The sport of mixed martial arts (MMA) has always proven to be a fertile breeding ground for interesting, bizarre, oddball, and off-the-wall characters.
In this article, we’ll celebrate that fact by taking a closer look at 10 of the craziest, one-of-a-kind fighters ever to have set foot in the cage.
Charles ‘Krazy Horse’ Bennett
MMA veteran Charles Bennett undoubtedly owns one of the most fitting nicknames in MMA – ‘Krazy Horse.’
Outside of the cage, Bennett has a long criminal record, being arrested multiple times for everything from possessing and selling drugs to robbery and aggravated assault, but it’s his outrageous antics in the cage and ring that he’s best known for.
For instance, in ‘King Of The Cage,’ he once picked up an opponent, gave the ‘peace’ sign to a nearby camera, then proceeded to swing his opponent in the air and slam him into the cage – a unique move later named, ‘the helicopter slam.’
Meanwhile, in an infamous backstage incident during PRIDE Shockwave 2005, Bennett got into a fight with Cristiano Marcello and was choked out on camera, only to regain consciousness and then claim afterward that he KO’d Wanderlei Silva.
The latter incident wasn’t caught on tape and has been hotly disputed ever since, and years later Bennett joked that the still fuming Brazilian would never be able to get to him, because, “I’m a n**ger’ and I run real fast.”
Notable Achievements: Jobbed to James Terry on two different Strikeforce undercards. Almost worthy of a spot in MMA’s Weird-Stomach-Tattoo Hall of Fame. Almost. According to Wikipedia: “He is the current WSCA (Wyoming Sports Combat Association) Welterweight Champion.”
(This guy getting punched out by Jacob Volkmann has a Wikipedia page, yet Ilir Latifi does not. I *dare* you to identify him without using Google.)
Notable Achievements: Jobbed to James Terry on two different Strikeforce undercards. Almost worthy of a spot in MMA’s Weird-Stomach-Tattoo Hall of Fame. Almost. According to Wikipedia: “He is the current WSCA (Wyoming Sports Combat Association) Welterweight Champion.”
Frank Caraballo
(A Google Image search for Frank Caraballo will result in this picture, which I have deemed far more interesting than any pictures of the actual fighter.)
Notable Achievements: Won a fight on the Bellator prelims by flying knee against Donny Walker, a recently-released UFC veteran who went 0-2 in the promotion (and narrowly avoided a spot on this list). According to Wikipedia: “At Bellator LXVI, Frank defeated Donny Walker via flying knee KO in the fourth round and in doing so unified his NAAFS interim featherweight title with the real title to become the undisputed NAAFS featherweight champion.” You know a title is legitimate when it’s awarded to the winner of a bout taking place on the preliminary card of a different promotion’s show.
Notable Achievements: Was once married to Randy Couture, and currently has a 3-8 MMA record; those three victories come over ladies with a combined MMA record of 0-5. Not only lost a fight to a professional wrestling stall-hold, but almost died in said maneuver. According to Wikipedia: “Couture grew up on a ranch with her brother. She has played basketball, volleyball and track throughout her life.” Cool story, Wikipedia.
Rosen Dimitrov
(He’s the guy on the bottom; photo courtesy of Sherdog)
Notable Achievements: Apparently the baddest man in Bulgaria; possibly the author of his own Wikipedia page. According to Wikipedia: “With his twin brother Rumen Dimitrov they founded the organization TWINS MMA and they have enormous success by producing live events and by giving chance for all young fighters to participate and to show what they can.”
Notable Achievements: An honorable mention for our 50 Worst Fighters in UFC History tribute, making him the rare combination of talented enough to fight in the UFC, incompetent enough to be a UFC one-and-done, and completely, utterly unremarkable all at once. According to Wikipedia: “Brian Gassaway (born August 7, 1972) is an American mixed martial artist currently competing in the Welterweight division.” This is the only sentence in the entire entry, proving that even Brian Gassaway’s Wikipedia page knows next to nothing about Brian Gassaway.
Herbert Goodman
(Two of these three men would go on to have semi-relevant NFL careers.)
Notable Achievements: The anti-Herschel Walker, so to speak. Was a downright bad NFL running back with the Green Bay Packers before becoming a decent regional-level MMA fighter. Signed by Bellator to job to Hector Lombard, and was knocked out in well under one minute. According to Wikipedia: “In his two seasons in the NFL he ran the ball four times for -3 yards and fumbled twice.”
