It’s only fair that we should start this article with a warning that the 10 true-crime stories you are about to read contain truly disturbing, depraved, and graphic details of horrifying murders that have been committed by professional MMA fighters over the years, from unheralded journeymen on the regional circuit through to established stars who have fought for top-flight promotions like the UFC, Bellator and PRIDE.
As such, if you are squeamish or easily offended, then you may wish to skip this one and read one of our many other featured lists instead.
If not, proceed with caution and enjoy.
David Tyner
Former Titan FC fighter Tyner produced a solid 6-1 run in his first year as a professional MMA fighter in 2007, but only two years later in November of 2009, he was turning himself into police in connection with multiple homicides in Oklahoma.
The 28-year-old had reportedly been asked by Indian Brotherhood gang member Denny Phillips, to rob and kill an associate, Casey Mark Barrientos, who ran a drug and prostitution ring from his compound in Olkahoma.
On the night of the murders, Tyner dropped off two other armed men, Jonathan Allen Cochrane and Russell Lee Hogshooter, behind the property and then went inside via the front door, where he waited for Barrientos to come home.
The plan he claims was for the other two to come in via the back door and kill Barrientos when he arrived, and sometime later while Tyner was in the bathroom he did hear shots ring out from the living room.
However, when he approached, Tyner found Barrientos standing wielding a knife in the living room and so he proceeded to shoot him dead and then ruthlessly went on to kill two other two female witnesses who were also present, pregnant 22-year-old Millie Barerra and 25-year-old Jennifer Ermey.
Soon after, Tyner chased another man, Jose Fierro, outside, but he was able to flee the scene.
When he returned Tyner saw Cochrane and Hogshooter wielding bloody knives and discovered that 22-year-old Brooke Phillips, a pregnant prostitute who had once appeared on the reality TV show, ‘Cathouse,’ had been stabbed to death.
Tyner and Cochrane left the home soon afterward, while Hogshooter stayed behind to pour gasoline over the bodies and then set them alight.
Police eventually arrested all the perpetrators involved, and in May of 2012, Tyner pled guilty to six counts of murder (four adults and two fetuses) in exchange for life in prison with no option to appeal. Phillips and Hogshooter also received life sentences, while Cochrane is spending 25 years behind bars.
The UFC’s Octagon has always been a cruel and merciless mistress. If a fighter doesn’t have what it takes to compete in the sports ultimate proving ground then they are generally weeded out in short order, more often than not in violent, and occasionally downright humiliating fashion. In this article we’ll go on the hunt
The UFC’s Octagon has always been a cruel and merciless mistress.
If a fighter doesn’t have what it takes to compete in the sports ultimate proving ground then they are generally weeded out in short order, more often than not in violent, and occasionally downright humiliating fashion.
In this article we’ll go on the hunt for 12 of the most disastrous debuts in UFC history, from the earliest years of the sport right through the present day.
These were performances so woefully inept or downright devastating that either the fighter was immediately shown the exit door, or they themselves came to the conclusion that the fight game was not for them after all.
So, without further ado, let’s take a look at 12 ex-UFC fighters who are members of a small, exclusive group that no-one wants to be part of – the ‘one and done’ club.
After spending last week’s roundtable discussion paying tribute to the most foul people associated with our sport, this week we’ll be focusing on great comeuppances — cases when a fighter got too cocky and karma caught up with him mid-match. Some of our picks are knockouts, some are submissions, and all are extremely satisfying to relive. Read on for our picks, and please continue to send your ideas for future CagePotato Roundtable topics to[email protected].
It’s one of the most well-known (and feared) unwritten rules in baseball: You never jinx a no-no. When a pitcher has gone a few innings without giving up a hit, you shut the fuck up about it. Teammates aren’t supposed to acknowledge it in the dugout, broadcasters aren’t supposed to mention it on air. These days, you’re not even supposed to tweet about it. If you even so much as whisper the words “no hitter” into your sleeve from the bleachers, the baseball gods will smite you for your hubris and it’ll all come crashing down.
MMA offers all kinds of painful penalties for celebrating early, and you’d think that everyone would have learned the lesson by now. But every once in a while, some asshole comes along and claims that he’ll achieve some lofty feat way before he has any right to. Call it a jinx, call it karmic retribution, but those fighters tend to fall on their face, while the rest of us revel in their defeat. You shouldn’t have tempted fate, buddy. You should have stayed humble. You shouldn’t have jinxed the no-no.
If you’ve been following the UFC for a long time, you might remember a former lightweight champion by the name of Benson Henderson. (He was the guy who held the belt between Frankie Edgar and Anthony Pettis? Long, curly hair? He could do all things through Christ who strengthened him? Does any of that ring a bell?) Anyway, this Benson Henderson guy was known for edging out very close decision wins in title fights — the kind of fights that could have gone either way, but kept falling in his favor. He got a reputation as a point-fighter who never went in for the kill, who only took risks involving toothpicks.
