The sport of mixed martial arts requires not only talent and technique, but also years of struggle and sacrifice, with fighters more often than not structuring their entire lives around the countless hours required to hone their craft in the endless pursuit of excellence. However, an ability to fight at the highest level in the
The sport of mixed martial arts requires not only talent and technique, but also years of struggle and sacrifice, with fighters more often than not structuring their entire lives around the countless hours required to hone their craft in the endless pursuit of excellence.
However, an ability to fight at the highest level in the Octagon in front of millions of fans around the world is not the only thing that defines many of these men and women, and the diversity of interests and skills that they possess outside of the Octagon shatters the age-old stereotype that fighters are just a bunch of knuckle-dragging meatheads.
In this article we’ll look at 12 fighters whose talents extend beyond fighting into all manner of different areas of expertise.
From extreme sports enthusiasts to the artistically inclined and even a few self-confessed nerds, you’ll be left in no doubt that the UFC’s got talent.
Team Melendez was in a tough spot heading into last night’s episode of TUF 20, after going winless in the first six preliminary fights. Luckily, they still had their ace in the hole — “Thug” Rose Namajunas, who stepped up in a big way and earned a first-round rear-naked choke submission against Alex Chambers.
Check out highlights from the fight above, which show an ever-evolving Namajunas frustrating Chambers with flashy kicks before taking her down and sinking the choke. Other than the heavy right hand that Rose eats at the 0:56 mark, it was a virtually flawless performance, and one that surely put her housemates on notice. Also on the episode…
– Team Melendez struggles with some infighting related to Heather Jo Clark and Lisa Ellis’s fraternizing with Team Pettis.
– Clark learns that she’s suffered a full ACL tear in her right knee, and will be out of action for the rest of the competition.
– Megan Rapinoe and Sydney Leroux from the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team stop by to say what up.
– Rose Namajunas discusses how she endured sexual abuse growing up in Milwaukee, and advises other females to seek help if they’re experiencing similar abuse in their own lives. Much respect to Rose for making this issue public.
After the jump: Rose and Pat Barry sit down with Karyn Bryant to discuss the episode on FOX Sports Live’s “TUF Talk.” Rose and Pat are still the best.
Team Melendez was in a tough spot heading into last night’s episode of TUF 20, after going winless in the first six preliminary fights. Luckily, they still had their ace in the hole — “Thug” Rose Namajunas, who stepped up in a big way and earned a first-round rear-naked choke submission against Alex Chambers.
Check out highlights from the fight above, which show an ever-evolving Namajunas frustrating Chambers with flashy kicks before taking her down and sinking the choke. Other than the heavy right hand that Rose eats at the 0:56 mark, it was a virtually flawless performance, and one that surely put her housemates on notice. Also on the episode…
– Team Melendez struggles with some infighting related to Heather Jo Clark and Lisa Ellis’s fraternizing with Team Pettis.
– Clark learns that she’s suffered a full ACL tear in her right knee, and will be out of action for the rest of the competition.
– Megan Rapinoe and Sydney Leroux from the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team stop by to say what up.
– Rose Namajunas discusses how she endured sexual abuse growing up in Milwaukee, and advises other females to seek help if they’re experiencing similar abuse in their own lives. Much respect to Rose for making this issue public.
After the jump: Rose and Pat Barry sit down with Karyn Bryant to discuss the episode on FOX Sports Live’s “TUF Talk.” Rose and Pat are still the best.
Those fighters (along with five more strawweights to be named later) will compete on the 20th season of The Ultimate Fighter, which begins filming in May 2014. The winner of the season will become the UFC’s inaugural strawweight champion. Coaches for the season haven’t been named yet.
As for Invicta FC, company president Shannon Knapp has put on a happy face and explained that Invicta’s strawweight division will carry on without its 11 best fighters, which seems kind of depressing. But her promotion has had a good working relationship with the UFC since the beginning, and that’s not going to change.
At this point, you probably have a lot of burning questions racing through your heads, so we’ve put together a helpful FAQ to answer some of the major ones…
Q: Does this mean that CagePotato’s sponsorship of Rose Namajunas is effectively over? A: Yeah, pretty much. But we wish Rose the best with the bigger, fancier sponsors that she’ll be snapping up next year. JUST TREAT HER RIGHT, BRO.
Q: I haven’t watched TUF since the Brock Lesnar season. (Chicken shit, chicken salad, good times.) Why can’t the UFC just start putting these women on upcoming fight cards? Like, they could re-book Gadelha vs. Esparza for the inaugural strawweight title on a UFC on FOX 1 show or something. You know what I mean?
(Well, it was fun while it lasted. / Photo via InvictaFC)
Those fighters (along with five more strawweights to be named later) will compete on the 20th season of The Ultimate Fighter, which begins filming in May 2014. The winner of the season will become the UFC’s inaugural strawweight champion. Coaches for the season haven’t been named yet.
As for Invicta FC, company president Shannon Knapp has put on a happy face and explained that Invicta’s strawweight division will carry on without its 11 best fighters, which seems kind of depressing. But her promotion has had a good working relationship with the UFC since the beginning, and that’s not going to change.
At this point, you probably have a lot of burning questions racing through your heads, so we’ve put together a helpful FAQ to answer some of the major ones…
Q: Does this mean that CagePotato’s sponsorship of Rose Namajunas is effectively over? A: Yeah, pretty much. But we wish Rose the best with the bigger, fancier sponsors that she’ll be snapping up next year. JUST TREAT HER RIGHT, BRO.
Q: I haven’t watched TUF since the Brock Lesnar season. (Chicken shit, chicken salad, good times.) Why can’t the UFC just start putting these women on upcoming fight cards? Like, they could re-book Gadelha vs. Esparza for the inaugural strawweight title on a FOX Sports 1 show or something. You know what I mean? A: I do know what you mean, and the answer is that the UFC still holds the antiquated belief that The Ultimate Fighter builds stars and people enjoy watching it. That hasn’t been true for a long time, and the worst part is that some great strawweight fighters will probably never officially make it into the Octagon because they lose their first fight on TUF. That could happen to any of these 11 women, considering how talented they are as a group.
Still, let’s put the criticism in perspective — if Invicta threw together a 12-week Strawweight Grand Prix featuring Rose Namajunas, Felice Herrig, Bec Hyatt, Claudia Gadelha, Joanne Calderwood, Paige Van Zant, Tecia Torres, and Carla Esparza, we’d all think it was the most badass thing ever. Well, at least ReX and I would. (And Eric Holden, obviously.) At the very least, we expect some fun televised hijinx from the more colorful members of the cast.
Q: Will CagePotato be doing episode recaps for this season? A: Most likely, we will follow the TUF 18 format of doing full recaps for the first half of the season, then getting bored and just throwing up video highlights for the rest of the season when it becomes clear that none of our readers care anymore.
Q: Does time-travel exist? And if so, can I use it to skip past TUF 19 entirely? A: Funny story. When I was abducted by those aliens last year, they showed me an advanced kind of DVR, which they used to skip ahead to future seasons of any television show beamed in from Earth. (They called it a “skipper,” which in their cute alien accents sounded like “skeepuh.”) So yes, the technology exists. Is it worth getting your orifices probed, just to see how Mad Men ends? Absolutely.
