Tag: DeathClutch

The Fourteen Ugliest Walkout Shirts in MMA


Yes, it’s ugly, trashy and tasteless to include Arianny on this list. Just like this t-shirt. Props: UFCStore.com

MMA fighters aren’t exactly known for their fashion sense. So it should come as little surprise that most MMA t-shirt companies produce some pretty questionable designs. The rampant abuse of foil print, skulls, chains, tribal designs and nautical stars among most MMA t-shirts is bad enough on its own; even worse when you consider that they sell for thirty bucks a pop.

Which I guess makes it all the worse when a fighter makes his way to the cage covered in an “athletic fit” Old-English mess. Not only is the shirt revolting, but it’s going to sell for an outlandish sum of money, and be worn by every overweight Texas Roadhouse chef, milquetoast tech support geek and muscle-bound frat boy.

Perhaps the reason that we’ve never attempted an “Ugliest Walkout Shirts” post is because ranking these train wrecks is like ranking, well, actual train wrecks. No matter what order you place them in, you’re a total scumbag for attempting to rank a tragedy from most to least depressing. And besides, you’re clearly wrong about which one belongs at number three. For that reason, these will not be ranked, per se, but rather categorized. How you feel these shirts fall into place is up to you.

Let’s start with the most obvious category:


Yes, it’s ugly, trashy and tasteless to include Arianny on this list. Just like this t-shirt. Props: UFCStore.com

MMA fighters aren’t exactly known for their fashion sense. So it should come as little surprise that most MMA t-shirt companies produce some pretty questionable designs. The rampant abuse of foil print, skulls, chains, tribal designs and nautical stars among most MMA t-shirts is bad enough on its own; even worse when you consider that they sell for thirty bucks a pop.

Which I guess makes it all the worse when a fighter makes his way to the cage covered in an “athletic fit” Old-English mess. Not only is the shirt revolting, but it’s going to sell for an outlandish sum of money, and be worn by every overweight Texas Roadhouse chef, milquetoast tech support geek and muscle-bound frat boy.

Perhaps the reason that we’ve never attempted an “Ugliest Walkout Shirts” post is because ranking these train wrecks is like ranking, well, actual train wrecks. No matter what order you place them in, you’re a total scumbag for attempting to rank a tragedy from most to least depressing. And besides, you’re clearly wrong about which one belongs at number three. For that reason, these will not be ranked, per se, but rather categorized. How you feel these shirts fall into place is up to you.

Let’s start with the most obvious category:

Ugliest Tapout Shirt: Ryan Bader‘s UFC 119 Walkout

Don’t worry, this won’t be the only Tapout shirt to make this list. The company that is responsible for more ILS than Muscle Beach has produced some downright disgusting t-shirts. We’ve said it before: Tapout has become the new Vuarnet or No Fear.

Taking the cake though has to be Ryan Bader’s UFC 119 walkout. I didn’t think it was possible to dislike anything related to ”Citizenship in a Republic“. I stand corrected.

Ugliest Affliction Shirt: Chris Leben‘s UFC 116 Walkout

Speaking of companies you’ll be seeing more than once, here’s our first Affliction eyesore. The only redeeming quality of this shirt is that the edges are already frayed, meaning it will fall apart much sooner than a normal t-shirt. Then again, if you’re the type of person who wears shirts like this, you probably won’t think that’s such a good thing.

Ugliest “Nationality-Themed” Shirt: Cain Velasquez’ UFC 104 Walkout

Cain Velasquez is a proud Mexican-American with “Brown Pride” tattooed across his chest. I get how that means any shirt bearing his name is going to play off of his heritage. What I don’t get is why Dethrone wanted this shirt to look like the totally bitchin’ Myspace background of a fifteen year old from 2006.

Ugliest ”Patriotic” Shirt: Rich Franklin’s UFC 93 Walkout

Sorry Ace, but America’s colors are red, white and blue. And this shirt is hideous.

Ugliest Clusterfuck: Frank Mir’s UFC 107 Walkout

Put yourself in my position for a moment: I am expected to explain to someone with healthy eyesight- someone who is clearly capable of just looking at this mess- why this shirt is ugly. After two hours of trying to write something, I’ve decided that it’s probably for the best that I never look into a career as a guy who writes warning labels for coffee cups.

Ugliest Shirt to Never Be Worn: Aleksander Emelianenko’s “Affliction: Banned” Walkout

No matter what you are doing in life, be it getting tattoos or picking fights with hapless cans, you should never try to out-badass Aleksander Emelianenko. Any attempt you make at it, be it a walkout t-shirt or a fight game plan, is guaranteed to end in disaster. Especially when Affliction is involved.

Most Half-Assed Shirt: James Toney’s UFC 118 Walkout

Judging by his performance at UFC 118, James Toney spent about twenty minutes studying the ground game leading up to his bout with UFC Hall-of-Famer Randy Couture. Judging by the image above, that’s roughly 5x longer than Twistd Apparel spent designing his walkout shirt. Besides, if you’re going to make something half-assed, at least make it realistic.

Hit that “next page” link for that other Emelianenko, the craziest shirt you’ll see all day, and some lifetime achievement awards for walkout shirt ineptitude…

Exclusive: Bellator Heavyweight Champion Cole Konrad on his First Title Defense and Post-Lesnar Team DeathClutch

Friday night, Bellator Heavyweight Champion Cole Konrad kicked off an impressive weekend for heavyweight MMA with his first title defense against Eric Prindle at Bellator 70 in New Orleans, Louisiana. After the event, I managed to catch up with the champion in order to talk about his victory and the current state of Team DeathClutch. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my microphone with me (again), so at times the interview is hard to hear. I’ve taken the time to transcribe it for you, available after the jump.