After spending last week’s roundtable discussion paying tribute to the most foul people associated with our sport, this week we’ll be focusing on great comeuppances — cases when a fighter got too cocky and karma caught up with him mid-match. Some of our picks are knockouts, some are submissions, and all are extremely satisfying to relive. Read on for our picks, and please continue to send your ideas for future CagePotato Roundtable topics to[email protected].
It’s one of the most well-known (and feared) unwritten rules in baseball: You never jinx a no-no. When a pitcher has gone a few innings without giving up a hit, you shut the fuck up about it. Teammates aren’t supposed to acknowledge it in the dugout, broadcasters aren’t supposed to mention it on air. These days, you’re not even supposed to tweet about it. If you even so much as whisper the words “no hitter” into your sleeve from the bleachers, the baseball gods will smite you for your hubris and it’ll all come crashing down.
MMA offers all kinds of painful penalties for celebrating early, and you’d think that everyone would have learned the lesson by now. But every once in a while, some asshole comes along and claims that he’ll achieve some lofty feat way before he has any right to. Call it a jinx, call it karmic retribution, but those fighters tend to fall on their face, while the rest of us revel in their defeat. You shouldn’t have tempted fate, buddy. You should have stayed humble. You shouldn’t have jinxed the no-no.
If you’ve been following the UFC for a long time, you might remember a former lightweight champion by the name of Benson Henderson. (He was the guy who held the belt between Frankie Edgar and Anthony Pettis? Long, curly hair? He could do all things through Christ who strengthened him? Does any of that ring a bell?) Anyway, this Benson Henderson guy was known for edging out very close decision wins in title fights — the kind of fights that could have gone either way, but kept falling in his favor. He got a reputation as a point-fighter who never went in for the kill, who only took risks involving toothpicks.
Henderson put together three straight title defenses and was about to face his old WEC nemesis Anthony Pettis, when he decided to run his mouth off one day, claiming that he was going to break Anderson Silva’s record for consecutive title defenses sometime in the year 2016. Silva, of course, had put together 10 consecutive middleweight title defenses over the course of a 16-fight UFC win streak in 2006-2012. Henderson was saying that he would beat Pettis, then defend his belt seven more times in what is arguably the most talent-rich division in the UFC, using a fighting style that left every single outcome to the judges.
Why, oh why, couldn’t Henderson keep this prediction to himself? Didn’t he know what would happen? Couldn’t he see that he was already doomed?
Henderson walked out to the Octagon at UFC 164 wearing his gi, to remind everybody watching that he’s a BJJ black belt. Most likely, he had mentally prepared himself for another fast-paced five-rounder, in which he would slightly out-work Pettis in every round. Barring any last-round miracle kicks, he’d have this one in the bag.
Pettis, a BJJ blue belt better known for his flashy kicks, arm-barred him in the first round and took his title. Finally, we had somebody exciting in charge of the lightweight division. And Benson Henderson? Well, you don’t hear too much about him these days; he’s just another washed-up ex-champ who will probably die penniless, buried in a communal grave for paupers. And you have to wonder if Henderson will one day realize how terribly he screwed up. Looking past your opponent is bad enough. Looking three years past your opponent, at some hypothetical future in which you’re the greatest UFC champion in history…and then saying it out loud, in an interview? What did you think was going to happen, dipshit?
Honorable mention:Brandon Vera claims he’ll be the first UFC fighter to hold belts in two divisions simultaneously, wins no belts whatsoever.
There are any number of convenient knockouts or submissions in the annals of MMA history — someone says something disdainful or cocky, and then proceeds to eat crow by losing in some manner that parodies their previous braggadocio. It’s amusing, maybe even somewhat rewarding to see these unfold, but to be frank, there isn’t all that much to distinguish them. People talk trash in the fight game and act like assholes; invariably, these people end up looking like fools from time to time.
However, there is one particular instance that transcends this relatively mundane context. In 1994, Keith Hackney entered the Octagon against a then-unknown fighter by the name of Joe Son, a practitioner of the aptly named “Joe Son Do.” What no one was aware of at the time was that Joe Son had raped a woman in 1990 in one of the most heinous ways imaginable. Eventually, after his UFC career and his 15 minutes of fame as Austin Powers’ “Random Task” had expired, he was caught and convicted on related charges in 2011.
But the universe was evidently unwilling to wait quite that long to dole out some retribution. Whether through cosmic coincidence, divine intervention or simply a moment of frustrated inspiration, Keith Hackney, locked in a front headlock and unable to extricate himself, decided to test the limits of the pre-Zuffa UFC’s “anything goes” policy. Clenching his fist, he proceeded to deliver blow upon righteous blow to Son’s testicles. They didn’t quite end the fight, but allowed Hackney to escape the headlock and lock in a choke of his own to finish the fight. And while justice didn’t fully catch up to Joe Son for another 17 years, this brief taste of karmic vengeance is still the most deserved comeuppance — whether people knew it at the time or not — in MMA history.
