Bobby Southworth (born December 16, 1969) is an American retired mixed martial artist who fought in the Light Heavyweight division.
[2] After graduating from Soquel High School, Bobby continued to Cabrillo College and yet UC Davis, playing basketball in all of them.
[2] Subsequently, Ralph opened his own academy in Mountain View, California where Bobby continued teaching and training jiu-jitsu.
[2] Subsequently Bobby joined American Kickboxing Academy which at the time had no proper Brazilian jiu-jitsu program, so he took the responsibility of teaching the discipline.
[2] Southworth's first major exposure in the mixed martial arts world was when he faced Vitor Belfort on two-weeks short notice at PRIDE 13 on March 25, 2001.
In a rather slow-paced fight, Southworth defeated Ruiz via 5-round Unanimous Decision on June 27, 2008 and thus became the only man to successfully defend the Strikeforce Light Heavyweight Championship.
Southworth was winning the round, having scored a takedown and controlling the clinch, until "Babalu" opened up a horrendous gash above Bobby's left eye with ten seconds to go.
"Big" John McCarthy stopped the action to let doctors inspect, and Southworth finished the round by dropping "Babalu" with a punch just before the bell.