Sunday, January 23, 2011

Once a 'Joe' facing Justin Gatlin and Kevin Greene, Charlie Brenneman now a 'pro'

Charlie "The Spaniard" Brenneman hasn't broken into the mainstream just yet when it comes to his mixed martial arts career. The lightweight will try to improve on that image tomorrow night on the Fight for the Troops 2 card on Spike.

In an odd twist, he's actually had more success on Spike television than anyone else on this deep Ultimate Fight Night 23 card.

Brenneman was once a competitor on Spike's "Pros vs. Joes" back in 2006.

The former college wrestler competed against the likes of Darren Daulton, Herschel Walker, Kevin Greene, Dominique Wilkens and Olympic sprinter Justin Gatlin. Episode 9 of Season 1 was titled, "Could you outrun the fastest man alive?"

"He probably beat me by 100 meters in the 200-meter dash," Brenneman told the Canadian Press.

Brenneman bounced back in the football competition against Greene. That was good enough to help him win the episode. He went onto the finale with his brother Ben and won the Season 1 title. He won $20,000 and a Dodge Caliber. It turns out the car was more valuable than the cash.

With Brenneman relocating two years ago from his Pennsylvania home in Hollidaysburg to a spot in East Hanover, N.J., the car came in handy for driving all over northern New Jersey. He trains in Whippany with fellow UFC fighters, Jim and Dan Miller. He also works with Ricardo Almeida to south in Hamilton and occasionally trains at Renzo Gracie's gym in New York City. Throw in the commute back to East Stroudsburg, Pa. where he helps coach the East Stroudsburg University wrestling team and that's a lot of driving.

Brenneman is 1-1 in the UFC. He debuted with a win over Jason High and lost via second round TKO against Johny Hendricks at UFC 117. Tomorrow at UFN 23, he gets to show his progress against a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt in Amilcar Alves, who fightsout of Jose Aldo's camp.

If you're wondering about the nickname. Brenneman did his undergrad work at Lock Haven and got his masters from East Stroudsburg. He went on to teach high school Spanish from 2004-2007.

K. D. Aubert Sara Spraker Alexis Bledel Kim Kardashian China Chow

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