Tag: Dan Miragliotta

With the recent allegations aimed at former Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, the sports world has been thrown into a bit of chaos in the past few weeks. The story, which has undoubtedly tarnished the legacy of not only the college itself but also its legendary football coach Joe Paterno, is one of the most shocking and disturbing events to surface in the history of competitive sports.

Amidst the scandal coach Paterno had announced that he planned to retire at the end of the season, but it turns out Penn State had other, more immediate plans in mind. And though Sandusky’s fate has yet to be determined, we can only hope that it involves Pinhead levels of torture. Unfortunately the sad fact is, it often takes a wrongdoing such as Sandusky’s in order to open our collective eyes to the world around us and take action to try and ensure that it never happens again. It is with this in mind that we bring you ten of the biggest skeletons in MMA’s closet.

Whether or not we’ll actually try to do anything but mock them is yet to be determined.

Here we go.

#10 – Brock Lesnar’s UFC 100 Tirade

(Video courtesy of YouTube/krispyism. Apologies for the shitty video quality.) 
What happened:  After dealing with months of Frank Mir‘s off-color brand of mental warfare, Brock Lesnar let his fists do the talking at UFC 100, which is where the talking should have ended. After smashing Frank Mir in the second round of their heavyweight title fight, Lesnar proceeded to not only berate a battered Mir, but flip off the crowd, openly insult one of the UFC’s biggest sponsors in Bud Light, and then hint at fornicating with his smokin hot wife. Ok, so maybe the last part wasn’t so bad (if you put yourself in Lesnar’s position), but the rest of Brock’s outburst came off to critics and fans alike as an act of incredible stupidity and childishness. At a time when many UFC fans were reluctant to allow someone from the world of professional wrestling into their realm, Lesnar’s dramatic antics were the warning flare that many were looking for to discredit the UFC as a professional organization.

The fallout: Brock would immediately issue an apology at the post-fight press conference, which he showed up to drinking a Bud Light, by the way. His antics would earn the ire of Shane Carwin however, and the two would settle that beef at UFC 116, where Lesnar would survive a first round massacre to miraculously submit Carwin in the 2nd round. Frank Mir would go on to threaten Lesnar’s life, which Dana White would also force him to apologize for. As for Bud Light, well, it’s still a proud sponsor of the UFC. And thank God for that, or we would have never been graced with this commercial.

#9 – Tim Sylvia Gets Starched by Ray Mercer 

(Video courtesy of YouTube/leer5858.)
What happened: On the heels of an interim title loss to Antonio Rodrigo Nogueria and a 36 second annihilation at the hands of Fedor Emelianenko, it seemed to many that former UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia had hit rock bottom. But nay, we had only witnessed the beginning. When it was announced that Sylvia would challenge former WBO champion Ray Mercer to a MMA match, most figured it was part of some charity event, or maybe just a case of a good old fashioned freak show fight. It turns out the latter was correct, as Tim Sylvia showed up to the event dressed as Giant Silva, and proceeded to be flattened 9 seconds into the bout compliments of the very first punch that Mercer threw.

The fallout: The fight was basically MMA’s version of Billy Jean King vs. Bobby Riggs, except that neither of the competitors were even close to being in their prime. And as that match attempted to ignite women with the belief that they could compete with men in a sports setting (lolz!), this match opened the floodgates for the likes of James “Mushmouth” Toney to badger his way into an undeserved fight in MMA’s highest promotion. And though MMA reigned supreme at UFC 118, there was truly no winner to be had in what was one of the most pathetic, one sided matches in the sport’s history.

As for the fighters involved, Mercer’s punch was apparently so powerful that it permanently disabled Sylvia’s ability to fight at under 300 lbs thereafter. Despite that fact, Sylvia would go 6-1 following the loss, picking up wins over Paul Buentello, Marius Zaromskis, and most recently Andreas Kraniotakes at the abysmal Pro Elite 2: Big Guns event. Mercer has yet to compete in MMA again.

#8 – Paul Daley’s Cheap Shot at UFC 113

(Video courtesy of YouTube/codymckinley.)
What happened: Let’s be honest, Paul Daley is kind of a scumbag. After coming up short in his #1 contender match against Josh “Fraggle Rock” Koscheck, Daley decided that the best chance to land his most significant strike of the fight would be after the fight was over. So he approached Koscheck in what seemed to be a congratulatory hug, and then took a swing at him. Referee Dan Miragliotta best summed up the moment when, after rag-dolling Daley into the cage, simply said, “Are you kidding me?”

The fallout: Turns out, Dana White was not kidding either, and immediately fired Daley following the fight, stating, “I don’t give a shit if he’s the best 170 pounder in the world, he will never come back here again.” But, true to DW’s form, never doesn’t exactly mean…never. In the midst of the Strikeforce purchase, White was asked about the possibility of Daley returning to the UFC, and had this to say, “We’ll see what happens with that first. I just have a hard time with what Daley did.” Consistency, folks, it’s truly what keeps a thriving business thriving. And speaking of British folks with less than stellar reputations…