10 Times MMA Stars Went Crazy Overseas

Some major MMA stars went crazy overseas in the early days of the sport.

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MMA is a global sport, and as such stars often find themselves traveling overseas to all kinds of exotic and outlandish locations to train or fight.

As you’ll see in this article, that can often lead to some of the craziest, scariest and most bizarre experiences of their lives.

Eddie Alvarez Knocks Out Mafia Man In Russia

Back in 2007, ‘The Underground King,’ Eddie Alvarez was the welterweight champion for Bodog Fighting Championships and traveled to St. Petersburg, Russia, to defend his title against Nick Thompson.

Following the event, he attended an after-party on a yacht hosted by one of Bodog’s owners from Russia, where, according to fellow fighter Chael Sonnen who was also in attendance that night, a Russian gangster at the party punched one of the Bodog ring girls.

Outraged by what he’d just witnessed and not realizing who he was dealing with, Alvarez then stepped forward and knocked him out cold with one punch.

Sonnen says that portion of the story is 100% true, but admits that he doesn’t have concrete proof of what happened next, though the rumor was that Alvarez was then escorted from the yacht by Russian mobsters and taken out to the middle of nowhere, where a hole was dug and his life was threatened before they finally set him free.

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10 MMA Fighters Who Wasted Their Careers

These 10 fighters had the MMA world in the palm of their hands but wasted it away.

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What if the last day you have on earth, the person you became met the person you could have become?

It’s a heavy question, but if you are honest with yourself, it’s an excellent barometer to gauge how fulfilling and productive your life was, or could’ve been. One of the saddest things in life is seeing wasted talent, or worse yet, watching someone self-destruct right before your eyes.

This scenario seems to play itself out time and time again in sports and is an equal opportunity destroyer of lives. Take John Daly, Darryl Strawberry, and Ryan Leaf for instance. All three of these athletes wasted their careers away to varying degrees and never came close to reaching their perceived ceiling. Unfortunately, mixed martial arts (MMA) is no different when it comes to athletes wasting their careers away.

This year, the sport celebrated its silver anniversary. In that time the growing number of fighters who have squandered otherwise promising careers is staggering. We here at LowkickMMA compiled a list of the 10 fighters who wasted their careers away.

The list starts here, enjoy:

 

Jon Jones

We start the list off with none other than decorated-yet-troubled former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon “Bones” Jones.

Jones is still in the process of writing his story, but if history has shown us anything, it’s that athletes that continually mess up usually continue to self-destruct unless a comprehensive lifestyle intervention takes place.

“Bones” makes this list because he is perhaps the best and most recent example of an MMA fighter wasting their potential away. Once considered the unquestioned greatest of all time, Jones is, unfortunately, more likely the butt of a joke than in the running for the GOAT conversation nowadays.

Jones won the UFC light heavyweight championship on two occasions; he would also become the first fighter in company history to be stripped of the same title both times.

Couple that with “Bones” well-documented controversies that include a hit-and-run involving a pregnant woman, multiple failed drug tests, and a seemingly never-ending stream of generally head-scratching outside-the-cage trouble, and it’s no wonder Jones makes the list of fighters that wasted their careers.

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10 Fighters Whose UFC Careers Ended In Disgrace

When you reach MMA’s biggest stage, the last thing you want to do is burn your bridges by doing something stupid, but as this article will show, whether they are UFC newcomers or all-time legends, some fighters just can’t seem to resist the urge to hit the self destruct button. From moments of madness inside

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When you reach MMA’s biggest stage, the last thing you want to do is burn your bridges by doing something stupid, but as this article will show, whether they are UFC newcomers or all-time legends, some fighters just can’t seem to resist the urge to hit the self destruct button.

From moments of madness inside the Octagon to outrageous behavior outside of it, let’s take a closer look at 10 fighters who managed to tarnish their reputations and damage their UFC careers beyond repair, starting with two sworn enemies who were kicked out of the sport within weeks of each other before they had a chance to settle their differences in the cage.