(Props: Donald Miralle/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
MMA is a sport for beasts — both inside the cage and out — it’s a sport for lions and dinosaurs and hippos. If you think many of the very real storylines in MMA have a happy ending, youhaven’tbeenpayingattention. That’s why when something in MMA does work out the way we believe that it should — as if Karma were a real thing dispensing justice inside the cage — it’s memorable and epic; it’s burned into the sport’s history.
One such of these moments, an instance where a fighter was on the receiving end of karmic justice, was UFC 162’s title fight between Anderson Silva and Chris Weidman. Anderson Silva deserved to become an unconscious, goofy-looking husk, and here’s why.
Silva frequently talks about “hespect” and many of his fans claim that the record-setting former champ is the living embodiment of budo. This is wrong on about 1,000 levels. Old-school Pride Anderson Silva might have sported respect for everyone, but it’s difficult to make that claim with a straight face about Silva from 2008 until now.
Let’s start with the Patrick Cote fight. Fans paid money to watch Silva destroy a polite Canadian. The fight didn’t deliver. What was supposed to be a highlight reel trouncing was instead Silva dancing around like he was on the same drugs Eminem took recently, leading to, strangely enough, Cote injuring his knee and Silva winning. Maybe Silva had an off night?
If he didn’t do the same bullshit again versus Thales Leites, then perhaps we’d be willing to assume so. He refused to take Leites as a serious threat, and in doing so gave fans 25 minutes of awkward gesticulating and weird faces.
But yeah, Silva’s a respectful martial artist! I mean he BOWS TO PEOPLE so he can’t be a dick, right?
Wrong. People were sick of Silva after this fight. Thankfully for Silva though, people forgot all about his bad behavior after his feud with Chael Sonnen. Silva was a hero again — MMA’s Neo — and he was proving it by continuing to completely disregard his opponents by goofing off (only after the Sonnen feud Silva decided to finish his opponents once he was through embarrassing them).
Then came Chris Weidman.
Silva acted in the same bullshit “why are you in the same cage as me?” manner against Weidman, who Silva himself regarded as no more than a child. In the first round, Silva’s usual antics seemed like they might work. Save for a takedown, Weidman didn’t seem like much of a threat. Things changed very quickly in the second round. Silva was trying to re-enact his fight against Forrest Griffin when he got tagged. He pretended to be hurt and then Weidman dove in with a flurry. Silva tried to dodge, and failed. He paid for his superlative arrogance with his consciousness and his title. Silva deserved to be unconscious on the canvas with his eyes glazed over.
At UFC 162, Silva went into a professional mixed martial arts bout against a trained fighter and acted like he was fighting a bum — the same thing he had done against Maia and Leites and Cote. Only this time, Silva got his comeuppance. Weidman humiliated Silva like Silva humiliated so many others.
“Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein.” – Proverbs 26:27
Forget “Greatest Comeuppance,” this might be my favorite fight of all time. All the elements are there: a hopelessly outmatched unknown taking on a heavy favorite and winning; a mixed rules bout; bad blood; dirty, underhanded tactics; and a bet that ends in Frank Trigg wearing a pink wig and lipstick (although I have been told that the fallout from Trigg’s embarrassing defeat somewhat outweighed the hilarity of it).
The story goes like this: After DREAM champion and noted asshat Shinya Aoki was unable to secure a rematch with Gilbert Melendez, he agreed to take onYuichiro Nagashima in a special rules exhibition bout at Dynamite!! 2010. Why? Because the Japanese love freak show fights more than Udon and torture porn. The first round was contested as a three minute kickboxing match (with the second being a standard MMA rules round), over the course of which Aoki shamelessly flopped, clinched and broke every rule imaginable in order to run out the clock. “Tobikan Judan” was repeatedly warned by the referee for his acts of cowardice but received no penalty. Why? Because Japanese MMA promotions are shady as shit and, let’s be honest, everyone from the referee to the DREAM/K-1 execs probably had money riding on Aoki.
Now, you might be asking yourself, “If Aoki was seemingly unable to throw a punch without pissing his multi-colored spanx, why would he agree to a mixed rules bout, or become a mixed martial artist in the first place for that matter?” I cannot answer for sure, but I do know that Aoki enjoys dressing up like the world’s ugliest schoolgirl in his spare time.
Aaanyway, Aoki’s brief foray into the Miami Heat School of Acting was met with such ire that the crowd in attendance showered their own fighter with boos. It was the first time in MMA history that a Japanese crowd reacted to a fight with anything other than courteous applause (which is a compliment, right?). While Aoki should have done the honorable thing and committed seppuku in between rounds (I seriously cannot stop, you guys), he decided to answer the second bell. In retrospect, I applaud Aoki for this critical error in judgment.
Before Michael Schiavello could even start yammering about shrimps on barbies or strangers named Irene that he watches sleep at night, Aoki closed the distance and immediately shot in on a telegraphed takedown because what did he have to lose at this point? The answer was his consciousness, which he was righteously separated from via flying knee less than five seconds into his safe and secure MMA rules round.
