Career
Duke Roufus started training in martial arts at the age of 4 and is the younger brother of legendary kickboxer Rick "The Jet" Roufus.
His professional kickboxing and Muay Thai career saw him collect a number of titles including the W.K.A. North American Super Heavyweight Championship, W.A.K.O. World Super Heavyweight Championship, W.K.B.A. World Super Heavyweight Championship and the K.I.C.K. World Super Heavyweight Championship during the 1990s.
Duke won the IKF International Kickboxing Federation Pro Muay Thai Rules World Super Heavyweight Title on December 4th, 1998 in Milwaukee Wisconsin, USA over Hiriwa TeRangi of New Zealand by unanimous decision 50-43 on all 3 judges cards.
On March 19th, 1999 in Milwaukee Wisconsin, USA in his only defense of the title, Roufus quieted all the critics by starting hard and fast and then landed the "A Bomb" on Australia's WKA World Champion Grant "The Bomber" Barker. In a combination which included a leg kick, 2 knees to Barker's head and finished with a high head kick, Roufus only took 39 seconds to Knockout the Australian in the opening round of the scheduled 5 round Muay Thai bout.
Roufus Voluntarily vacated his Super Heavyweight Title to move DOWN to the Heavyweight Muay Thai Division and soon after, claimed he was retired. However, at the end of October, 2000, Roufus announced he would come out of retirement to fight in the K-1 USA tournament. He lost his second round bout in the May, 2001 K-1 USA tournament and his opening round bout in the August, 2001 K-1 USA tournament.
On December 11th, 2002 Roufus made his retirement official due to his busy schedule with promoting his own events and training fighters. His final fight record was 36-8-1/26 and in pro boxing he was 2-0/1.
Surprise again... On June 3rd, 2005 Roufus came back to the ring to fight one more time defeating Sinisa "Thunderman" Andrijasevic of Split, Croatia by unanimous decision, 48-47, 50-45 and 49-46. After this bout he has said he was truly retired.
Following his retirement, he has become an accomplished trainer, working with many UFC/WEC stars including the last ever WEC World Lightweight Champion Anthony Pettis, Alan Belcher, Pat Barry, Erik Koch, Ben Rothwell, Matt Mitrione and most recently former U.S. Olympian and current Bellator World Champ Ben Askren. Former students include former UFC Lightweight Champion Jens Pulver and The Ultimate Fighter Season One star Stephan Bonnar.
Duke Roufus and business partner Scott Joffe operate Roufusport Martial Arts Academy in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA. Roufus and Joffe also produce North American Fighting Championship (formerly Gladiators Fighting) live combat sports events in the U.S. and Canada.
Roufus has also served as color commentator for K-1 on ESPN2 and has appeared on TSN in Canada, Walker Texas Ranger and Fox's Best Damn Sport's Show Period. In January 2003, he was named one of Milwaukee Magazine's "50 People You Should Know."
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