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TUF’s 10-Year Anniversary: The Legacy of the Most Drawn-Out MMA Show In History

(Photo via Getty)

By Alex Giardini

On Jan. 17, 2005, Spike TV aired a new show titled The Ultimate Fighter, which featured 16 combat sports athletes living under one roof in Las Vegas, competing for a six-figure contract with the UFC. What we didn’t know, however, was this exhaustive program was going to last over 20 seasons, complete with the FOX treatment, and plenty of drunken debauchery in between.

Long story short, the Zuffa brass was in serious trouble since their big gamble to buy the struggling Ultimate Fighting Championship wasn’t paying off. Simply put, that Fertitta money was being blown fast, with no real profit or indication of improvement. Spike TV founder Albie Hecht wanted a program that brought in a lot of viewers from all over, presumably because there are only so many reruns of the hyper masculine shows a person could watch.


(Photo via Getty)

By Alex Giardini

On Jan. 17, 2005, Spike TV aired a new show titled The Ultimate Fighter, which featured 16 combat sports athletes living under one roof in Las Vegas, competing for a six-figure contract with the UFC. What we didn’t know, however, was this exhaustive program was going to last over 20 seasons, complete with the FOX treatment, and plenty of drunken debauchery in between.

Long story short, the Zuffa brass was in serious trouble since their big gamble to buy the struggling Ultimate Fighting Championship wasn’t paying off. Simply put, that Fertitta money was being blown fast, with no real profit or indication of improvement. Spike TV founder Albie Hecht wanted a program that brought in a lot of viewers from all over, presumably because there are only so many reruns of the hyper masculine shows a person could watch.

With one last ditch to bring this beautiful but often-problematic sport into the mainstream, both Fertitta brothers (Lorenzo and Frank III) were dealt an ace when Hecht flew over to Japan and insulted a gangster running K-1. It resulted in talks falling through with the officials running the kickboxing promotion, and TUF had a home. The show would air directly after WWE Raw (and they say MMA and pro wrestling are only distant cousins).

Anyhow, the show actually ended up being pretty damn good. Today marks the 10th anniversary of the very first episode, led by coaches Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture (who would fight in a rematch for the light heavyweight strap later on that year at UFC 52), Willa Ford, and 16 fighters that became major stars as the sport progressed (most of them, anyway).

The season finale pretty much saved the purchase, as Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar engaged in warfare for three rounds, in a bout widely perceived as the greatest fight of all-time (it got its fair share of competition over the years, for what it’s worth).

More importantly, people started to tune in by the hundred thousands, and the first-ever live MMA event on free television amassed approximately 1,900,000 viewers. The fight was so epic that Spike TV renewed the show for another season, and UFC President Dana White gave both men six-figure contracts for their efforts. Or, maybe he was onto something, seeing how judging would become atrocious in Nevada, and thought maybe Bonnar won (it’s not the boldest of claims if you rewatch the fight).

Sure, 2005 had a lot of big stars throughout the full year, including Liddell, Couture, Rich Franklin, Tito Ortiz, and Andrei Arlovski, but the sport was still pretty freaking niche for it to generate widespread appeal. To be honest, TUF really did save the UFC, and introduces many new fans to the sport known as “TUF Noobs.” If it weren’t for TUF, who knows … maybe Pride would still be around and putting on the best events fight fans would ever see.

As for the first episode titled “The Quest Begins,” this approach seemed refreshing. Later on, we also witnessed Dana White’s epic “Do You Want To Be A F*cking Fighter” rant, Chris Leben extremely drunk and pissing in people’s beds, Josh Koscheck and Bobby Southworth hosing “The Crippler” and calling him “a fatherless bastard,” Southworth killing himself cutting weight and almost getting killed by White when he mouthed off to him, a thief in the house, Bonnar and Diego Sanchez arguing over spilled bathwater, and some pretty good scraps.

Then, it all sort of went downhill from there.

Barring seasons two to four, which were all mildly entertaining, everything from season five onwards felt a little forced. We definitely appreciated the influx of lightweights that emerged from the fifth installment, yet did we really need a season six?