I rarely wish physical harm on a fighter not named Josh Koscheck, but watching Nagashima deliver those hammerfists on an already unconscious Aoki was my definitive Emperor Palpatine moment. What can I say? There’s just something about seeing karma work its magic in such an immediate, transparent fashion that brings out my vengeful side.
Every once in a while something in real life imitates art and the masses stand up to cheer for the demise of the evil villain. Nothing fit that bill more than when Dan Henderson drove Michael Bisping’s face into the canvas like he was pounding home a railroad spike. It has already been discussed that Bisping is a pretty despicable person with the ridiculous rants and vitriol he spews. He truly is one of the few legitimate villains that populate MMA, but he was at the peak of his douchbaggery when he coached TUF season 9 opposite Hendo.
It was Team U.S. vs Team U.K. and the patriotism lead Bisping to be at the top of his craft as a dickhead. His high-pitched rants permeated throughout each episode while he would consistently try to talk trash to Henderson. Hendo would routinely just give Bisping a little smirk and shake his head as he let the Brit dig his own grave. Because Team U.K. was vastly superior to Team U.S. there was a lot of gloating — and even more unbridled dipshittery — coming from Bisping’s piehole.
It culminated at UFC 100 where Bisping cut some pretty absurd promos attacking his foe’s age and diminishing skills. Hendo remained calm and reserved. The first round was fairly uneventful with both competitors feeling each other out. But in the second round, IT happened. Much like Daniel-son’s Crane Kick or Mav’s “hit the brakes and he’ll fly right by” moves, Hendo landed a right hook for the good guys that starched Bisping. Then our protagonist leapt in the air to deliver one of the most violent finishing punches in UFC history (and one of our favorite pictures of all time). We all stood and cheered as justice was served.
Anthony Gannon
Think back to the awesome Pulp Fiction scene when Vincent and Jules were talking about how Antoine gave Marcellus Wallace’s wife a foot massage and got his ass thrown off a balcony, through a glass motha-fuckin’ house in response. Jules took the position that foot massages are no big deal and that Marcellus overreacted. Vincent, despite being a violent, anti-social dope-fiend, offered an amazingly coherent analysis of the situation, telling Jules, “I’m sure Antoine didn’t expect Marcellus to react the way he did, but he had to expect a reaction.”
That’s the whole game when it comes to action/reaction. A response is inevitable. The severity of the response is dependent on the individual doling it out, and includes a multitude of factors: basic retribution, hierarchical status, public humiliation aspect, psychopathic tendencies of the reactor, etc., etc.
When you kiss another man, in public, even in jest, a forceful response is to be expected. For one, he must reclaim his “manhood,” which by societal masculinity standards had been taken from him. It must be reclaimed at any cost. Then there’s the public humiliation factor. A violent response is the only reaction a reasonable person should expect. For the offender, this should be known. But that isn’t always the case.
This is exactly what happened on New Year’s Eve 2005 during a K-1 Dynamite event in Japan. Heath Herring was to face Yoshihiro Nakao. As the fighters made their way to the center of the ring for the staredown, Nakao apparently couldn’t resist Herring’s come-hither eyes and decided to give him a kiss. On the mouth. In front of 53,000 people. Well, evidently Herring was none too pleased with that act, so he delivered a short uppercut that dropped Nakao like a morning deuce.
Some may feel that Herring’s response was unnecessarily harsh. But keep in mind, an uninvited kiss is a sexual crime in most areas. Not sure how they roll in Japan, but in Texas, where Heath is from, that’s an offense punishable by lynching when it comes from another man. Herring can even be heard repeating, “I’m not gay” in the video, as if in his mind the knockout alone wasn’t enough to reaffirm his heterosexuality. To many men, this is some serious shit.
Vincent’s sage commentary holds true in this instance as well. Nakao probably didn’t expect Herring to react the way he did, but he had to expect a reaction. It’s arguable what that expectation consisted of. Maybe he was just trying to mess with Herring’s head. Maybe he was just looking for a hot date for after the fight. Or maybe he just wanted to provide a memorable moment in an otherwise forgettable fighting career. Who the hell knows what he was thinking?
The bottom line is that if you plant an unwanted smooch on another man you’re in the wrong, unless he’s like totally dreamy, like Zach Morris or A.C. Slater — Zach if you prefer preppy blondes, Slater if dimples and jheri curl is your thing. Regardless of your perverted sexual desires though, comeuppance is the only logical recourse. I know it. You know it. And Nakao should have better fuckin’ known better.
Both fighters were determined to have committed fouls and the fight was ruled a no-contest. Well, the fouls and the fact that minutes after Herring slugged Nakao he was still tits up on the mat, so the fight could not go on. See what happens when you kiss a 6’4″, 250-pound Texan? Comeuppance, baby. Heed this lesson should you ever feel the need to do some stupid shit like this.
The last thing that I want to do is be too hard on Dave Herman. He seems like a decent enough human being (dude knits scarves in his spare time, so how terrible can be really be?), and let’s be honest, there’s a very real chance that he was high as balls when he spit out the comments that earned him a spot on this list. But leaving Dave Herman out of a discussion about great comeuppances in the history of sports would be like leaving Brian Scalabrine out of a discussion about the greatest bench-warmers to ever live — it’s a move that would strip away whatever’s left of my credibility. And as a self-proclaimed hack journalist, I would certainly never want that.
