Wes Sims
Wesley Sims is a retired American professional mixed martial artist. A professional from 2001 until 2016, he competed in the UFC, the WEC, Strikeforce, K-1 and the IFL.
Background
Sims was born in Cleveland and raised in Amanda, Ohio. He was a star center on the basketball team at Amanda-Clearcreek High School, and went on to Mount St. Joseph University in Cincinnati. However, he dropped out after only one semester to pursue a career in professional wrestling, moving back to Columbus to train. He soon met legendary UFC and PRIDE FC fighter Mark Coleman who had a better plan for the young Sims which was to become a mixed martial artist, believing that Sim's huge size advantage would be significant against opponents. Sims helped Coleman prepare for his bout with Ricardo Morais at PRIDE 8, before embarking on his own career in the sport.Sims has been friends, since before UFC 47, and former training partners with former UFC Hall of Famer Mark Coleman and the deceased Kevin Randleman; they were all very close and described by MMA Weekly in an interview with Randleman, with Sims present, as the 3 Amigos. When Coleman was suffering from issues related to hip replacement injuries and training fighters on the Ultimate Fighter, Sims set up a GoFundMe page for Coleman without his knowledge to help pay him for his medical expenses. Thanks to Sims, donations raised over $51,000, including a $5,000 donation from fellow Pride FC and UFC fighter Mark Hunt, for Coleman's medical expenses, halfway meeting the goal of $100,000.
Mixed martial arts career
Frank Mir rivalry
In 2003, Sims fought a controversial fight against Frank Mir at UFC 43. At the very beginning of the fight, Mir put out his hand to touch gloves and Sims rushed past Mir's outstretched hand and into a quickly maneuvered takedown by Mir. In the first round, after slamming Mir to prevent an armbar, Sims got up while Mir was on his back against the fence and proceeded to stomp Mir's face several times while holding the fence for extra balance. The fight was stopped and Sims was disqualified.This started a rivalry between the two and they met again in 2004 at UFC 46. Mir easily took control of the first round with an arm triangle attempt. Near the end of the second round Mir hit Sims with knee strikes to the face and then punches to knock Sims out.
Mike Kyle bite incident
Sims fought again in the UFC at the UFC 47 against Mike Kyle. Sims took the fight on less than a weeks notice after Kyle's original opponent got injured. Kyle dominated the entire first round and knocked Sims out at 4:59. Sims protested after the fight that Kyle had bitten him on the chest. During the post fight interview, a bite mark could clearly be seen on Sims' left pectoral muscle. This marked the first time a bite had happened in a UFC fight since UFC 1 in 1993, when Gerard Gordeau bit Royce Gracie in the championship match. When asked in the cage after the fight to explain the bite, Kyle told commentator Joe Rogan "he's a dirty bastard anyways, look at all the stuff he's done..." Kyle denied any wrongdoing.After losing to Kyle he was released by the UFC.