It all came full circle by season seven, and it was then made official that TUF was simply a reality show devoted to drunken mayhem and drama, just like the rest of them. Junie Browning cemented his status as the throne holder of TUF douchbaggery, starting fights with everyone and their mother. Season eight and nine were both snorefests, minus the fact that the Dan Henderson vs. Michael Bisping-led season was the United States vs. England. The show returned with a vengeance in season 10, due to the bitter quarrel between Quinton Jackson and Rashad Evans, and the presence of Internet sensation Kimbo Slice. The brawler, who was mocked by White and then chosen as a participant, was matched up against jiu-jitsu black belt Roy Nelson, which turned out to be his demise. Still, it seemed like the first few episodes were good, and it became boring towards the end.

Season 11 saw Tito Ortiz back out of another fight against “The Iceman,” who nearly destroyed his phone when he heard the news. Season 12 was about a male nurse that was hired by Georges St-Pierre to get into Koscheck’s head, and then came the “chicken salad out of chicken shit” quotes from Brock Lesnar the next year. By season 14, the show had seen better days, and if it weren’t for Diego Brandao’s lunacy and Bryan Caraway’s unwanted shaved head, we couldn’t have cared less that the program produced talents such as T.J. Dillashaw, Dennis Bermudez, and John Dodson.

TUF moved to FX a year later after the relationship between UFC and Spike TV turned sour, implementing a live format. It ran simultaneously with TUF: Brazil, and we’ve been depressed ever since. The show is so stale, they’ve ventured off to places like China and Latin America, turning it into a proving ground for fighters with a two-fight record. With that said, we even got seasons like TUF: Smashes (U.K. vs. Australia), TUF: Canada vs. Australia, and they’ve had multiple seasons in Brazil that only South Americans care about.

I guess that’s the point, since it’s not really designed for us to watch; yet, there’s a reason why good things must come to an end before the plot becomes lost. Can you imagine if Touched By An Angel was still running?

For the past few seasons, the brass teases how the show will be different, and how it’s going to blow you away, and so on. TUF 18 was the first co-ed season, and everyone tuned in because they thought they were getting Big Brother-style sex scenes. Instead, Jessamyn Duke vs. Raquel Pennington and Edmund Tarverdyan vs. Dennis Hallman was the best part of that garbage.

When White said TUF 19 was the worst season ever, you’d think he’d get a clue, however, they salvaged some interest with an all-womens TUF 20, with the inaugural women’s strawweight championship on the line. The problem is the promos were so sexist, and we got more shots of backsides than anything else. The rivalries were okay, however, nothing stood out to convince anyone to continue this putrid offering.

We’re now being told that TUF 21: ATT vs. The Blackzilians is going to be completely different, even though we’re going to ditch it midway into episode two. On the flipside, a string of TUF winners have gone on to claim gold in the Octagon, including Griffin, Evans, Matt Serra, and Carla Esparza, with many blooming prospects like Dodson, Kelvin Gastelum, and Tony Ferguson breaking out as fighters to watch.

On the contrary, some TUF winners aren’t even employed by the UFC anymore, including Jonathan Brookins and Colton Smith, and before his third UFC stint, Efrain Escudero was given the boot, too. With the influx of signees overpopulating the roster, does winning the reality show mean anything anymore? Or, is it about promoting bouts involving the coaches, more than anything?

So, all this to say TUF has been pretty central to the UFC’s growth. Nevertheless, it’s hard to believe MMA fans still watch the damn thing, considering how boring and drawn out it is. Yes, there have been hilarious moments and superb fights (like Matt Riddle vs. Tim Credeur on season seven, Damarques Johnson vs. Nick Osipczak on season 9, among others), but the volume of unworthy footage doesn’t add up in the end.

Poll: Who Is the Least Likable Contestant in ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ History? [UPDATED w/Results]

(Don’t worry, Julian, at least this moment was not forever immortalized by the power of the internet. That would be *super* embarrassing.) 