Dave Herman — despite riding back-to-back knockout losses — was feeling pretty damn confident before his fight against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 153, and decided to talk a little smack. Okay, no harm, no foul just yet; like George said, that’s pretty common in MMA. Had Herman simply left his comments at “I’m going to beat Nogueira because he’s the world’s oldest thirty-something taking a fight on short notice despite getting his shoulder mangled by Frank Mir in his last outing,” there’s a chance that the gods of MMA may have blessed him with a victory. But instead of just targeting Big Nog, Herman decided that he’d rather piss on an entire system of martial arts, claiming that jiu-jitsu is useless and that it simply does not work against him. I’d write that his comments were Toney-esque, except that James Toney is genuinely ignorant about MMA, while Dave Herman had over twenty victories in the sport to his name before spewing his nonsense. The MMA gods were not amused.
Needless to say, UFC 153 saw Dave Herman get his ass kicked for two rounds before Big Nog — despite suffering from a broken rib — armbarred the man who claimed that jiu-jitsu didn’t work on him. But his comeuppance didn’t end there. Herman was given one final completely undeserved shot in the UFC against jiu-jitsu black belt Gabriel Gonzaga back at UFC 162, and was knocked out in less time than it took me to type this sentence. Herman immediately received his walking papers. While I have no idea what he’s been up to ever since [Author Note: Okay, maybe *one* idea], I do know that he has wisely decided to keep his opinions on other combat sports to himself.
Have an honorable mention that you’d like to nominate? Let us know in the comments section.
In celebration of the possibility that deplorable scumbag Joe Son may be getting the death penalty, we’ve decided to update our blatantly outdated “Most Despicable People in MMA” list in the form of our newest roundtable discussion. Read on for our picks, and please continue to send your ideas for future Roundtable topics to [email protected].
MMA can be a sordid, awful business — a wretched hive of scum and villainy, as Obi-Wan Kenobi would say. Some characters are worse than others though. The classless fighters and “let me bang bro” douchebags that litter the landscape are only small time. The real people you need to watch out for are the promoters, for they’re the ones pulling the strings, greasing the wheels, and killing the dogs.
Yes, killing dogs. You read that right. And that’s the main reason why I have to throw Bjorn Rebney’s name into the “who is the most despicable person in MMA” discussion: He was allegedly involved in the brutal murder of a rival’s dog.
It’s quite a tale so here’s the abridged version: Back in Rebney’s boxing promotion days, he was partners with a man named Seth Ersoff. Eventually, they found themselves at odds and a lawsuit developed. As Ringtalk noted, the situation escalated and somehow Ersoff’s dog wound up with a metal spike through its head.
But there’s no definitive proof of Rebney murdering this poor, innocent dog, so I can’t judge him solely on that action — something that he might not have been responsible for. But there are other bad actions that make him a perfect candidate for CagePotato’s “Worst Human Being in MMA” award…
In celebration of the possibility that deplorable scumbag Joe Son may be getting the death penalty, we’ve decided to update our blatantly outdated “Most Despicable People in MMA” list in the form of our newest roundtable discussion. Read on for our picks, and please continue to send your ideas for future Roundtable topics to [email protected].
MMA can be a sordid, awful business — a wretched hive of scum and villainy, as Obi-Wan Kenobi would say. Some characters are worse than others though. The classless fighters and “let me bang bro” douchebags that litter the landscape are only small time. The real people you need to watch out for are the promoters, for they’re the ones pulling the strings, greasing the wheels, and killing the dogs.
Yes, killing dogs. You read that right. And that’s the main reason why I have to throw Bjorn Rebney’s name into the “who is the most despicable person in MMA” discussion: He was allegedly involved in the brutal murder of a rival’s dog.
It’s quite a tale so here’s the abridged version: Back in Rebney’s boxing promotion days, he was partners with a man named Seth Ersoff. Eventually, they found themselves at odds and a lawsuit developed. As Ringtalk noted, the situation escalated and somehow Ersoff’s dog wound up with a metal spike through its head.
But there’s no definitive proof of Rebney murdering this poor, innocent dog, so I can’t judge him solely on that action — something that he might not have been responsible for. But there are other bad actions that make him a perfect candidate for CagePotato’s “Worst Human Being in MMA” award.
First, he sued Sugar Ray Leonard’s company, Sugar Ray Leonard Boxing, into oblivion in 2004. Like all legal struggles, this one was kind of messy and each side claimed they had the right of it. Leonard said that Rebney was “a cancer” and that the company could’ve blossomed but Rebney ruined it. Rebney asserted that it was Leonard’s fault. Rebney said that Leonard turning his back on the promotion bearing his name to sign a deal with NBC’s The Contender is what made the company come crashing down.
