Birthdate - 7/29/74
5'11 182 lbs. - Forest Lake, MI
Team - Menne Combat Academy
Style - X-Trained

Career Highlights
- Wins his first three fights to win the HNS Lightweight tourney
- Beats Fabiano Iha in his UFC debut at UFC XXIV
- Defeats Jose "Pele" Landi to win a Middleweight title at WEF 9
- Wins the Shidokan Jitsu tourney beating Carlos Newton amongst other people
- Defeats Gil Castillo by decision to win the UFC Middleweight belt

Striking - He likes to use punches and kicks evenly while standing matched by knees and short uppercutts from the clinch. His boxing is strong and he'll duke it out often, more than he should or needs to one could argue. Menne has good standup defense as well, which makes him the complete striker, even if he it is not his greatest strength. He tries to use good combinations and selective aggression and generally speaking he has success with his approach.

Wrestling - Coming out of the Iowa wrestling, Menne's matwork is the foundation of his style. While he has no problem with brawling, but he'll go for takedowns too. He can defend well and turn an opponent's attacks into an opening for his strikes. His sprawl is good, but he can be taken down.

Hooking - Menne can be really aggressive with submissions, but primarily he is smart with them. Though he is seldom on his back defending, Menne is competant there. One can look down his record and see great variety to his submission wins: armbars, leglocks and chokes. No one has ever beaten him by submission either and this includes Bustamante, Iha and Castillo, all high-level BJJ fighters. This is a strong area for Menne and one that is often overlooked as he's seen as a complete fighter rather than strong submission fighter.

Strengthes - Menne is a tenacious and well-rounded fighter. He has a wealth of experience and has been constantly improving. Of course, Menne has important intangibles like a solid chin and he is one of the most experienced fighters around. He seems to have that veteran calmness that is becoming a hit-and-miss part of his game, but typically it helps fighters stay near the top longer than they would on raw ability.

Weaknesses - Like any fighter who fights constantly some people are able to solve Menne. His style is strong, but if someone can beat his wrestling he seems to really struggle. He really needs a slow, technical fight to work his game or he gets overwhelmed. His weakness is striking as its been responsible for the majority of his loses and remains a problem area to this day. Near half of his fights go the distance and while Menne might usually win the decision it shows an inability to finish for sure.

Outlook - Dave Menne is a top middleweight fighter. He has fought a laundry list of quality opponents and though the results are mixed, he's proven his ability undoubtedly. While Menne does not fight as much as he used to, he still fights a lot at the b-show level. At least he is consistantly winning there and it keeps his name around as a strong contender. Leaving the Miletich camp has probably hurt him as far as being connected, but he remains a known entity who can deliver a challenge to any one in his weight class.