Mark Hughes
(This will make more sense in a second. Promise.)
Notable Achievements: Does being the brother of Matt Hughes count? Holds a victory in the UFC against Alex “The Fighting Al Bundy” Steibling; of course we aren’t making Steibling’s nickname up. According to Wikipedia: “Soon after fighting in the UFC, Mark decided that it just wasn’t for him and he went back to his family, the farm and his construction company (Hughes Construction).” This may be the Hughesiest sentence ever composed.
“On This Day in MMA History” pays tribute to some of the more bizarre and infamous news stories of MMA’s past. The following article was originally published on May 19th, 2012, one year ago today. Note: We’ve placed a few more notable anniversaries at the end of this post.
Law enforcement sources tell TMZ … Jones was involved in an accident at around 5:00 AM in Binghamton, NY. We’re told the car — which Jones crashed into a pole — was totaled and cops arrested Jones on the scene for DUI.
According to our sources, Jones was taken into custody by Broome County Sheriff and bailed out a few hours later … by his mom. Jones is from nearby Ithaca.
Fortunately for Jones, it appears that he only suffered minor injuries, and it does not appear that anyone else was injured from this accident. It is unclear whether or not there were any passengers in the car at the time of the accident.
As of this writing, Dana White’s only response to the incident has been a text to TMZ, saying “Wow, i guess its not my week is it?”. Given the week he’s had, that may be putting itmildly. Neither Jones nor his teammates will be commenting on the arrest at this time.
“On This Day in MMA History” pays tribute to some of the more bizarre and infamous news stories of MMA’s past. The following article was originally published on May 19th, 2012, one year ago today. Note: We’ve placed a few more notable anniversaries at the end of this post.
Law enforcement sources tell TMZ … Jones was involved in an accident at around 5:00 AM in Binghamton, NY. We’re told the car — which Jones crashed into a pole — was totaled and cops arrested Jones on the scene for DUI.
According to our sources, Jones was taken into custody by Broome County Sheriff and bailed out a few hours later … by his mom. Jones is from nearby Ithaca.
Fortunately for Jones, it appears that he only suffered minor injuries, and it does not appear that anyone else was injured from this accident. It is unclear whether or not there were any passengers in the car at the time of the accident.
As of this writing, Dana White’s only response to the incident has been a text to TMZ, saying “Wow, i guess its not my week is it?”. Given the week he’s had, that may be putting itmildly. Neither Jones nor his teammates will be commenting on the arrest at this time.
In and of itself, the incident isn’t too surprising: Jon Jones is a young, talented and seemingly invincible athlete. Like many other athletes in his position, Jones decided to get behind the wheel after clearly drinking too much. Or for that matter, like many of those reading this article, myself included, at one point or another. I’m not saying that drunk driving isn’t a reckless, stupid thing to do, but I also wouldn’t be surprised to see the media be harsher on Jon Jones than they would on, say, Braylon Edwards.
It will be interesting to see how this story develops. Jon Jones is the face of the UFC — and in many ways, mixed martial arts. How will the mainstream media cover this incident? How will Jones be disciplined for this? Will any of his sponsors bail on him? And how will this story be treated in the state of New York, which recently made viewing child porn legal while deeming that MMA should remain illegal? We’ll keep you up to date as more details become available.
Update: A statement from First Round Management has been forwarded to Cagepotato.com:
Note: There will be no interviews granted at this time from Jon Jones, or any of his representatives
“I can confirm that Jon Jones was arrested early this morning on suspicion of DUI. While the facts of this situation are still being gathered and situated, First Round Management fully supports Jon and we are asking for fans and media to respect the privacy of Jon and his family during this time.”
And finally, happy birthday to UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre, who turns 32 today. Wait a minute…that’s how old I am. And I haven’t done shit with my life. Oh man. That’s a bummer.
We’re just hours away from UFC 152, where we will be treated to great fights between our sport’s top athletes. So, to get us in the mood for tonight’s action, let’s take a look at something completely different. Before establishing himself as the destroyer of Tater freakin’ Williams, top XARM heavyweight* Bond Laupua made his MMA debut against renowned crazy person Dan Quinn at Gladiator Challenge: First Strike in October 2009. And despite everything about pitting a future XARM athletefighter competitor against a wild-eyed Stevia enthusiast seeming legitimate, the fight quickly turned into a bizarre freak show.
