Jose Canseco suffered a humiliating loss at the hands of Billy Football at Rough N’ Rowdy 13. The former Major League Baseball player was in the main event against the Barstool Sports intern. At the start of the fight, both men exchange short punches. The fight momentarily went to the clinch position before Football began […]
Jose Canseco suffered a humiliating loss at the hands of Billy Football at Rough N’ Rowdy 13.
The former Major League Baseball player was in the main event against the Barstool Sports intern.
At the start of the fight, both men exchange short punches. The fight momentarily went to the clinch position before Football began letting his hands go once again. Nothing of note appeared to land but Canseco fell to the canvas and was unable to beat the referee’s count.
As Canseco is on the floor, he can be seen signalling to the referee that he’s having an issue with his shoulder. The 56-year-old later revealed he had suffered a shoulder injury a few months ago but believed he would still be able to compete.
Dave Portnoy who promoted the event was unhappy with the former MLB star who he accused of taking a dive.
“Jose 100% took a dive,” Portnoy wrote on social media. “We paid half up front and he got double if he won. We thought that would ensure he’d fight. We were wrong.”
Barstool’s gambling site went on to void all bets placed on Canseco. Anyone who bet on Football to win still go their payout.
We have already voided all bets on Jose Canceso at RnR 13. All wagers on Billy Football will be graded a win.
Many sports stars and athletes have tried their hands at mixed martial arts with varying degrees of success. For every Brock Lesnar, there’s 15 other crossover athletes who did not have such a smooth transition into the world’s most violent and dangerous sport. We here at LowKick MMA have compiled a solid list of 10 crossover […]
Many sports stars and athletes have tried their hands at mixed martial arts with varying degrees of success.
For every Brock Lesnar, there’s 15 other crossover athletes who did not have such a smooth transition into the world’s most violent and dangerous sport.
We here at LowKick MMA have compiled a solid list of 10 crossover sports stars who just couldn’t make it in mixed martial arts.
10. Jose Canseco
Jose Canseco had a long and storied career in baseball before trying his hand at mixed martial arts. The Cuban-American was a six time all-star and won two World Series championships with the Oakland Athletics in 1989 and New York Yankees in 2000 before a steroid scandal in 2005 tarnished his reputation as a professional athlete.
Four years after the steroid scandal, Canseco attempted a career in MMA. The former baseball star took on Korean giant Choi Hong-man at DREAM 9 back in 2009. It was the perfect freak-show fight for its’ Japanese audience, which was hosting DREAM’s Hulk Grand Prix.
Canseco, while a sturdy 6-foot-4 and 240 pounds, was dwarfed by Choi, who weighed in at 320 pounds while standing at a massive 7-foot-2. Canseco tried to stay light on his feet, at times running from Choi to reset at the center of the ring, but the big man eventually caught up to him, forcing Canseco to tap to strikes at just 1:17 minutes into the first round.
“That’s a big man,” Canseco said of Choi at the time. “I ran into one of his left jabs and that almost knocked me out. You have no idea how scary it was facing a man that big.”
Canseco would never fight in mixed martial arts ever again, and if his performance against Choi is any indication, he probably never will again. However, he did participate in a celebrity boxing match with former child star Danny Bonaduce in a match that went to a draw.
But, with 462 home runs to his name and 17 seasons in the MLB, Canseco will be remembered as a baseball player rather than a fighter.
Say what you want about former American League MVP and six-time MLB All-Star Jose Canseco, but the man believes in himself.
With news that former WWE megastar CM Punk is joining the UFC to kick off his mixed martial arts career, Canseco took to Twitter…
Say what you want about former American League MVP and six-time MLB All-Star Jose Canseco, but the man believes in himself.