Second, Rebney seems to love the questionable oddities of the Bellator roster, the ones that lack moral turpitude. The most egregious example is War Machine. Remember the “rape tweet” debacle? Remember Bjorn Rebney’s pathetic, flaccid statement about it? Oh, and did you see Rebney’s reaction to War Machine’s tweet about how glad he was to pass by a cop’s funeral the other day? No? Well that’s because he didn’t respond to it all. Apparently, Rebney is cool with it.
Then, of course, there’s the whole Eddie Alvarez thing. Personally, I don’t demonize Rebney for this since it was just a business move. Why would he let one of his only known, talented fighters slip away to a competitor?
Even without the Eddie Alvarez lawsuit, that’s still some pretty strong evidence for Bjorn being a real d-list: He allegedly murdered a dog, he’s got a history of shady litigation, he doesn’t care that there’s a weird, brash criminal in his employment making his company look bad, and he can be a bit of an asshole sometimes.
Anthony Gannon
Word association is a fun and educational game that can be used to deepen the bonds of family and friendships — well, unless you drunkenly blurt out “My filthy whore of a wife” when the word ‘skank’ is in play. In that case it could create quite a tense situation. For the most part though, it’s a constructive activity that unites, not divides. And because the possibilities are endless, it can be applied to any genre and is great fun for all age groups.
In MMA, for instance, if we said “unevolved cranium,” you might think of Tito Ortiz. If we said “self-righteous Bible thumper,” you might choose Matt Hughes. You get the point.
Now, who immediately comes to mind when we say “festering dickbag?”
If you said Michael Bisping then you’ve been paying attention and win a prize. Well okay, no you don’t actually win a prize, but dammit you do merit a prize. So the next time you’re at the boardwalk arcade and you spend $300 collecting those stupid little prize tickets and all you can get with them is either a back scratcher or a Velcro wallet, just think of it as a gift from your good pals here at CP. We care.
So, why is Bisping a dick? Oh you jest. Everyone from the no-nonsense Dan Henderson, to the batshit crazy Jason Miller, to the old man Jorge Rivera has put Bisping on blast as a total dick. Hell, Rivera even made a YouTube video about it. Guys Bisping hasn’t even fought, such as Hector Lombard, have described Bisping as a dick after “The Count” attacked his height. Little did Bisping realize at the time though that he was about to be served with a vicious comeback. Lombard described an encounter where he shook Bisping’s “little girl hands,” which everyone knows is just an indirect way of implying that a guy has a crayon dick. Game. Set. Match.
Bisping deserves every bit of hate he receives. The man is simply incapable of talking smack like a regular fighter. He even took aim at the 125 pounders for having the temerity to respond to his initial attacks — and that’s really the story of Bisping. He loves to dish it out but he can’t take it. Plus, he’s arrogant and hypocritical about his dickishness. Before his loss to Vitor Belfort, Bisping became enraged when Vitor called him a “hooligan” in a press conference, and used that as a justification to take the customary shit-talking down a few notches — as if Bisping could even come close to taking the moral high-ground when it comes to bad-mouthing an opponent.
But what really set him apart from the crowd was UFC 127. Calling Jorge Rivera a “faggot mother fucker” was the least messed up thing he did that weekend. There was the blatantly intentional knee to a downed Rivera’s grill, spitting at Rivera’s corner, then getting in his defeated foe’s face and demanding an apology for making him act like a such a gargantuan dick. Granted, Jorge instigated the situation with his YouTube videos mocking Bisping. And a response was certainly in order. But the knee, the spitting, I mean shit, who does that?
You see, there is a huge divide between a garden variety asshole and being a dick. Being a dick is a natural state and requires intrinsic features that not everyone possesses. You just have to have a way about you; a smugness; an aura of douchiness that’s difficult to explain but impossible to miss, that makes likeability a virtual impossibility. An asshole has to put forth some effort. For a dick, it just comes naturally.
Bisping came up in an era when TUF winners were coddled with main card billing and hand-fed opponents to build them up as contenders. Yeah, he’s a very good fighter — 14-5 in the UFC — but he’s fallen against every top tier opponent they’ve put him against. In fact, the only Top 10 fighter Bisping has beaten is Brian Stann, and Stann’s placement on that list was largely due to a victory over the supremely overrated Jorge Santiago. Yet still, Bisping has this dickish sense of entitlement about where he actually stands in the division, often saying he’s paid his dues and deserves a title shot. Forget that he loses to every great fighter he faces. That’s an inconvenient fact, and those are easily brushed aside by dicks the world over.
Lately ”The Count” has been employing a less pugnacious strategy. He’s kind of like a psychotic Eddie Haskell – saying the right things in front of the right company, but you just know that innate dickishness is lurking very close to the surface, dying to get out. My guess is someone got in his ear after the Rivera incident and basically told him that it’s good to be kind of a dick. Hell, Bisping is one of highest paid guys in the UFC because of it. But being such a humungous, ooze festering dick may not be the best way to proceed.
Luckily we have this to watch over and over and over again to make it all okay. Thank you, Dan Henderson, for providing us with this beautiful highlight, especially the totally unnecessary diving forearm smash. Because hey, one dick move deserves another.
