John Alessio

John Paul Alessio (born July 5, 1979) is a Canadian retired professional mixed martial artist.

A professional competitor since 1998, Alessio has also formerly competed for the UFC where he was a former Welterweight title challenger, the WEC, PRIDE, King of the Cage, MFC and DREAM.

Alessio was born and raised Duncan, British Columbia, where he began training in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and kickboxing, before moving to San Jose, California at the age of 19 in order to pursue his dream of becoming a professional fighter.

During his professional mixed martial arts career, Alessio has also won two national BMX trick biking championships.

[4] Alessio then fought Siyar Bahadurzada in the United Glory welterweight semifinals on January 30, 2011, in Charleroi, Belgium and was beaten via TKO in the first round.

[17] The fight was declared a no contest in the first round after Rickles landed an unintentional illegal knee rendering Alessio unable to continue.