Fulton has fought more documented MMA matches than any other fighter, racking up over 300 fights in just over 15 years. He debuted on July 26, 1996, when he was 19 years old against
Dave Strasser in an event entitled "Gladiators". He lost by submission via a
rear naked choke. Within just over two years of his debut, he had fought 50
Vale Tudo fights including five fights across two tournaments in one month in September 1997, compiling a record of 37-11-2 in that span. He won the World Vale Tudo Heavyweight Championship at a Tournament in Brazil in 1998. Fulton fought over 40 professional mixed martial Arts bouts in 1998 alone. He won 10 tournaments including the prestigious WVC in Brazil. Fulton also defeated undefeated Super Brawl champion Kawika Pa'alhui in Hawaii in August 1998. He fought to a draw against
Ikuhisa Minowa in Japan in October 1998. By early 1999, at just 22 years old, Fulton was recognized as one of the top young
Vale Tudo fighters in the United States and was invited to fight at
UFC 20, where he lost to
Pete Williams by submission via an
armbar. He returned at
UFC 21, defeating David Dodd via a unanimous decision, though it was his last time fighting in the
UFC. Fulton was scheduled to compete in
UFC 23 against Scott Adams, but was sidelined with a broken hand just six days prior to the event. In 2008, Fulton was chosen to appear in
The Ultimate Fighter reality series, but was unable to make weight in time for filming. While posting a winning record 2001-05 were dogged by losses to up-and-coming fighters that went on to become top-level UFC fighters, such as
Andrei Arlovski,
Renato Sobral,
Ricco Rodriguez,
Evan Tanner,
Dan Severn,
Rich Franklin,
Forrest Griffin,
Ian Freeman,
Jeremy Horn,
Branden Lee Hinkle, and
Ben Rothwell. Fulton has thrived in many MMA organizations. He won the International Fighting Championships (IFC) world title 3 times, and has also won 3 tournaments in the organization. His only IFC losses were to
Matt Lindland by choke at 22:13 (although Fulton submitted Lindland via
armbar submission less than 2 minutes into their fight, but Lindland protested and Fulton agreed to continue the match) and
Vladimir Matyushenko by
neck crank at 15:33. Fulton competed in the main event of
World Extreme Cagefighting's debut event in June 2001 and lost a decision to
UFC Hall of Famer
Dan Severn. Fulton returned to compete in IFL Chicago in May 2007 when he took on
IFL Heavyweight Champion Ben Rothwell. Fulton took the fight on a week's notice, but gave Rothwell his greatest challenge to date in the IFL organization before losing via
kimura in round 2. Fulton fought former
UFC Heavyweight Champion Andrei Arlovski at ProElite 2 in November 2011 and lost via a head kick KO with only one second remaining in the fight. The bout served as the co-main event. Fulton was the #1 ranked
heavyweight in
Iowa for nearly a decade. He formerly held the Iowa Challenge, Cedar Valley Fighting Championships, and ISKA Mid West Muay Thai Heavyweight Championship titles. On April 4, 2019, in Fulton's last fight, he captured the M-1 Global Super Fight World title when he defeated
Shannon Ritch in
Winterhaven, California by forearm choke. Fulton holds the record for the most mixed martial arts fights in history. Shannon Ritch is second only to Fulton in number of mixed martial arts fights.
ISCF - International Sport Combat Federation Fulton won the ISCF Pro Super Heavyweight United States Title on August 8, 1999, in
Tempe, Arizona, when he defeated Dan Chase by knockout at :40 of round 1.
Iowa Challenge In August 2012, Fulton competed at Iowa Challenge 69, facing Brad Scholten. He won the fight via split decision. After being inactive from MMA, Fulton returned to face Ryan Scheeper at Iowa Challenge 80 in March 2013, which he won by submission strikes. Fulton returned to Iowa Challenge in August 2013, where he faced Blake Breitspreacher, and won by TKO. ==Boxing career==