With news that former WWE megastar CM Punk is joining the UFC to kick off his mixed martial arts career, Canseco took to Twitter to offer a challenge:
I can beat the crap out of @cmpunk. I am ready @ufc
It should be noted that CM Punk walks around at 215 pounds. Even though he’s looking to fight at around 185 pounds, Punk is no small man. He’s also made millions of dollars by taking pain in the pro wrestling ring, and he is trained in kempo and Brazilian jiu-jitsu.
We’ve also seen Canseco in the ring. In 2009, he got destroyed by 7’2″ kickboxer Choi Hong-man.
Here’s video, in case you were curious:
So, yeah, good luck beating “the crap out of” CM Punk, Jose. We’d all like to see it.
There’s something to be said about a drug addict who chooses to make money by exploiting his struggles with addiction, all while enabling the addictions of other people. I’m not sure if there are proper words for it, but utterly tragic, pathetic and thoroughly reprehensible are probably good places to start. Case in point: Jose Canseco, who has been dangerously addicted to anabolic steroids in the past (and possibly still is), now dedicates his time to encouraging both current and potential steroid users through a series of videos on Steroid.com. If you’re surprised by any of this, I envy your ignorance.
Oh, and he makes his glorious man boobies dance. Did I mention that part yet? Because that happens.
Back to business though. This week, Canseco touches on the topic of which steroids are “the most awesome steroids,” which obviously are the ones that make your tits bounce, n00b. Naturally, Canseco addresses former teammates who decided not to use steroids in the unfortunately typical words of an addict who refuses to take responsibility for his own actions:
As a baseball player, if you didn’t take steroids you were just a pussy. You were just not part of the team at that time. You weren’t really trying to win. You weren’t doing everything possible to become the best baseball player out there and help your team win. It was like a sacrifice in a way, you really had to do everything possible to help your team win.
There’s something to be said about a drug addict who chooses to make money by exploiting his struggles with addiction, all while enabling the addictions of other people. I’m not sure if there are proper words for it, but utterly tragic, pathetic and thoroughly reprehensible are probably good places to start. Case in point: Jose Canseco, who has been dangerously addicted to anabolic steroids in the past (and possibly still is), now dedicates his time to encouraging both current and potential steroid users through a series of videos on Steroid.com. If you’re surprised by any of this, I envy your ignorance.
Oh, and he makes his glorious man boobies dance. Did I mention that part yet? Because that happens.
Back to business though. This week, Canseco touches on the topic of which steroids are “the most awesome steroids,” which obviously are the ones that make your tits bounce, n00b. Naturally, Canseco addresses former teammates who decided not to use steroids in the unfortunately typical words of an addict who refuses to take responsibility for his own actions:
As a baseball player, if you didn’t take steroids you were just a pussy. You were just not part of the team at that time. You weren’t really trying to win. You weren’t doing everything possible to become the best baseball player out there and help your team win. It was like a sacrifice in a way, you really had to do everything possible to help your team win.
I’ll leave that one for the comments section to tear to shreds. What’s arguably the most interesting quote comes at around the seven minute mark, where Jose Canseco confronts a fan who says that baseball “was a pure sport” until players like Jose came along:
Let me tell you something, you fucking hypocritical fans: You loved seeing home runs fly five/six hundred feet. You loved it when Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa went on that home run barrage and they both broke sixty [home runs in one season]. You paid a lot of money in parking and concessions, in the tickets to get into that ballpark, to be entertained and we entertained you, so don’t be such a hypocrite.
Before we go any further, you’re right: It’s almost exactly what Ken Shamrock said when he blamed us for his steroid usage. It’s also incredibly weak to blame other people for your own actions. That being said, he sort of has a point – even if he’s the last person on the planet who should be making it.
As fans, we demand a lot from our athletes. We demand quick knockouts, we demand brutal slams and submissions and we demand impeccable cardio from all of our fighters. A guy who doesn’t finish fights is worthless to most fans (show of hands, how many Jon Fitch and Jacob Volkmann fans do we have here?), yet alone a fighter who consistently gasses out early. Essentially, we end up demanding the performances that very few people can naturally provide on a consistent basis from all of our professional fighters.
