Whenever strikes are flying with bad intentions, the chance of a foul is always there. Sometimes like a confused animal that stumbles into the scene by accident, other times like a snarling dog let loose by the offender.
For the former, it’s a regrettable moment in their career that is usually never repeated again.
For the latter, it’s the dark humor of the situation itself they cannot resist. Their opponent is putting their trust in him to obey the rules, and like Lucy yanking the ball away from Charley Brown as he runs to kick, they too choose to indulge their whims, simply because they can.
That’s not to say a fighter found guilty of landing a dirty strike is a dirty fighter. It is simply an acknowledgement of those things within the rules and those things deemed illegal.
The sport has seen its fair share of both unintentional fouls and those done with clear malice, but whatever the motivation, the result is the same: a dirty strike.
Here is a list of 10 of the dirtiest strikes in MMA history, where the strike itself is more often than not the main point of contention.