{"id":221278,"date":"2025-10-18T03:16:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-18T03:16:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/221278\/"},"modified":"2025-10-18T03:16:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T03:16:09","slug":"duke-roufus-famed-coach-of-mma-champions-dies-at-55","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/221278\/","title":{"rendered":"Duke Roufus, famed coach of MMA champions, dies at 55"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Duke Roufus, the former kickboxer and celebrated head coach of Roufusport MMA Academy, has died at age 55.<\/p>\n<p>Roufusport co-founder Scott Joffe announced Roufus&#8217; death Friday on social media, writing that Roufus &#8220;passed away peacefully in his sleep.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Today, the Roufusport family and martial arts world was stunned by the heartbreaking news that Duke Roufus, world-renowned top MMA coach, founder, and namesake of Roufusport MMA Academy, passed away peacefully in his sleep. Duke was more than a celebrated trainer and champion kickboxer\u2014he was a mentor, innovator, father and friend whose influence transformed the landscape of mixed martial arts. His knowledge, charisma, and passion inspired countless fighters to reach heights they never imagined possible. From world champions to first-day students, everyone who crossed his path felt his genuine care and unwavering belief in their potential. His loss leaves an irreplaceable void in the sport and in the hearts of all who knew him.<\/p>\n<p>Though we grieve deeply, Roufusport MMA Academy will continue forward, driven by Duke\u2019s enduring philosophy and commitment to excellence. The culture he built\u2014rooted in respect, hard work, and family\u2014will live on through the fighters, coaches, and students who proudly carry his torch. His impact will echo in every strike, every lesson, and every victory that bears the Roufusport name.<\/p>\n<p>Champions. Today. Tomorrow. Forever.<\/p>\n<p>Although he first rose to prominence in combat sports as a kickboxing champion, winning titles in multiple organizations throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Roufus found his greatest success as the driving force behind Milwaukee&#8217;s Roufusport gym, coaching a wide array of MMA champions and UFC champions including Anthony Pettis, Tyron Woodley, Belal Muhammad, Sergio Pettis and Ben Rothwell.<\/p>\n<p>Roufus also promoted combat sports events across the U.S. Midwest and famously served as CM Punk&#8217;s head coach for the WWE star&#8217;s transition from professional wrestling to MMA. Earlier this month, Roufus was helped guide former Bellator champion Sergio Pettis to a <a data-i13n=\"cpos:1;pos:1\" href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/mma\/article\/pfl-dubai-results-sergio-pettis-destroys-magomed-magomedov-with-knockout-of-the-year-contender-222534876.html\" data-ylk=\"slk:potential Knockout of the Year upset of Magomed Magomedov;cpos:1;pos:1;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;outcm:mb_qualified_link;_E:mb_qualified_link;ct:story;\" class=\"link  yahoo-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">potential Knockout of the Year upset of Magomed Magomedov<\/a> with a dramatic spinning back elbow finish at PFL Dubai.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>Former UFC lightweight champion Anthony Pettis \u2014 the older brother of Sergio \u2014 and former UFC welterweight champion Muhammad were among the many fighters who penned tributes to the celebrated coach Friday night.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Duke Roufus, the former kickboxer and celebrated head coach of Roufusport MMA Academy, has died at age 55.&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":221279,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,106353,641,25358,106356,638,4295,106354,90789,82,106355,640,5515],"class_list":{"0":"post-221278","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-duke-roufus","11":"tag-fighting","12":"tag-head-coach","13":"tag-martial-arts-world","14":"tag-mma","15":"tag-mma-champions","16":"tag-roufusport-mma-academy","17":"tag-sergio-pettis","18":"tag-sports","19":"tag-tyron-woodley","20":"tag-ufc","21":"tag-world-champions"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=221278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/221278\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/221279"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=221278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=221278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=221278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}