Spencer Paige

Spencer Paige (born November 7, 1985) is an American mixed martial artist who competes in the featherweight and lightweight divisions. A professional MMA competitor since 2006, Paige has made a name for himself mainly fighting in the east coast. He was a competitor on The Ultimate Fighter: Team GSP vs. Team Koscheck.

Mixed martial arts career
He started his Martial Arts training at age 6 and received his Zen Do Kai Black Belt under Dave Guccione and Lisa Caswell at age 12. He later trained at Duquette Submission Fighting where he was introduced to Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and real mixed martial arts. After meeting his coach and fighter, Erik "Chainsaw" Charles, in a cab in 2005, Paige decided to pursue a dream and take a shot at being a Mixed Martial Arts competitor. Paige quickly learned the CNY MMA curriculum and became one of Charles' top students.

In October 2006, at Cage Fury Fighting Championship 2, Paige made his professional mixed martial arts debut. He was matched up against Carlo Profico. Paige won the fight after the referee stopped the fight in the first round.

Paige won two more fights, a head kick knockout and an armbar submission, before taking his first loss to WEC veteran Anthony Morrison. Morrison won the fight via a unanimous decision. He quickly bounced back from the loss with another head kick knockout.

Paige has won Mixed Martial Arts Championship Belts in both the 145 lb and 155 lb weight divisions.

In his first title defense at 145 lbs, Paige fought Leandro Escobar. Paige won via a majority decision and was immediately signed to fight number one contender, Josh Grispi. Grispi handed Paige his second loss after hitting him with a head kick only eleven seconds into round number one.

After the loss, Paige thought about retiring from MMA and took a year and a half off from competition but he returned to the sport fighting for the promotion, Northeast MMA. He fought twice for the promotion, winning both times.

The Ultimate Fighter
Paige moved up to the lightweight division and was selected for the 12th season of The Ultimate Fighter: Team GSP vs. Team Koscheck. He entered the house after defeating Steve Magdaleno via unanimous decision (20-18, 20-18, 20-18). He was later chosen to be the third member of GSP's team. He was chosen sixth overall.

Paige's team selected him to fight experienced, Strikeforce veteran, Nam Phan, in the preliminary fight. Paige broke his hand in the second round, helping Phan secure a unanimous decision win, knocking Paige out of the tournament. Due to the broken hand, Paige was unable to enter the wildcard round.