Nicolae Negumereanu (born September 4, 1994), commonly known as Nick Negumereanu, is a Romanian mixed martial artist (MMA) who competed in the Light heavyweight division in the UFC.
A former Real Xtreme Fighting (RXF) Light Heavyweight champion, Negumereanu is known for making his entrance in a traditional Dacian hat called pileus.[8]
Background
Starting wrestling when he was 15 years old, he was able to become a national wrestling champion and a national kempo champion. He changed his mind and shifted his focus to MMA after seeing one of his friends compete at an RXF show.[9]
Mixed martial arts career
Early career
He made his pro-MMA debut on October 10, 2016, against Alexandru Gavrila. Nicolae was victorious in his first MMA bout via a TKO. He went undefeated fighting mostly in Real Xtreme Fighting, with some of the opponents that he defeated being Marius Pîslaru, Constantin Pădure, Robert Orbocea, Yuri Gorbenko, and Kovács Kálmán. On November 19, 2018, he defeated Dan Konecke via Brabo Choke at RXF 32 to capture his first MMA title, the RXF Light Heavyweight Championship.[9]
Due to two surgeries, one on his back and one on his knee, he would miss the next two years.[12] Negumereanu stated that he accepted the fight with Safarov only three weeks before, and he fought with a cracked hand and a cold. Later he also said that he was coming to the match with Villanueva after a meniscus operation but he did not want to cancel the match, entering unprepared again but this time winning the match.[13][14]
Negumereanu faced Aleksa Camur at UFC on ESPN: The Korean Zombie vs. Ige on June 19, 2021.[15] He won the bout via split decision. This fight had its fair share of controversy after Negumereanu repeatedly illegally held holding Camur against the fence.[16][17]
Negumereanu was scheduled to face Ihor Potieria on March 5, 2022, at UFC 272.[20] However, Potieria pulled out of the bout and was replaced by Kennedy Nzechukwu.[21] Negumereanu won the fight via split decision.[22] 8 out of 15 media scores gave it to Nzechukwu, while 6 scored it a draw, with only one giving it to Negumereanu.[23]
Negumereanu was scheduled to face Alonzo Menifield on June 4, 2022, at UFC Fight Night 207.[24] However, Negumereanu was removed from the event for undisclosed reasons and he was replaced by Askar Mozharov.[25]
Negumereanu faced Ihor Potieria on July 30, 2022 at UFC 277.[26] He won the fight via technical knockout in the second round.[27]
Negumereanu faced Carlos Ulberg on November 12, 2022, at UFC 281.[28] He lost the fight via knockout in the first round.[29]
Personal life
He has 3 brothers, their father died when Nicolae was 10 years old. Negumereanu worked from the age of 14-15 to support his family. He declared that if he had had better performances in wrestling than being national champion, he probably would not have started MMA. He was active in wrestling for only 4–5 years and already after 2 years he started defeating opponents with 10 years of experience.[13] Later, Negumereanu also studied BJJ in Brașov, Romania.[14] He also said that MMA is not developed in Romania, unlike the much more popular kickboxing, and that it has only been practiced for 5 years. At one point, Negumereanu trained only on the striking part of kickboxing, and the former coach did not manage to improve his ground part.[30]