Yet we then act surprised when one of our favorite fighters fails a drug test, even though we’re the ones placing demands on them that very few people can meet without resorting to drugs. We’re the first people to crucify a fighter who dares to take drugs so that we’ll continue to buy tickets and pay-per-views. As much as I hate to admit it, Canseco sort of has a point when he calls us hypocrites: We watch sports to be entertained. We’re entertained by the first round knockouts. Do we still have the right to complain about a quick knockout if we later find out that one of the fighters was on steroids?
To reiterate, Canseco’s point is pretty much invalid when you consider that he’s a recovering (maybe?) steroid addict who is blaming other people for his addiction. Not to even mention the mental gymnastics that must take place in Canseco’s head to say ”if you don’t take steroids, you’re a pussy who won’t do everything for the team” in the same video where he says that the fans are to blame for the steroid problem in professional sports, all while he is telling people what steroids are best for a baseball player to take.
As fans, are we at least partially to blame for the athletes who turn to steroids? Probably. But that doesn’t make guys like Jose Canseco any less accountable for their own actions. Or their impressive, dancing knockers.
For nearly four years, the Japanese MMA promotion DREAM did its best to carry the mantle of PRIDE, presenting the same mix of top international talent and freak-show comic relief, all inside of a traditional ring, rather than a filthy American cage. But we were hit with some sad news this weekend as multiple sources reported that DREAM has ceased day-to-day operations, and will no longer be producing events. So as we like to do when great MMA traditions die, let’s take a look back at some of the fights that made this promotion so unique, so entertaining, and so balls-out insane…
Though Kazushi Sakuraba’s fame was partly based on his willingness to absorb damage from larger fighters, the level of savagery that Melvin Manhoef inflicted on him during their meeting at the Yokohama Arena probably should have convinced Saku to walk away from the sport. The moment when Manhoef drags Saku away from the ropes by his leg so he can dive in to continue the assault (see the 2:43 mark above) remains one of DREAM’s most indelible and brutal moments.
#7: Shinya Aoki vs. dumb-ass gaijin DREAM.7, 3/8/09
Another tradition that DREAM inherited from PRIDE? Absurd mismatches. At the time of this fight, Aoki was widely considered to be a top-3 lightweight, while Gardner was an obscure 13-7 journeyman who was coming off a loss to Brian Cobb. Aoki’s domination on the mat was no surprise, but the fight became legendary for how it ended. Stuck with Aoki on his back, Gardner took advantage of a brief pause in the action — and the near-silence in the Saitama Super Arena — to wave to the crowd and shout “Hello Japan!” Aoki immediately wrapped up Gardner’s neck and choked him out, causing the crowd to break out in laughter and Bas Rutten to cry “Oh my God it is so dumb! So dumb! Why?!” Some things just can’t be explained, Bas.
(“You’ll never get me Lucky Charms!”)
For nearly four years, the Japanese MMA promotion DREAM did its best to carry the mantle of PRIDE, presenting the same mix of top international talent and freak-show comic relief, all inside of a traditional ring, rather than a filthy American cage. But we were hit with some sad news this weekend as multiple sources reported that DREAM has ceased day-to-day operations, and will no longer be producing events. So as we like to do when great MMA traditions die, let’s take a look back at some of the fights that made this promotion so unique, so entertaining, and so balls-out insane…
Though Kazushi Sakuraba‘s fame was partly based on his willingness to absorb damage from larger fighters, the level of savagery that Melvin Manhoef inflicted on him during their meeting at the Yokohama Arena probably should have convinced Saku to walk away from the sport. The moment when Manhoef drags Saku away from the ropes by his leg so he can dive in to continue the assault (see the 2:43 mark above) remains one of DREAM’s most indelible and brutal moments.
