Joey Beltran
José Felipe Beltran (born December 9, 1981) is an American bare-knuckle fighter and mixed martial artist. A professional mixed martial artist since 2007, he has competed for the UFC, Bellator, Strikeforce, and King of the Cage. He also competed in the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship where he was the former BKFC Heavyweight Champion. Background Beltran was born in Oceanside, California and raised in Carlsbad, California by a single mother. He has an older sister. Beltran began boxing when he was 10 years old, and also was involved in street fighting from a young age. Beltran also began wrestling in middle school and was talented, but was initially not allowed to compete outside of practice because of poor grades and was eventually kicked out from the junior high. Beltran continued wrestling at Carlsbad High School during his sophomore year and picked up his grades, going on to compete on the varsity team as a Heavyweight for all three years and also became involved in Greco-Roman Wrestling. Beltran originally attended Palomar College, and after two years he academically transferred to the University of Hawaii at Manoa. During the first semester, Beltran was introduced to mixed martial arts at a local gym, Bulls