If BG’s recaps are any indication, this season’s The Ultimate Fighter appears to be void of most of the fabricated, frat boy drama that has plagued countless seasons before it, opting rather for a more straightforward, yet stylistic focus on the fights themselves. And while TUF has undoubtedly matured after some 17 seasons, that isn’t to say that the show has completely rid itself of the kind of unsightly characters reality television oft shines a light on. This season’s Julian Lane is none other than Robert “Bubba” McDaniel, a relentless a-hole who thus far has both bashed teammate Gilbert Smith for being mentally weak the day before he was scheduled to fight and unsuccessfully attempted to troll Kevin Casey into a fight using tactics usually saved for elementary school playgrounds (or the comments section of BloodyElbow).

So while a few of us were discussing McDaniel’s douchiness in the comments section of our latest recap, we (we being ReX) got to thinking: Who was the least likable fighter in TUF History?

After the jump lies a poll with the most obvious offenders (Browning, Lane, Koscheck the participant, Koscheck the coach, etc.) for you to choose from, along with an “Other” option in case you feeling like calling out some of the lesser-known but equally offensive jackwagons to enter the TUF household. I cannot stress enough that I have never entered the TUF household. I’ll announce the results at some point tomorrow, because I do what I want, when I want. OK, you can include me as an option for that statement alone.


(Don’t worry, Julian, at least this moment was not forever immortalized by the power of the internet. That would be *super* embarrassing.) 

If BG’s recaps are any indication, this season’s The Ultimate Fighter appears to be void of most of the fabricated, frat boy drama that has plagued countless seasons before it, opting rather for a more straightforward, yet stylistic focus on the fights themselves. And while TUF has undoubtedly matured after some 17 seasons, that isn’t to say that the show has completely rid itself of the kind of unsightly characters reality television oft shines a light on. This season’s Julian Lane is none other than Robert “Bubba” McDaniel, a relentless a-hole who thus far has both bashed teammate Gilbert Smith for being mentally weak the day before he was scheduled to fight and unsuccessfully attempted to troll Kevin Casey into a fight using tactics usually saved for elementary school playgrounds (or the comments section of BloodyElbow).

So while a few of us were discussing McDaniel’s douchiness in the comments section of our latest recap, we (we being ReX) got to thinking: Who was the least likable fighter in TUF History?

After the jump lies a poll with the most obvious offenders (Browning, Lane, Koscheck the participant, Koscheck the coach, etc.) for you to choose from, along with an “Other” option in case you feeling like calling out some of the lesser-known but equally offensive jackwagons to enter the TUF household. I cannot stress enough that I have never entered the TUF household. I’ll announce the results at some point tomorrow, because I do what I want, when I want. OK, you can include me as an option for that statement alone.

RESULTS

With 33.9% of the vote, TUF 8 alum and terrorizer of Taiwanese townspeople Junie Browning shall henceforth be known as the most reprehensible scoundrel in the long line of reprehensible scoundrels to have paraded through the halls of TUF manor.

In a distant second place, none other than TUF 16′s Julian Lane with 25% of the votes, which just edged out the combination of coach/participant Josh Koscheck (24.9%).

In the “Other” category, TUF 1s Bobby Southworth collected 14 of 95 votes, somewhat ironically edging out “fatherless bastard” (his words, not mine) Chris Leben, who took in 10 votes. And to the scholar who wrote-in TUF 7′s  Luke Zachrich for the sake of obscurity, congratulations. Game recognizes game.

Create your free online surveys with SurveyMonkey, the world’s leading questionnaire tool.

 –J. Jones

CagePotato Roundtable #16: What Was Your Most Memorable Run-In With an MMA Fighter?


(If you were a guest on that gay Indian party bus and want to share your story, please e-mail [email protected].)