We’re just hours away from UFC 152, where we will be treated to great fights between our sport’s top athletes. So, to get us in the mood for tonight’s action, let’s take a look at something completely different. Before establishing himself as the destroyer of Tater freakin’ Williams, top XARM heavyweight* Bond Laupua made his MMA debut against renowned crazy person Dan Quinn at Gladiator Challenge: First Strike in October 2009. And despite everything about pitting a future XARM athletefighter competitor against a wild-eyed Stevia enthusiast seeming legitimate, the fight quickly turned into a bizarre freak show.
It has to be frustrating to coach a fighter like Dan Quinn, who all but refuses to follow the most basic advice his corner gives him. His corner practically has to beg him to throw some punches, but don’t worry, Bond Laupua tires himself out far before Dan’s Homer Simpson-esque strategy can backfire. Dan lands some hard punches on the exhausted Bond Lapua, then backs away, generously giving Laupua the opportunity to recover. But much like the referee for my eighth grade dance off, this ref realizes that things can quickly go from embarrassing to tragic, and ain’t nobody got time for that. The shenanigans are over in one minute and forty nine seconds.
Of course, since getting TKO’d by Dan Quinn, Bond would reinvent himself in XARM, where “I don’t really have a strategy” is the perfect strategy for becoming a certified decapitator of the souls of mere mortals. Frankly, I’m not entirely sure that’s an improvement.
*Probably. I mean, I don’t know of any other XARM fighters, but how many people are actually competing in this sideshow?
(Video: TMZ.com. Props to reader JeffWillson–Salem Oregon–for the tip)
If you haven’t followed Dan Quinn‘s insanity over the years, you’ve been missing out. The man may very well be MMA’s most tortured mind, and that’s seriously saying something. Things started off simply enough with him issuing YouTube challenges to the UFC’s best, bragging about his hands and his accomplishments in college football. Then he, along with Diego Sanchez, discovered the healing power of Stevia, nature’s answer to Sweet’N Low
For years he’s been preaching the Stevia gospel, claiming it ‘melted a tumor’ out of Octagon girl Ali Sonoma, but recently things have taken a turn for the (more) bizarre. He’s posted conversations with a mysterious caller who loosely claims affiliation with both the UFC and some sort of global power/secret society, offering him hush money and power in exchange for his silence. Another recent YouTube video of a conversation with police regarding threats of violence toward a veterinarian has since been deleted.
Things get crazier after the jump…
(Video: TMZ.com. Props to reader JeffWillson–Salem Oregon–for the tip)
If you haven’t followed Dan Quinn‘s insanity over the years, you’ve been missing out. The man may very well be MMA’s most tortured mind, and that’s seriously saying something. Things started off simply enough with him issuing YouTube challenges to the UFC’s best, bragging about his hands and his accomplishments in college football. Then he, along with Diego Sanchez, discovered the healing power of Stevia, nature’s answer to Sweet’N Low
For years he’s been preaching the Stevia gospel, claiming it ‘melted a tumor’ out of Octagon girl Ali Sonoma, but recently things have taken a turn for the (more) bizarre. He’s posted conversations with a mysterious caller who loosely claims affiliation with both the UFC and some sort of global power/secret society, offering him hush money and power in exchange for his silence. Another recent YouTube video of a conversation with police regarding threats of violence toward a veterinarian has since been deleted.
Now in an alarming twist, Quinn has UFC President Dana White in his crosshairs. As reported by TMZ, Quinn has made death threats against White in a series of voicemails to his personal number. Additional messages from characters such as Irishman “Paddy O’Neill”, who sounds suspiciously like Quinn, cast a creepy Norman Bates shadow on this troubling situation. Las Vegas Police are currently investigating the matter. If we believe the internet, Quinn has a history of physical violence outside of the cage, so statements like “I’m gonna shoot you right in the head motherfucker” should be taken seriously. Let’s hope this ends soon and safely for all parties.
“On This Day in MMA History” pays tribute to some of the more bizarre and infamous news stories of MMA’s past. The following article was 
