Dustin Anthony Jacoby (born April 4, 1988) is an American professional mixed martial artist and former kickboxer. He currently competes in the Light Heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). In kickboxing, he has competed for GLORY, and in MMA, he has also competed for Bellator, World Series of Fighting, and Titan FC. He has fought as both a Light Heavyweight and a Middleweight. On November 1, 2018, he was ranked as the #8 middleweight kickboxer in the world by Combat Press.
Background
Jacoby was born in Fort Morgan, Colorado. He has a twin brother, Darren, who is a former professional mixed martial artist. The brothers began training taekwondo at the age of four, both picking up wrestling a year later. Dustin trained taekwondo for four years but continued to wrestle until the family moved to Illinois when the brothers were 12.
In Illinois Jacoby started playing basketball, claiming all-state honors while attending Triopia High School. Also playing football in the high school, Dustin had many Division I scholarship offers for both sports, but due to a severe knee injury sustained during his senior year, many of the offers were withdrawn. Subsequently, Jacoby selected Culver-Stockton College, where he played football two years as a quarterback while studying business management before transferring to Quincy University.