Thanks to everyone who submitted stories for today’s crowd-sourced edition of the CagePotato Roundtable. We’ve selected 12 tales from the pile — ranging from drama to comedy to horror — and we’ll begin with a story that comes to us from an actual pro fighter, involving one of MMA’s greatest out-of-the-cage rivalries…

Sal Woods
A few years ago I fought on the Strikeforce: Lawler vs. Shields card. While at weigh-ins I was obviously star-struck from being at Al Hrabosky’s with a room full of legends and badasses. The only guy I had the balls to say what’s up to was Nick Diaz. He was completely cool and super polite, he said hi and introduced himself to the entire table (my cornermen, shaking each one’s hand). We were just shooting the shit about how it was my first time on a big card and that I was fighting T-Wood. I was thinking this dude is nothing like the interviews I have watched.

All of a sudden he looks over and sees Joe Riggs and almost flips shit, starts telling his corner guys “there’s that little bitch right there!” Looks over a crowd of people and called Riggs a punk bitch. Then Gil and someone else walked him away/cooled him down. Proved that if Nick doesn’t like you and fights you he may fight you again in the hospital and almost again at completely different fight’s weigh-in!

Noah “Jewjifshoe” Ferreira

You guys all remember Dan Barrera from TUF 6, right? Well I met him during a math class in the Fall of 2011 and it was one of the weirdest experiences I’ve ever had.


(If you were a guest on that gay Indian party bus and want to share your story, please e-mail [email protected].)

Thanks to everyone who submitted stories for today’s crowd-sourced edition of the CagePotato Roundtable. We’ve selected 12 tales from the pile — ranging from drama to comedy to horror — and we’ll begin with a story that comes to us from an actual pro fighter, involving one of MMA’s greatest out-of-the-cage rivalries…

Sal Woods
A few years ago I fought on the Strikeforce: Lawler vs. Shields card. While at weigh-ins I was obviously star-struck from being at Al Hrabosky’s with a room full of legends and badasses. The only guy I had the balls to say what’s up to was Nick Diaz. He was completely cool and super polite, he said hi and introduced himself to the entire table (my cornermen, shaking each one’s hand). We were just shooting the shit about how it was my first time on a big card and that I was fighting T-Wood. I was thinking this dude is nothing like the interviews I have watched.

All of a sudden he looks over and sees Joe Riggs and almost flips shit, starts telling his corner guys “there’s that little bitch right there!” Looks over a crowd of people and called Riggs a punk bitch. Then Gil and someone else walked him away/cooled him down. Proved that if Nick doesn’t like you and fights you he may fight you again in the hospital and almost again at completely different fight’s weigh-in!

Noah “Jewjifshoe” Ferreira

You guys all remember Dan Barrera from TUF 6, right? Well I met him during a math class in the Fall of 2011 and it was one of the weirdest experiences I’ve ever had.

There was a guy across the room in my math class who kept talking and interrupting the class, mumbling things about The Ultimate Fighter. I couldn’t help but think that I had seen him somewhere before. The guy got up and said something like, “Sorry to interrupt your class, I’m here for my cousin to get notes, his girl is pregnant. Thanks. Ultimate Fighter, UFC, peace.” Then he left and we thought it was over. But in the same way that an obsessive ex-boyfriend keeps popping up in closets and dressing rooms long after the breakup, Mr. Barrera was not willing to let this end. When we went into the computer lab to continue the class, there he was.

He was speaking with different people, who were mostly trying to ignore his ramblings. I, however, felt like a moth being drawn to his glowing beam of crazy. So I asked him what he was talking about and he pulled up a picture on one of the computers showing Dan Barrera weighing in for a fight. “Oh shit, you’re Dan Barrera. Yeah, you fought Ben Saunders.” To which he replied, ”Yeah and I beat him too, I put this hand through his face.”

Sure, I remember him getting a good shot in on Saunders, but Barrera would have us believe he easily won that fight. That is obviously not true, Saunders beat him…twice. Once during the show and once at the finale. Of course, when a mentally unstable, possibly cracked up pro fighter says something like that, I figured I should just let it slide. I find truth and reason don’t mean much to a deranged person.

