Joey Villaseñor is a Mexican-American professional mixed martial artist and a professional MMA competitor since 1999, Villasenor has formerly competed for the PRIDE Fighting Championships, Strikeforce, EliteXC, King of the Cage, DEEP, Shark Fights, BAMMA, and the World Fighting Alliance. Villasenor is the former King of the Cage Middleweight Champion, and defended this title seven times before vacating it to sign with PRIDE.

 

Villasenor was born in East Los Angeles and lived there for the first nine years of his life before moving to New Mexico in 1984. He graduated from Farmington High Schoolbut also attended West Mesa High School in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Villasenor was athletic and in high school he played baseball, football, and participated in track and field. Villasenor first began watching UFC events when he was 17 or 18 years old, but thought that the fighting was brutal, although he wanted to learn self-defense. He began competing in martial arts when he was 19 years old, training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and boxing. He was a four-time Amateur Regional Boxing Champion with a 16-0 record, and 15 wins by KO.

 

Villaseñor made his professional debut in April 1999 and after 15 consecutive wins, he was signed by the PRIDE Fighting Championships.