(Photo courtesy of Getty Images. Click it for the glorious, punch-face-tacular full-size version.)
If we ever re-launch our MMA Mythology comic series — which, like so many CagePotato features before it, sputtered out immediately after its debut — the tale of George Sotiropoulos getting knocked out off-camera during the filming of TUF: The Smashes would definitely deserve its own installment.
According to Team U.K. coach Ross Pearson, the incident occurred midway through the show’s filming, and began with some smack-talk between he and G-Sots over Twitter. At some point, Pearson’s assistant boxing coach Erin Beach* inserted himself into the eDrama. So, the next time Sotiropoulos saw Beach on set, the Australian fighter threw a punch at him. Beach fought back, and knocked Sotiropoulos clean out. MMAJunkie has more details:
The scrap drew an instant response from UFC President Dana White, who raised Pearson and his team on the phone. ”Dana chewed our heads off,” Pearson said. “George was acting unprofessional. I get paid to fight; I don’t fight in the streets for free.”
While Sotiropoulos’ alleged KO would not have fallen within a time frame to preclude him from competing against Pearson, it could have severely affected his preparation if he allowed himself to recover.
As you’d imagine, any mention of the incident was scrubbed from the series. Sotiropoulos went on to suffer a third-round TKO at the hands of Pearson during Friday’s Smashes Finale, becoming the first TUF coach to (allegedly) be knocked out twice on the same season. Sotiropoulos is currently on a three-fight losing streak in the Octagon, and now that he’s drawn the wrath of his boss, his future in the promotion is very uncertain.
* Beach was briefly a TUF competitor himself, eating an eight-second TKO against Sam Sicilia during the elimination round of TUF: Live…
