Ironman Travis Fulton, 396 Bout MMA Champion and Pro Boxer, Dies By Suicide at 44
Waterloo, Iowa (July 12th, 2021)– Travis “The Ironman” Fulton, of Waterloo, Iowa, who holds the all-time record of 325 Mixed Martial Arts sanctioned bouts, 75 pro boxing bouts, and one pro bare knuckles bout, the most combination sanctioned bouts in history for an athlete in all three sports, committed suicide by hanging on July 10, 2021, at age 44. Most of Fulton’s main event MMA pro bouts were in smaller shows. As a pro boxer, Fulton fought some known names, losing all 22 bouts against pro boxers with winning records. He is survived by a daughter.
A wrestler and baseball player in high school, and a second degree black belt in American Kenpo, Fulton debuted in MMA on July 26, 1996 at age 19. He fought 50 Vale Tudo bouts in Brazil in one month, a former of MMA with few rules, and won the vale Tudo heavyweight championship in Brazil. Fulton trained in submission fighting in the Miletich Fighting Systems under coach Pat Miletich in Iowa.
Fulton, who fought in the UFC and other circuits and won ten Mixed Martial arts tournaments, fought 320 Mixed Martial Arts pro bouts, the all-time record, wining 255, losing 54, with 143 knockouts, 10 draws, one win by disqualification, and one No Contest. His titles included MMA Heavyweight champion of the international Sport Combat Federation, knocking out Dan Chase in Arizona in 1999. His craziest MMA win was a 30 second win over Jonathan Ivey at Colosseum Combat 45, who faked a heart attack.
Fulton’s professional boxing career was not as distinguished as his MMA career, but he did have the distinction of fighting many big names in the heavyweight division between 199 and 2017, compiling a pro record of 25-48-2 with 23 knockouts. He fought such name fighters as Chazz Witherspoon, Tye Fields, Travis Kauffman, Brian Minto, Chris Koval, David Rodriguez, Albert Sosnoski, Ed Latimore, Rob Calloway (twice), Alonzo Butler, Raphael Butler, Chauncey Welliver, Simon Kean, Lou Savarese, Eugene Hill, Fres Oquendo, Jeremy Williams, Lateef Kayode, Oleksandr Teslenko, Byron Polley (twice), Donavan Dennis, Gerald Washington, Lenroy Thomas, Joey Abell, Craig Lewis, David Latoria, Ty Cobb, and Mladen Miljas, all heavyweights with winning records. Fulton was stopped, knocked out or disqualified against all but three of them (Eugene Hill, David Latoria, and Ryan Hill) Against boxing opponents with winning records, Travis Fulton was 0 for 22. In two of his last three bouts, Hill went the four round distance 280 pound Minnesota heavyweight Ryan Watson, and David Latoria of Illinois. Hill won one round on one scorecard against Hill in his final ring appearance at age 42, a four round loss to Ryan Watson at Grand Casino in Hinckley, Minnesota, in September 2019.
Criminal Charges
He pleaded guilty Friday to two of the four charges against him — sexual exploitation of a child and possession of child pornography.
The first charge he admitted to was for having “used, persuaded, induced, and enticed” a child under 18 “to engage in explicit conduct” for “a visual depiction,” court records show.
Travis Fulton’s alleged abuses stem back to at least 2013.
He also admitted to having “visual depictions of a minor engaged in sexually explicit conduct, including a depiction involving a prepubescent minor or a minor who had not attained 12 years of age,” the indictment shows.
The abuse stretched back to at least 2013, the indictment said. After his guilty pleas, a federal judge canceled a trial date and set a July 23 plea hearing.
He was separately also facing a trial later this year for attacking a woman in September 2019, when his victim “sustained fractures to her jaw, nose, and palate,” according to the Gazette.
“The victim was afraid to talk to police, but her family members reported she said the defendant punched her in the head and back repeatedly,” a criminal complaint stated.
“He threatened to kill the victim and her family if she ever talked to the police,” the charges in that case said.
“The defendant is a self-proclaimed professional fighter, with a twenty-year career, and the ability to do serious bodily injury with his hands,” the report noted.
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