Seasoned mixed martial arts observers will always wonder what might have been with David Terrell, a world-class talent whose body never seemed to cooperate with him. The former Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight title contender will celebrate his 40th birthday on Jan. 9.

The first man to earn the rank of black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Cesar Gracie, Terrell saw his MMA career limited to just eight appearances. He compiled a 6-2 record, with wins over Pride Fighting Championships alum Joey Villasenor and 2000 Olympic silver medalist Matt Lindland. “The Soul Assassin” fought for the vacant middleweight crown at UFC 51 on Feb. 5, 2005 and nearly finished Evan Tanner with a guillotine choke before succumbing to punches in the first round at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. Terrell went on to throttle Scott Smith at UFC 59 some 14 months later before a rash of injuries undermined his fighting career. He has not fought since and saw a series of comeback attempts come off the rails before being released by the UFC in 2008. Terrell now fronts the Nor-Cal Fighting Alliance outfit in Santa Rosa, California, where has trained former Pacific Xtreme Combat champion Alvin Cacdac, UFC veteran Nate Loughran and onetime Bellator MMA titleholder Joe Soto among others.

Others in MMA celebrating a birthday during the month of January:

JAN. 1

Guy Mezger, 50
Eiji Mitsuoka, 42
Charles Diaz, 41
Robbie Peralta, 32
John Lineker, 28
Herica Tiburcio, 25

JAN. 2

Mac Danzig, 38
Luis Santos, 38
Oli Thompson, 38
Emanuel Newton, 34

JAN. 3

Rodney Glunder, 43
Vlad Popovskiy, 26
Marif Piraev, 25
Paddy Pimblett, 23

JAN. 4

Kimo Leopoldo, 50
Vladimir Matyushenko, 47
Shane Carwin, 43
Donny Walker, 38
Jose Maria Tome, 36
Derek Brunson, 34
Raphael Butler, 34
Jin Suk Jung, 34
Jung Min Kang, 32
Warlley Alves, 27

JAN. 5

Ruben Villareal, 48
Mike Bronzoulis, 39
John Gunderson, 39
Kaline Medeiros, 39
Trevor Smith, 37
Takahiro Suzuki, 31
Douglas Lima, 30
Goiti Yamauchi, 25

JAN. 6

Kevin Rosier (1962-2015)
Kalib Starnes, 43
Wilson Reis, 33
Matheus Nicolau Pereira, 25

JAN. 7

Christian Colombo, 38
Caros Fodor, 34
Thiago Santos, 34
Levan Makashvili, 29

JAN. 8

Tara LaRosa, 40
Andre Santos, 37
Ertan Balaban, 35
Michael Graves , 27

JAN. 9

Pete Spratt, 47
David Terrell, 40
Jake Shields, 39
Garreth McLellan, 36

JAN. 10

Yumiko Hotta, 51
Mickey Hughes, 39
Matt Brown, 37

JAN. 11

Rebecca Ruth, 39
Rafael Cavalcante, 37
Muhammed Lawal, 37
Eddie Alvarez, 34
Peter Sobotta, 31

JAN. 12

Ikuhisa Minowa, 42
Young Bok Kil, 33
Angela Hill, 30
Jingnan Xiong, 30

JAN. 13

George Allen, 51
Leigh Remedios, 42
Justin Hawes, 39
Dennis Siver, 39

JAN. 14

Matt Uhde, 44
Akbarh Arreola, 35
Matt Riddle, 32

JAN. 15

Alexandre Franca Nogueira, 40
Nobuhiro Obiya, 37
Yuki Nishigo, 33
Andrew Craig, 32
Efrain Escudero, 32
Alexander Gustafsson, 31
Michael McDonald, 27
Zubaira Tukhugov, 27

JAN. 16

Paul Buentello, 44
Hyun Gyu Lim, 33
Sai Wang, 32
Chris Avila, 25

JAN. 17

Gary Goodridge, 52
Ariel Sexton, 36
Dusan Dzakic, 31
Brian Grinnell, 30
Alexander Sarnavskiy, 29
Arnold Allen, 25

JAN. 18

Neil Grove, 47
Jeff Monson, 47
Yoshikazu Fujiishi, 40
Luis Ramos, 37
Miguel Torres, 37
Carlos Diego Ferreira, 33
Marcin Held, 26

JAN. 19

Aritano Silva Barbosa, 39
Leandro Higo, 29
Dustin Poirier, 29
Timur Valiev, 28

JAN. 20

Matt Ewin, 48
Alexandre Ribeiro, 37
Roy Doliguez, 36
Donavon Frelow, 33

JAN. 21

Francisco France, 35
Edson Barboza, 32
Patricky Freire, 32
Willie Gates, 31
Matthew Lopez, 31
Shane Campbell, 30

JAN. 22

Min Soo Kim, 43
Jorge Antonio Cezario de Oliveira, 38
Luigi Fioravanti, 37
Tomasz Drwal, 36
Ji-Hoon Kim, 36

JAN. 23

Marco Ruas, 57
Tito Ortiz, 43
A.J. Matthews, 30
Christos Giagos, 28

JAN. 24

Akira Maeda, 59
Jamall Johnson, 36
Jimmy Spicuzza, 33
Oskar Piechota, 28

JAN. 25

Ron van Clief, 75
Jorge Gurgel, 41
Paulo Thiago, 37
John Quinn, 35
Mike Easton, 34
Dominique Steele, 30

JAN. 26

Dan Bobish, 48
Carmelo Marrero, 37
Rafaello Oliveira, 36
Chico Camus, 33

JAN. 27

Tony Sylvester, 40
Klay Konrad, 36
Anthony Pettis, 31

JAN. 28

Tim Boetsch, 37
Ashleigh Grimshaw, 36
Jesse Fujarczyk, 35
Brandon Saling, 32

JAN. 29

Stephen Palling, 51
Kazuyuki Miyata, 42
Annalisa Bucci, 35

JAN. 30

Rob Kimmons, 37
Jessica Penne, 35
Junior dos Santos, 34

JAN. 31

Akira Shoji, 44
Kengo Watanabe, 42
Maciej Jewtuszko, 37
Shunichi Shimizu, 33
Renan Barao, 31
Kirill Sukhomlinov, 30
Dhiego Lima, 29
Cesar Arzamendia, 27