#7: Shinya Aoki vs. dumb-ass gaijin DREAM.7, 3/8/09
Another tradition that DREAM inherited from PRIDE? Absurd mismatches. At the time of this fight, Aoki was widely considered to be a top-3 lightweight, while Gardner was an obscure 13-7 journeyman who was coming off a loss to Brian Cobb. Aoki’s domination on the mat was no surprise, but the fight became legendary for how it ended. Stuck with Aoki on his back, Gardner took advantage of a brief pause in the action — and the near-silence in the Saitama Super Arena — to wave to the crowd and shout “Hello Japan!” Aoki immediately wrapped up Gardner’s neck and choked him out, causing the crowd to break out in laughter and Bas Rutten to cry “Oh my God it is so dumb! So dumb! Why?!” Some things just can’t be explained, Bas.
#6: Marius Zaromskis scores two head-kick KO’s in the same night DREAM.10, 7/20/09
“The Whitemare” had already been drawing hype in Europe as a human highlight-reel when he entered the DREAM Welterweight Grand Prix in 2009, but it was his performance in that tournament which launched him as a worldwide sensation. Between his Street Fighter cosplay and in-ring acrobatics, it was clear we were dealing with a special individual. In the final two rounds of the GP, he met Hayato Sakurai and Jason High on the same night, and knocked them both dead in the first round, one with his left leg, and one with his right. Zaromskis took home the DREAM welterweight belt and did it to another poor bastard three months later.
#5: Jose Canseco is not “Super Hulk” material DREAM.9, 5/26/09
DREAM’s Super Hulk Tournament was a bizarre convergence of veteran freaks, imposing big-men, and an off-his-rocker baseball player who was only there to make guys like Bob Sapp and Hong Man Choi look legitimate by comparison. The opening round featured Canseco vs. Choi, which has to be the most inexplicable pairing in MMA history. Canseco actually lands first with a big overhand right followed by a body kick, but eventually he remembers that he’s just there to collect a paycheck. Canseco grabs his knee at the 1:12 mark to signify that the dive is coming, then falls down after throwing one more kick and gets pounded on for a TKO loss. After the fight, Nick Diaz did his best to shore up the holes in Canseco’s game, but Jose has yet to take the MMA world by storm.
#4: Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Zelg Galesic — back from the dead, once again DREAM.12, 10/25/09
On paper, it’s another dramatic example of Sakuraba’s unbreakable spirit, his resilience, his heart. Much like his infamous 2006 fight against Kestutis Smirnovas, Sakuraba survived a terrifying beating — with Galesic smashing him in the head with blows that would have removed most fighters from consciousness — and went on to win by kneebar. Following this victory, Sakuraba went on a four-fight losing streak, including two losses by arm-triangle choke and a TKO loss to Marius Zaromskis that cost him his ear. But the Galesic fight was Sakuraba’s final triumph…if you really want to call it that.
#3: Gegard Mousasi submits a striker and knocks out a grappler DREAM.6, 9/23/08
Just like Zaromskis, Gegard Mousasi put his name on the map with two first-round stoppages on the same night in a DREAM tournament. His moment came during the final night of their Middleweight Grand Prix in 2008, where he first faced Melvin Manhoef, who was coming off of his previously-mentioned destruction of Sakuraba. Manhoef’s intimidation factor was at an all-time high, but Mousasi out-grappled the Dutch dynamo and secured a triangle choke submission in just 88 seconds. Next, Mousasi faced BJJ stud Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza, who was closing in on a top-ten ranking at middleweight. True to form, Souza put the Armenian Assassin on his back and tried to turn it into a grappling match. Mousasi defended the ground-attacks, kicked Jacare off, then landed a knockout upkick when Jacare tried to dive in with a punch — a wild stoppage, which showcased Mousasi’s versatility and unshakable coolness under pressure.
