Although Celtic will always be my biggest love sports wise, I’m also a huge mixed martial arts fan, and the MMA community lost one of it’s most highly regarded coaches this weekend with the death Milwaukee native Duke Roufus at the relatively young age of 55.
Berford June 3, 2014 Photographs from the North American Fighting Championship Megabrawl held at the Bradley Center in Milwaukee. A mixed martial arts event. Duke Roufus, far right, former champ and head of gym where Munson trained right, accompanies fighter Corey Meeks to the ring. Photo Michael Sears/IMAGO
Duke was a former Kickboxing world champion who went on to get involved in MMA and trained some of the best talents in organisations such as the UFC, Bellator and ONE, including Anthony and Sergio Pettis, Tyron Woodley, Paul Felder and Ben Askren.
What’s this got to do with Celtic? Well Duke was well known throughout MMA for being a big fan of the club. I remember my interest in Roufus started when I saw him coaching middleweight contender Alan Belcher in 2009 at UFC 93 in Dublin wearing the famous hoops.
In those days it was almost impossible to find any information on his connection with Celtic but as the UFC grew and more behind the scenes footage started emerging we got to see more of Duke training some of the world’s best whilst wearing an array of different Celtic tops.
Then in 2018 the Celtic View (https://www.celticfc.com/news/15484) actually did an interview with the legendary coach regarding his love for Celtic and how he managed to become a fan having grown up in Milwaukee, an area known more for it’s beers than it’s connections to Celtic.
In the interview Duke explained that he first learned about Celtic when he was a youngster back in the 1980’s through kids from Belfast who were staying with families in his area, in one of the summer exchange programmes which saw youths from the North of Ireland escape the Troubles for a few months during the school holidays. I absolutely love these types of stories, ones where we find out the weird and wonderful ways the love of Celtic gets spread around the world! Duke said:
“My home town of Milwaukee is big on football because of all the different European ethnicities that we have here,” he explained in an exclusive interview with the Christmas issue of the Celtic View. “I found out about Celtic in the mid-1980s. My church used to host kids from West Belfast in the summer during the time of the Troubles.
“I’d hang out with them a lot and it was through those kids that I got to know so much about their life back home. Through talking to them, I learned about Irish culture, from music through to sport.
“They’d talk about Celtic and I’d ask them a lot of questions so that’s how I first got to know about the club and I became a supporter.”
Roufus went on to talk about the impact Celtic also had on his professional life.. He stated he had long admired the Scottish champions’ Academy system and revealed he had applied a similar approach to the running of his own MMA team, Roufusport.
“The loyalty of the fans is amazing,” said Roufus. “I’ve tried to build that culture here at my gym with the fighters. I’m strongly embedded in the community here where I grew up.
“I try to bring through talent in a similar ethos to what Celtic do with their Academy. That system has been really influential to me and I’ve tried to take parts of that and apply it to my fighters.
“Anthony Pettis is a product of that. I helped develop him from childhood amateur, to professional and through the UFC champion.
“I coach my young kids and my top-level professionals because the kids are the future. In football, the players who come through the development cycle tend to be some of the most influential because they are fully embedded in the culture and the way the team like to play.
“You can see that in Kieran Tierney and some of the others who have come through. They are key to the long-term success of the club.”
K1 Kickboxing Event Aug 11, 2001 Las Vegas, Nevada, USA l-r DUKE ROUFUS, MAURICE SMITH, K1 winner STEFAN LEKO, Master IISHE, JORGEN KRUTH & NOBORU UCHIDA during the K1 Kickboxing Event the Bellagio Hotel. Photo by Mary Ann Owen/ZUMA Press. Via IMAGO
Duke Roufus will go down as a legend in the MMA community and rightly so. What he built in Milwaukee was incredible, with his gym going on to produce an array of top talents, many who would end up claiming world titles. We would even see some of his former pupils don the famous hoops over the years such as former lightweight contender and current UFC commentator Paul Felder, as well as WWE superstar CM Punk, who trained under Duke when trying his hand in the UFC a few years ago.
It always put a smile on my face when I would see footage of Duke working away in the gym in his Celtic colours, a sight that will most certainly be missed.
Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam
Conall McGinty
Legendary MMA coach Duke Roufus has died, according to a Facebook post by his Roufusport business partner Scott Joffe
Roufus, 55, coached so many greats… from Anthony Pettis to Tyron Woodley to Ben Askren and so many others. RIP 🙏 pic.twitter.com/t1LkQQe2tL
— Nolan King (@mma_kings) October 18, 2025
Celtic in the Eighties by David Potter, signed copies by Danny McGrain available from celticstarbooks.com
Don’t miss the chance to purchase the late, great Celtic historian David Potter’s final book. All remaining copies have been signed by the legendary Celtic captain Danny McGrain PLUS you’ll also receive a FREE copy of David Potter’s Willie Fernie biography – Putting on the Style, and you’ll only be charged for postage on one book. Order from Celtic Star Books HERE.
Celtic in the Eighties and Willie Fernie – Putting on the Style both by David Potter. Photo The Celtic Star
Danny McGrain signing copies of Celtic in the Eighties by David Potter. Photo: Celtic Star Books
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