Then he handed me a magazine article which featured him dressed as a cowboy, looking like he was ready to participate in a rodeo. As any normal person would do, Barrera asked me to read it aloud to the class. After graciously declining, he decided to read it instead, knowing the wisdom was too great NOT to share.

As he did so, I just had to wonder why this guy was crashing a college math class. Why is he showing pictures of himself on the Internet and reading aloud a magazine article featuring himself? I knew Dan was a little nutty from watching TUF, but squirrel shit has nothing on this guy.

Once the article was finished, it was time to leave us all with something really important to think about. Getting into preach mode, he actually pulled a Bible out of his pocket and said (to the best of my memory):

Do you see this? This is the word, it’s the word of our savior. How many letters does law have in it? Who knows that? How many letters does law have in it? Don’t be scared. *writes “law” on the white board* It has three letters in it. How many letters does God have? Don’t be scared, it has three letters. You see? God made the law and his word is law. Now how many lines does an ‘A’ have? It has 3 lines. What’s three times three?…

That’s about all I can remember before the teacher came in and asked him to leave. I hope Mr. Barrera was on some good coke or meth, because honestly, if he’s like that sober he is not of this world.

Anytime I feel as though I’m losing my grips on reality, I just remember this experience and feel as though everything will be ok. Perhaps that was the true wisdom of Mr. Barrera. Thank you sir, you have helped change one person’s life for the better.

Derek C.

My brother and I were in Vancouver for UFC 115. Being from Winnipeg, we checked into our hotel downtown. The lady who checked us in said her husband was in charge of the hotel where all the fighters were staying and tipped us off on its location. (Thanks check-in lady!).

As soon as we got to the hotel we spotted Chuck’s trainer John Hackleman so we knew we were in the right spot. Moments later we ran into the Iceman himself so we were pretty stoked already. Then we saw Jon Fitch standing by himself checking in. And we continued to let him stand by himself because it’s Jon Fitch so who fuckin’ cares?

Walking back outside we recognized a chubby Asian dude but couldn’t quite figure out who it was. That is until it dawned on us, he wasn’t Asian at all but Diego Sanchez. Being a big fan of his we asked if we could get a picture with him. If you look at the picture, it is literally three seconds after Diego whispered in my ear, “Yo, I’m in Canada, land
of the good shit. You got any chronic you can hook me up with?” Being from Canada of course we did.

But it was back at our hotel. He said come back and we’d blaze up in his hotel room before he had to make some club appearance. Getting baked with the Diego sounded rad to us so we made the short trek and back. When we got there though he said he had to get going. But we gave him a joint or two anyways seeing as he was all chubby and still depressed from the beatdown BJ gave him months earlier. Maybe we didn’t get high with the Nightmare, but we were happy to hook him up with the best shit in the world :)

FightChixJake

Fight Chix was started by Elisabeth and I back in 2006. I was doing design work for a company called STATS — we developed a statistical system like Fight Metric (before Fight Metric) and used it with the IFL. So I headed up that project and Elisabeth and I also used the networking as a spring board to launch Fight Chix.

Well it was May 19, 2007, and we were at the hotel bar in Hoffman Estates by the Sears Center. We were enjoying some drinks with Bas Rutten and Tiffany Fallon. Typically hanging out with Bas at a bar is an event unto itself, but this evening the focus was on a former champion who has recently lost his belt to Randy Couture. Elisabeth excused herself to use the ladies room and returned to the table PISSED. On her way back, Tim Sylvia was sitting with his feet up on a chair and blocked Elisabeth’s path back to our group. He was also with a group of fighters from the Miletich camp.

Tim looked up and said “So what is this Fight Chix thing” to which Elisabeth replied “It’s my clothing line. It’s for female fighters and fans of MMA.” Tim kinda laughed and responded with “Well that’s dumb, why would you start a clothing line for women, when its not a woman’s sport?” Several of Tim’s friends kinda laughed and Elisabeth stood her ground. “Really Tim? So there are no mothers, wives, sisters, or girlfriends that support you when you go into the cage? There aren’t fighters like Tara Larosa, Roxanne Modafferi or Julie Kedzie who train and compete just as hard? And if it wasn’t for women, you wouldn’t be here, now would you Tim?! Are we done here?!”