#2: Shinya Aoki breaks an arm, acts like a dick about it Dynamite!! 2009, 12/31/09
Technically, the 2009 New Year’s Eve show was a co-promotion between DREAM and Sengoku — with a handful of K-1 matches thrown in on the undercard — and featured nine different DREAM vs. Sengoku bouts. For DREAM lightweight champion Shinya Aoki, there was clearly more at stake than just bragging rights. Stepping into the ring with Sengoku champ Mizuto Hirota, the Tobikan Judan wanted to exterminate with extreme prejudice. It took just over a minute for Aoki to prove that Hirota wasn’t on his level. Shattering Hirota’s arm with a hammer-lock was the exclamation point, and sticking his middle finger in Hirota’s face and then at the crowd was the unnecessary bcc to your entire Gmail address book. Aoki’s mounted gogoplata win over Katsuhiko Nagata the previous year seemed downright merciful by comparison.
In May 2008, Eddie Alvarez fought a 15-minute war against Joachim Hansen that had many observers calling it a strong front-runner for Fight of the Year. Two months later, Alvarez topped it. The wild pace, the heart shown by both fighters, the shifts in momentum, and the astounding final sequence (skip to the video’s 7:20 mark) made this match, in my opinion, the single greatest fight in the promotion’s history, and one of the purest examples of the sport that you’ll ever see.
Jose Canseco likes to run his mouth on Twitter about anything and everything he possibly can, but he may have backed himself into a corner challenging Shaquille O’Neal to a mixed martial arts fight. Shaq finally decided to call Canseco out for run…
Jose Canseco likes to run his mouth on Twitter about anything and everything he possibly can, but he may have backed himself into a corner challenging Shaquille O’Neal to a mixed martial arts fight.
Shaq finally decided to call Canseco out for running his mouth about how much he wants to fight the former NBA superstar.
“I challenged him a long time ago,” said O’Neal. “If he wants it done, he knows where to find me. He can be high off whatever, and I’ll be high off Frosted Flakes.”
Since the challenge has been accepted, all that we need is for Canseco to stay true to his word and sign a contract.
What we wanted to do is breakdown the battle of these two former superstars. Here is our unofficial tale of the tape for a potential Shaq vs. Jose MMA fight.
Size
O’Neal: 7’1″, 325 pounds
Canseco: 6’1″, 250 pounds*
Analysis: This one is a no-contest. O’Neal is going to overpower Canseco in every conceivable way. He if a full foot taller, will have a huge reach advantage and will have more power in everything he does.
Advantage: O’Neal
Style
O’Neal: Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
Canseco: Boxing
Analysis: Part of the problem with Canseco’s challenge for a mixed martial arts fight is that he doesn’t use all of the elements at his disposal. He is no joke, with a black belt in karate and Taekwando, but he wants to box before trying anything else.
O’Neal, on the other hand, has spent time training at Jonathan Burke’s Gracie Gymnasium. He understands the art of MMA. He would shoot in on Canseco right out of the gate, take him down, work a ground and pound before locking in a triangle choke.
Advantage: O’Neal
Fight History
O’Neal: None
Canseco: 0-1
Despite O’Neal’s training, he has yet to step inside the cage to take out his frustrations on someone. He was preoccupied with other things, like that pesky NBA career or trying to sell the sequel to Kazaam, but he is ready to go now.
Canseco has had fights, both professional and exhibitions, in his career. The problem is, he doesn’t actually win the matches. He did have one victory against Todd Poulton in the Celebrity Boxing Federation, but other than that he has come up short.
Still, you have to give Canseco the advantage in experience here because he has been in the ring and knows what to expect.
Advantage: Canseco
Final Prediction
Canseco has backed himself into a corner asking for this fight. He is not a well-rounded mixed martial artist even though he has two black belts. He does have power to land a knockout shot, but the fact that he would have to reach his arm up a lot to land a shot on the chin is a major disadvantage.
O’Neal has the size and weight advantage. He is probably faster than Canseco, which says more about Canseco than O’Neal. Even if he can’t finish the fight, he would just take Canseco down and hold him there for three rounds.
Say what you want about former American League MVP and six-time MLB All-Star 
