UFC Veteran Cal Worsham passes away at age 55
Cal Worsham, one of the UFC’s earliest competitors, passed away November 28, 2018 after suffering a heart attack in Lodi, California. The 55-year-old Worsham was a veteran of UFC 6, 9, and 11.5. His professional mixed martial arts career began in 1995 with a loss to Paul Varelans at UFC 6.
Worsham, a former corrections officer and U.S. Marine Corps veteran would go on to compete until 2012 where he earned a win over Chris Wood at Gladiator Challenge.
He had competed against notable fighters such as Tank Abbott, Travis Fulton, Gary Goodridge, Bo Cantrell, Varelans, Zane Frazier and Dan Severn.
The unfortunate news of Worsham’s passing came via a Facebook post from fellow mixed martial artist Shannon Ritch.
Ritch wrote:
“CAL WORSHAM – R.I.P.
(born June 11, 1963- Nov 28, 2018
You will he missed ! Prayers to your family !
UFC vet who competed in MMA from 1995 to 2012. Worsham was an ex-marine and already a back belt instructor at Jack Corrie’s Fulsom Tae Kwon Do when he entered the UFC. He was also the no. 1 ranked black belt by the International Tae Kwon Do Council. Despite his martial arts success it was a good thing he had his military training to fall back on. His Tae Kwon Do accolades were almost entirely in point fighting competitions, a notoriously poor transitive skill set for MMA. And although fighters weren’t known for their careful preperation at the time he entered UFC 6 at a disadvantage on only nine days notice after another competitor dropped out. Along with his fighting career, which lasted 22 fights, the last of them in 2012, Worsham was also a corrections officer (a position he was applying for as of his MMA debut) and has spent time in various behind the scenes roles in MMA. Most recently, he was the striking coach for
Art Davie XARM, combat arm wrestling promotion and worked as a co-promoter and matchmaker for Gladiator Challenge. Worsham also has the rare distinction of being one of, if not the only fighter to fight professionally in the same event as his son, Hunter Worsham, at Gladiator Challenge 67, back in 2007.”
Worsham was an eight-time SuperFight Heavyweight World Champion for Gladiator Challenge. He was inducted into their Hall of Fame in 2006.
