Dean Lister gained notoriety in 2003 after winning the ADCC (the world’s most prestigious Submission Wrestling event) in the open weight division.

 

Deal Lister in Detail

Full Name: Dean Richard Lister

Nickname: The Bogeyman started in his early MMA days fighting for KOTC (King of the Cage organization). As one of his opponents injured himself before the fight, Lister was left with no opponent, and due him being a big name in the grappling circuit it was extremely hard to find a replacement, people did not want to fight him. Because of these he started being called the Bogeyman.

Lineage: Mitsuyo Maeda > Carlos Gracie > Helio Gracie >Rickson Gracie > Fabio Santos > Jeffrey Higgs > Dean Lister

Main Achievements (BJJ):

• ADCC Superfight Champion (2005);
• ADCC Open Weight Champion (2003);
• ADCC North American Qualifiers (2002);
• 4x National Machado jiu-jitsu Champion

Weight Division: Pesado (94kg/207lbs) or Meio Pesado (88kg/194lbs)

Favourite Position/Submission: Guard and Footlocks

Dean Lister Merchandise:

• Real World Submissions (Instructional/Documentary)

Team/Association: n/a

Deal Lister Biography

Dean Lister was born on the 13th of February 1976 in San Diego, California but spent most of his Childhood in Panamá and Venezuela with his family who belonged to the military and was stationed in these countries. Being constantly the “new kid” in school, he was often in fights and had a rough time growing up due to bullying.

When he was 10 years old, Dean Lister read about Jiu Jitsu for the first time, through an article in a magazine, but it wouldn’t be until years later that he would have his first BJJ class. When Dean returned to the United States to start High School, he decided to take on wrestling as an extra curricular activity. His coach, Jerry Matsumoto was also versed in submissions especially leg locks as he had some Sambo experience. Dean Lister learned both Wrestling and some basic Sambo techniques in which he became very savvy. Dean ended up testing himself in Sambo and had great success in the sport within the United States wining two national titles.

Dean Lister found Jiu Jitsu shortly after he finished High school, he was very interested in the sport due to it’s success in Mixed Martial Arts and decided to join Fabio Santos’s gym. These were tough times in Dean Lister’s life as he had just joined College and was pretty much on his own, being a full time worker, paying for his school tuition, rent and Jiu Jitsu. He stated on an interview to the “On The Mat” website that his diet at the time consisted of: “bread, milk, cereal and top ramen(…)”

Dean Lister spent 8 years training with the gi, competing and winning tournaments for his instructor Fabio Santos, but he ended up splitting from Santos before receiving his black belt. There is a lot of speculation regarding how Lister got his black belt, but the main story circling in the BJJ forums is that Dean always had the idea of one day becoming an MMA fighter, he saw Jiu Jitsu as a way to progress towards that, though his master Fabio Santos completely disagreed and did not want him to proceed through that route, they disagreed so much that Dean left the gym. One of Lister’s training partners at the academy, Jeffrey Higgs (who is a black belt under Fabio Santos) decided to award Lister his black belt, Santos was against this decision and expelled Higgs from the academy. Lister ended up proving he belonged amongst the black belt elite winning the ADCC in the open weight division that year.

Dean had tried his luck in Abu Dhabi Combat Club (ADCC) in 2000 and won his first match, losing the second to Ricardo Almeida. Lister ended up competing the American trials again two years later, being advised to do so by Kid Peligro. He won the trials, and proceeded to the finals, again losing in his second fight (this time to Xande Ribeiro). By a strike of luck he was re-called the following day to fight in the open weight due to an injury of one of the fighters that was due to fight. Surprisingly for most people in the audience Lister ended up winning the tournament submitting 3 of his 4 opponents.

His MMA career flourished after the exposure given by ADCC. Dean Lister went on to fight in the world’s biggest organizations, Price FC and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He also became an important coach, with experience training professional MMA fighters like Tito Ortiz. Dean was on the Ultimate Fighter series 7 (TUF7) as a grappling coach for team Ortiz.

Dean Lister vs Nate Marquardt ADCC 2003

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