And Elisabeth walked back to our table as the Miletich camp cheered in a “you just got served” kinda way for Elisabeth. The result of this encounter was absolutely no bad blood for Tim Sylvia or anyone in his camp. It really lit a fire that still burns today, to be the best MMA Lifestyle brand out there for female fans and fighters. We know Tim isworking hard to get back in the UFC and we wish him well — and we thank him for his comment that was the gasoline on the fire of success.

Mike Osso

My friend’s wife works at NBC and became friends with Dana from seeing him in the building. He got her free tickets to UFC 128 in Newark since she was pregnant and her husband (my friend) are UFC enthusiasts. We didn’t know where we would be sitting until we got to the arena and picked up our tickets. Turns out they were great — 20 feet away from the cage, second row in the arena. The only better seats were the few rows of folding chairs set up on the floor. Our seats were directly behind who I now know was Tiki Ghosn. I have no direct pics of him from fear of him punching me in the face, but I do have pics from the night and other UFC fighters who came into our seating area because it was so close. The following story is 100% true and can be verified by the three other people with me.

So me, my friend, his wife, and her friend get to the Prudential Center in Newark, NJ, and pick up our reserved VIP tickets that Dana White was kind enough to set aside for us. We get there early, as people are starting to fill up the arena. We sit behind this bald man with a weird beard, all alone, who no one pays attention to. We all love the UFC and this was our first event, and were like little children on Christmas spitting out all our UFC knowledge and excitement for the night. The undercard fights are starting, and there she is, Arianny Celeste, holding the ring card 25 feet in front of me. Me and my friend go nuts, as I yell out, “OMG! It’s Arianny, she’s so fucking hot, she’s dated so many UFC fighters, what a slut.”

Then, the bald man with the weird beard turns around, looks at me, and says “You should watch what you say, that’s my girlfriend.” I just get mad that this guy says this to me, so I respond “Oh yea, and who the hell are you?”, not thinking that this is a UFC fighter, since I have been a fan for about five years and have never seen him. Tiki responds “How long have you been a fan of the UFC?” I say, “About five years, why?” He says, “Well then you wouldn’t know me” and turns around.

I am now pissed that he stops talking so I jump on my Blackberry and google “Arianny Celeste’s boyfriend,” and the first choice that comes up on Google is “Arianny dating ufc fighter Troy Burkham” [Ed. note: He means Josh Burkman] so I tap Tiki on the shoulder and say “Hey man, are you Troy Burkham?” This seemed to infuriate him, and he responds “No, I’m Tiki Ghosn.” I laugh, and say, oh ok sorry man then I Googled him and saw that he used to be a UFC fighter. I then proceeded to say, “Hey man, I’m sorry” again and he said “Yeah, yeah, no problem” in a pissed off tone.

Me and my group had an awkward silence for the next couple minutes as we did not want to anger an old UFC fighter, but by the time the next fight came on we were loud and crazy again. Nothing else was said the rest of the night, except every time a fighter that came into the crowd or that I saw would come into view I’d yell out “OMG it’s…….” just to let him know I was a UFC fan, and I did know almost all past and present relevant fighters. The real highlight of the trip was getting my Jon Jones Form shirt autographed by Rashad Evans before they were really beefing, I still have it hanging in my room. Hope you enjoyed my story about how I almost got into a fight with an ex UFC fighter for calling his girlfriend a slut lol.

David Nadeau
I got to roll with Shane Carwin while training BJJ in Boulder. I use the term “roll” loosely, of course. He passed my butterfly guard in a heartbeat, crushed me in side position, and laughed a little. I apologized for wasting his time.

[Ed. note: Short, sweet, and to the point. Cool story, bro.]

On the next page: A brutal cockblocking by Bas Rutten, an unexpected staredown with Chuck Liddell, and Viva Hate’s tale of black-on-black crime at the Boston Fan Expo.