James Vick (born February 23, 1987) is a former mixed martial artist who competed in the welterweight and lightweight divisions of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC).
[4] Mixed martial arts piqued his interest initially when he saw The Ultimate Fighter 1 around the time he graduated from high school.
Vick began his professional career fighting in regional shows in his home state of Texas.
[9] Vick was selected to fight Team Faber fighter and eventual show winner, Michael Chiesa, in the semi-final round.
[10] Vick was scheduled to face castmate Vinc Pichel on June 1, 2012, at The Ultimate Fighter: Live Finale.
However, due to his TKO loss in the semifinals, Vick was unable to compete at the event and Pichel was pulled from the card as well.
[11] In his official debut, Vick faced Ramsey Nijem on August 17, 2013, at UFC Fight Night 26.
[21] Vick was expected to face Evan Dunham on June 4, 2016, at UFC 199, filling in for an injured Leonardo Santos.
[24] Vick was scheduled to face Johnny Case on February 4, 2017, at UFC Fight Night 104.
[44] Following this fight, Vick's contract expired and the UFC elected not to renew it, making him a free agent.
[47] Vick announced his retirement after the loss,[48] stating: .... One of my main reasons for still fighting was to prove to my son that you can’t just give up when things get hard in life.
My orbital is broke on my right side, the fracture went all the way through to the other side causing a bilateral break, plus my jaw is completely displaced so tomorrow they are finally doing surgery to fix it.....[48] After a successful amateur boxing career, Vick turned professional in 2010, losing his debut via majority decision.
[50] He faced Simon Alejandro Heredia Cortes on March 26, 2022, and won the bout via second-round technical knockout.
Nearly two months later on May 5, 2022, Vick stepped into the ring with Robert Lartigue and won the fight again via second-round technical knockout.
On October 29, 2022, Vick would debut with Karate Combat, suffering a unanimous decision loss to Jorge Perez.
Vick most recently faced Rafael Alves at Karate Combat 47 on June 29, 2024, suffering a KO loss via head kick.