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Jean Rivière (born July 2, 1971) is a Canadian former Kyokushin karateka, kickboxer and mixed martial artist. A heavyweight competitor fighting out of Montreal, Rivière reached the semi-finals at the 5th Kyokushin World Open in 1991 and later embarked on a career in the K-1 kickboxing promotion and the burgeoning MMA scene of the mid-1990s.

Career

The Montreal-based Jean Rivière came to prominence as a Kyokushin fighter, with the most notable achievement of his karate career coming in November 1991 at the 5th Kyokushin World Open in Tokyo where he finished fourth in a tournament of 250 competitors. He defeated Tatsuya Iwasaki (with an ushiro mawashi geri) in the round of thirty-two, Lars Bjorstrup in the round of sixteen and Johnny Kleyn in the quarter-finals before losing to Akira Masuda in the semi-finals.

Rivière would later transition to mixed martial arts, making his debut in Brazil on December 1, 1995 where he knocked out capoeira stylist Mestre Hulk in nineteen seconds. He then faced a nineteen-year-old Carlos Newton at Battlecade Extreme Fighting's second event in Montreal on April 26, 1996. Rivière had a large size advantage, reportedly outweighing Newton by 34 kg / 75 lb, but Newton dominated much of the fight with headbutts and superior grappling transitions before submitting due to exhaustion just over seven minutes into the fight.

Later that year, Rivière joined the ranks of the Japanese kickboxing promotion K-1. In his first outing, he recorded a second round low kick stoppage win over Fred Floyd at K-1 Revenge '96 on September 1, 1996 before losing a five-round unanimous decision to Musashi at K-1 Star Wars '96 the following month. Rivière was invited to compete in the 1997 K-1 World Grand Prix, losing to fellow karateka Masaaki Satake in the tournament's opening round on September 7, 1997. The bout was scored a draw following the regulation three rounds and went into an extension round to decide the winner, after which Satake was ruled the victor by all three judges.

Rivière faced reigning K-1 World Grand Prix champion Ernesto Hoost at K-1 Braves '98 on May 24, 1998, losing by head kick knockout in the first round. In his final appearance in the kickboxing ring, Rivière competed at the K-1 USA Grand Prix '98 in Las Vegas, K-1's first event in the United States, on August 7, 1998. He suffered a second-round knockout loss to Curtis Schuster at the quarter-final stage, bringing his K-1 career to a close on a 1–4 record.

With his stint in K-1 at an end, Rivière returned to MMA on January 9, 1999 with a loss to John Dixson in Montreal. After an eight-year absence from the sport, he defeated Shaun Fukuhara in Hawaii on August 4, 2007.

Kickboxing record

Kickboxing record

1 win (1 KO), 4 losses, 0 draws
Date	Result	Opponent	Event	Location	Method	Round	Time	Record
1998-08-07	Loss	Curtis Schuster	K-1 USA Grand Prix '98, Quarter-finals	Las Vegas, Nevada, USA	KO (punch)	2	2:52	1–4
1998-05-24	Loss	Ernesto Hoost	K-1 Braves '98	Fukuoka, Japan	KO (right high kick)	1	2:17	1–3
1997-09-07	Loss	Masaaki Satake	K-1 Grand Prix '97 1st round	Osaka, Japan	Extension round decision (unanimous)	4	3:00	1–2
1996-10-18	Loss	Musashi	K-1 Star Wars '96	Yokohama, Japan	Decision (unanimous)	5	3:00	1–1
1996-09-01	Win	Fred Floyd	K-1 Revenge '96	Osaka, Japan	KO (left low kick)	2	1:29	1–0
Legend:   Win   Loss   Draw/No contest   Notes

Mixed martial arts record

Res.	Record	Opponent	Method	Event	Date	Round	Time	Location	Notes
Win	3-1	Shaun Fukuhara	N/A	Island Warriors Fighting Championships	August 4, 2007	N/A	N/A	Wailuku, Hawaii, United States
Loss	2-1	John Dixson	N/A	IFC: Extreme Combat	January 9, 1999	1	5:13	Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Win	2-0	Carlos Newton	Submission (exhaustion)	Extreme Fighting 2	April 26, 1996	1	7:22	Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Win	1-0	Mestre Hulk	KO (punch)	Brazil Open '95	December 1, 1995	1	0:19	Brazil

References

1. "World Open Tournaments and Championships". www.kyokushincanada.com.
2. "5th World Open Tournament". www.kyokushinresults.com.
3. "MMA HOF". mmahalloffame.com.
4. Inc, Active Interest Media (1 August 1996). "Black Belt". Active Interest Media, Inc. – via Google Books. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
5. Brookhouse, Brent (6 April 2009). "Adjusting for Era - Carlos Newton". Bloody Elbow. Archived from the original on 4 May 2018. Retrieved 7 June 2017.
6. Inc, Active Interest Media (1 September 1998). "Black Belt". Active Interest Media, Inc. – via Google Books. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
7. "Premiere: K-1 USA in Las Vegas : Kung Fu :: Karate :: Kickboxen". www.kungfukarate.org.

External links

• Professional MMA record for Jean Riviere from Sherdog
• K-1Sport profile

• 1971 births
• Living people
• Canadian male karateka
• Canadian male kickboxers
• Heavyweight kickboxers
• Canadian male judoka
• Canadian male mixed martial artists
• Super heavyweight mixed martial artists
• Mixed martial artists utilizing Kyokushin kaikan
• Mixed martial artists utilizing judo
• Martial artists from Montreal