Really, you guys? You think Baby Bjorn or Count Bisping are the most despicable people in MMA because they what, intentionally destroy the occasional fighter’s career or say some nasty things about flyweights?
In 2010, Jarrod Wyatt got high on mushroom tea, cut out his friend’s heart and tongue and peeled the skin off his face. Police described the scene as “Like Lost Highway but with significantly less eroticism.” Wyatt had just one amateur fight to his credit, but that didn’t stop every newspaper, online publication, radio station, television station, train station and Brownsville Station song from referring to him as “an MMA fighter.” Therefore, he is one of us. The living embodiment of Stephen Crane’s “In the Desert” is one of us. And he makes Joe Son look like a pussy.
In the desert
I saw a creature, naked, bestial,
Who, squatting upon the ground,
Held his heart in his hands,
And ate of it.
I said, “Is it good, friend?”
“It is bitter—bitter,” he answered;
“But I like it
“Because it is bitter,
“And because it is my heart.”
Among MMA stars, Rampage’s profound level of self-delusion is only matched by Tito Ortiz and Nick Diaz. And while those guys have done plentyto embarrassthemselves andthe sport, Quinton Jackson has always come across as a broader threat to humanity, because he has a history of being actively hostile to those around him. His reaction to seeing a tiger in captivity is to hump it, for God’s sake, egged on by the ever-present giggles of his sidekick, Tiki.
I have a separate theory on Rampage’s unearned “funny guy” persona. At some point early in his career, terrified Japanese people and terrified white people began laughing nervously at everything Jackson said or did, in order to avoid a potential raping. Emboldened by the laughter, he became convinced that he’s a comic genius. (Mike Tyson’s post-boxing career has followed the same arc, by the way.) Still, that doesn’t explain how in the fuck Rampage ever thought he had musical talent.
I am breaking a pseudo-CagePotato ban right now, but this is NOT a troll piece by any means. This is the elephant in the room that nobody wanted to mention, and because a wise man insinuated that I probably have “nothing to lose and no reputation to worry about,” I will be the one jumping on this grenade. So allow me to just come right out and say it: Fallon Fox belongs on the list of despicable people in MMA.
This is neither a case of gender equality nor equal opportunity, and it hardly has anything at all to do with the fact that Fox is a transgender fighter competing in women’s MMA. It also has nothing to do with my personal beliefs concerning her punching other women for a living even though she still has both X&Y chromosomes. The reality is that Fox came out publicly on March 5, 2013 just prior to some confusion about her licensing between the California State Athletic Commission and the Florida Athletic Commission.
Did she come out publicly on her own accord? Maybe.
Was her hand forced because she lied/incorrectly claimed on her Florida MMA licensure that she was already licensed in California and the information was going to become public due to the licensing issues? Possibly.
Did she already (T)KO two opponents who had no knowledge that she was born as Boyd Burton? Absolutley, and that is the part that is despicable.
Although she has been licensed in Florida since her revelation — and she claims to be in compliance with the International Olympic Committee’s rules on postoperative transsexuals — it doesn’t change the fact that two competitors had no idea that she walked around as a man for 31 years prior to her medical procedures. Fox beat both Alisha Helsper via TKO (injury) and Ericka Newsome via KO (knee) when neither had any inclination of Fox’s past. Sure, Hesper and Newsome may have still fought Fox had they known all the facts, but it is appalling that they were never given a chance to weigh all the variables and make that decision themselves.
After The Queen of Swords made her medical history public, her next opponent, Peggy “The Daywalker” Morgan, promptly backed out of their upcoming bout — making it clear that she was under the impression that Fox had a physical advantage. In a previous CP post, Morgan is quoted in a statement from Relentless Sports Marketing saying:
Until I am presented with conclusive evidence that a fight with Fallon would, in fact, be fair, I will not be entering the cage with her.
Morgan was replaced by willing participant Allana Jones. Jones lost to Fox via third round submission, but sprinkled into that bout were several Koscheck-esque eye pokes by Fallon as well as a perceived cheap shot by Fox during a “mutual” glove tap. Several weeks after Fox defeated Jones, Invicta FC strawweight Bec Hyatt came forward with an interesting story about Fox doing a decent Nick Diaz impression at the hotel some of the fighters were staying at prior to the Invicta FC 5 event.
Though these last few details are trivial in comparison to Fox’s lack of full disclosure during the beginning of her MMA career, I believe a picture has already begun to paint itself and it isn’t pretty. Albeit I have never “wrapped her in my arms,” Fox seems to have earned her spot on this list even if there are those that turn a blind eye to her prior indiscretions and simply want to champion her efforts as progress. That is pretty despicable, too.
I don’t know why I’m even bothering to contribute at this point. For one, I’m pretty sure that everyone stopped reading after Nate picked Fallon Fox and ran straight for the comments section. I could write pretty much anything here, throw in a semi-related GIF (as I often do), and no one would call me on it. And even if anyone actually is still reading this, as far as I’m concerned, the “Who is the most despicable person in MMA?” mystery was already solved months ago by none other than…Nate Diaz?