Friday night, Bellator Heavyweight Champion Cole Konrad kicked off an impressive weekend for heavyweight MMA with his first title defense against Eric Prindle at Bellator 70 in New Orleans, Louisiana. After the event, I managed to catch up with the champion in order to talk about his victory and the current state of Team DeathClutch. Unfortunately, I didn’t have my microphone with me (again), so at times the interview is hard to hear. I’ve taken the time to transcribe it for you, available after the jump.

Cagepotato.com: Great win tonight. You defended your title by submitting your opponent within one minute of the first round. How satisfying is it to get such a quick victory?

Cole Konrad: It’s extremely satisfying. You envision fights in your mind and how you think they’re going to go – or how they could potentially go – and I think it went pretty much according to plan. A little bit different maybe than I had envisioned it, but everything’s alright.

CP: What do you mean by a little bit differently than you envisioned it?

CK: Well, I was anticipating taking a shot I thought he was going to come in to me harder and well, he didn’t, obviously. We kind of kept our distance.

I had a good, strong feeling he was going to throw an overhand with his left, and I was kind of waiting on that, and waiting for him to come in to me. When he did, I just, you know, tied up and worked for a trip off that shot. But part of that was how he came in. So that was the difference of what I had envisioned.

CP: Up until tonight, fans have been a little critical of your performances. How satisfying was it to hear such a loud ovation after your win?

CK: It was satisfying, obviously. I would say obviously in the past I haven’t finished a lot of fights, that I had gone to the judges. That’s not great from a fan’s perspective, and I am a fan also of MMA, so I understand the frustration. From that standpoint, it was gratifying obviously to get this submission, and in short order, too.

CP: We didn’t really get to see it tonight, but how far along would you say your standup game has come?

CK: *laughing* You’ll have to keep waiting and watching! I think it’s come quite a ways, but you never know until you actually put it together out there.

CP: How has the climate at Team DeathClutch changed ever since Brock Lesnar has retired from MMA competition?

CK: It hasn’t changed too much, to be honest. We’re all still pretty much together. Obviously, Brock was a big factor in Team DeathClutch, so a little bit has changed. But for the most part, we’re all still together, rockin’ and rollin’.

CP: Were you a little surprised to see Brock retire when he did, and were you a little surprised to see him go back to pro-wrestling?

CK: No and no, actually. And I have nothing to base that on, it’s just a personal opinion.

Brock is a great guy, and I don’t have too much to say about him besides that. He knows what he wants and he goes after it, and I respect that. He must have known that the time was right to walk away and move on, and if that’s what he thought, I respect it. I wasn’t totally shocked by it, and at the same time, the guy goes after what he wants.

CP: Given that it’s heavyweight week for the UFC, how do you see yourself stacking up against the heavyweight division as a whole?

CK: You never know. That’s the beauty of MMA, you never know. They have some great fighters over at the UFC and I would love to be able to defeat some of them.

CP: One last question before we leave: It keeps coming up about the partnership between Bellator and TNA Wrestling. Would you ever consider doing something like that?

CK: *laughing* Why, do they need a fat kid?

I don’t know. You know, never say never, but where I’m at right now, I don’t think so.

Previously: Exclusive: Bellator CEO Bjorn Rebney Talks Women’s MMA, Fighter Insurance, Impact Wrestling and More

@SethFalvo

UFC 141: To Evolve Brock Lesnar Must Leave Deathclutch

For a man who dislikes getting hit in the face, Brock Lesnar has made some interesting—and character building—vocational choices.  One wonders if he looks in the mirror and traces the line of the still fading scar running just below hi…

For a man who dislikes getting hit in the face, Brock Lesnar has made some interesting—and character building—vocational choices.  One wonders if he looks in the mirror and traces the line of the still fading scar running just below his left eye, a souvenir from his fight against Cain Velazquez, and thinks perhaps he is […]

UFC Betting

UFC 141: To Evolve Brock Lesnar Must Leave Deathclutch

Pat Barry Would Punch Michael Jackson, is Sick of You Implying he Threw the Fight Against Cro-Cop

Video Props: MMAWeekly via MiddleEasy
With his upcoming bout against Cheick Kongo taking place this Sunday at UFC on Versus 4, it seems kind of odd that we’re still talking to Pat Barry about his loss to Cro Cop. Despite losing the fight over a year…


Video Props: MMAWeekly via MiddleEasy

With his upcoming bout against Cheick Kongo taking place this Sunday at UFC on Versus 4, it seems kind of odd that we’re still talking to Pat Barry about his loss to Cro Cop. Despite losing the fight over a year ago, and since defeating Joey Beltran at UFC Fight for the Troops 2, Barry is still addressing the concerns that some have that he threw his fight against Cro Cop. Needless to say, Barry doesn’t exactly take kindly to such claims.

Pat Barry goes on to talk about a guy who actually whispered into Pat’s ear that he thought Pat Barry threw the fight against Cro Cop. I’m not sure if we should count that as bravery, stupidity or attempted suicide. He also talks about Cheick Kongo’s improved wrestling, some comments attributed to him before the fight and his time training with DeathClutch in preparation for this fight. Well worth a quick viewing, even if it’s just for the facial expressions that Pat Barry makes.