I mean, just look at that tweet up there. What sort of douchebag justifies battery as “the consequence for acting like a dude?” If you answered “that rare breed of douchebag who elbows a woman in the back of the head at a UFC weigh in,” then go ahead and pat yourself on the back, because you figured out exactly where I was going with that one.
Granted, there’s no concrete evidence that he intentionally elbowed Cat Zingano in the back of the head before the TUF 17 Finale, but Caraway’s complete lack of an apology — or even an explanation of what actually happened — paints a pretty ugly picture: We have a guy who elbowed a woman in the back of the head who openly admits that he thinks it’s okay to hit a woman who “acts like a dude.” No wonder there are whispers that he might be abusive towards Miesha Tate (who, let’s be real here, is way too hot to be stuck with him).
Things have been pretty quiet on the Joe Son front since then. But now, TMZ is passing along word that Son is finally being charged with the murder of Graham, two years after the fact:
The guy who played shoe-throwing bad guy Random Task in “Austin Powers” has been charged with murder in the death of his prison cellmate, TMZ has learned … and prosecutors could pursue the death penalty.
The guy in the cross hairs is Joe Son, who was serving a life sentence in California’s Wasco State Prison for torturing a woman when he allegedly killed his 50-year-old cellmate in 2011.
Law enforcement sources tell TMZ that Son — a former MMA fighter — killed Graham with a combination of kicks and punches. We’re told the brutality of the murder will be a factor when prosecutors decide if they should pursue the death penalty.
Things have been pretty quiet on the Joe Son front since then. But now, TMZ is passing along word that Son is finally being charged with the murder of Graham, two years after the fact:
The guy who played shoe-throwing bad guy Random Task in “Austin Powers” has been charged with murder in the death of his prison cellmate, TMZ has learned … and prosecutors could pursue the death penalty.
The guy in the cross hairs is Joe Son, who was serving a life sentence in California’s Wasco State Prison for torturing a woman when he allegedly killed his 50-year-old cellmate in 2011.
Law enforcement sources tell TMZ that Son — a former MMA fighter — killed Graham with a combination of kicks and punches. We’re told the brutality of the murder will be a factor when prosecutors decide if they should pursue the death penalty.
We’ll keep you updated when we learn more about Son’s ongoing murder case. Though if it were up to us, this turd would have been fried a long time ago.
(‘Here Comes the Boom’ trailer, via FilmsActuTrailers. It’s basically like Warrior, but with barf.)
Kevin James has been one of the UFC’s most visible celebrity fans, and he clearly called in a few favors for his upcoming MMA comedy, Here Comes the Boom. The movie centers on a 40-something science teacher who turns to cage-fighting to raise money for his school, and features our hero Bas Rutten in a supporting role, as well as cameos from Jason Miller, Krzysztof Soszynski, Joe Rogan, and Bruce Buffer. With Boom slated to hit theaters on October 12th, we decided to round up a bunch of our favorite MMA fighter movie cameos. And as you’ll see, they’re usually not hired for their acting ability…
You know, it’s nice to see women entering the world of underground illegal fighting rings. Before she was Mallory Kane, Gina Carano got her feet wet in the movie business as a badass female street-fighter. Later, she asks Michael Jai White to call her, maybe.
(‘Here Comes the Boom’ trailer, via FilmsActuTrailers. It’s basically like Warrior, but with barf.)
Kevin James has been one of the UFC’s most visible celebrity fans, and he clearly called in a few favors for his upcoming MMA comedy, Here Comes the Boom. The movie centers on a 40-something science teacher who turns to cage-fighting to raise money for his school, and features our hero Bas Rutten in a supporting role, as well as cameos from Jason Miller, Krzysztof Soszynski, Joe Rogan, and Bruce Buffer. With Boom slated to hit theaters on October 12th, we decided to round up a bunch of our favorite MMA fighter movie cameos. And as you’ll see, they’re usually not hired for their acting ability…
You know, it’s nice to see women entering the world of underground illegal fighting rings. Before she was Mallory Kane, Gina Carano got her feet wet in the movie business as a badass female street-fighter. Later, she asks Michael Jai White to call her, maybe.
At the time, the idea of Rob Schneider beating Bob Sapp in a fight was utterly laughable — and not in the way that Schneider may have intended. But these days? Yeah, I’d put my cash on Rob. After Rob establishes himself as a prison badass (!?), Randy Couture throws in his two cents in a discussion about prison rape, while Don Frye is just there hanging out, enjoying the nice weather.
Rampage was a shoe-in for this role, considering all of his past experience fucking with strangers for no reason. But going for that rear-naked choke was probably a bad idea. Come on bro, stick to your bread-and-butter.
Movie:Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008) Fighter:Teila Tuli (credited as Taylor Wily)
Method-actor Kevin Ferguson plays a prison-fighter who tells his opponent — and I quote — ”I’mma smush yo shit in.” Do you get the feeling that he was being typecast?
