(That’s her on the right. Glad I could clear that up.)
Meet longtime King of the Cage ring girl Nikita Esco, a half Chinese, half French model and international gogo dancer who blah blah blah hnnnnngg. Named one of The 25 Hottest Import Models on Instagram by Complex magazine last year, Nikita is the daughter of a famous Taiwanese actress, singer, dancer and model. Her favorite MMA fighters are Georges St. Pierre and Sean Strickland, and she feels that her “killer legs” are her best feature, but we’ll let you decide.
Check out a gallery of our favorite Nikita Esco photos after the jump, and make sure to follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
Meet longtime King of the Cage ring girl Nikita Esco, a half Chinese, half French model and international gogo dancer who blah blah blah hnnnnngg. Named one of The 25 Hottest Import Models on Instagram by Complex magazine last year, Nikita is the daughter of a famous Taiwanese actress, singer, dancer and model. Her favorite MMA fighters are Georges St. Pierre and Sean Strickland, and she feels that her “killer legs” are her best feature, but we’ll let you decide.
Check out a gallery of our favorite Nikita Esco photos above, and make sure to follow her on Twitter and Instagram.
Bonus video: Get familiar with Nikita via a brief introductory reel taken from a Youtube-based reality show she appeared on, Roll Models.
(“You won’t see fighters this scared anywhere else!!”)
In the beginning, MMA events had catchy titles like “Revenge of the Warriors” and “Collision Course” to make them seem even more dramatic than they already were*. Eventually, all the good ideas ran out, and you started seeing crap like “Slammer in the Hammer” and “Helter Smelter” on the local circuit.
But while the UFC eventually wised up and stopped giving its events random, stupid names**, King of the Cage has kept the lunkheaded tradition alive. As proof, here are 22 of the dumbest KOTC event names we could find on the Internet. (Not pictured: Buckeye Nuts, Nuclear Explosion, Knockout Nightmare. Actual event names. Seriously.)
* The trend was officially started in 1993 with Pancrase: Yes, We Are Hybrid Wrestlers 1-4. I guess the promotion was tired of curious locals asking them, “Say, are you guys hybrid wrestlers or something?”
** The final UFC event to carry a name was UFC 125: Resolution, on January 1st, 2011, but by that point, event names had almost completely fallen out of fashion in the UFC. There were only five UFC events that carried names in 2009-2010, including UFC 99: The Comeback and UFC 112: Invincible.
(Because there’s nothing that MMA fans love more than a good split-decision.)
(“You won’t see fighters this scared anywhere else!!”)
In the beginning, MMA events had catchy titles like “Revenge of the Warriors” and “Collision Course” to make them seem even more dramatic than they already were*. Eventually, all the good ideas ran out, and you started seeing crap like “Slammer in the Hammer” and “Helter Smelter” on the local circuit.
But while the UFC eventually wised up and stopped giving its events random, stupid names**, King of the Cage has kept the lunkheaded tradition alive. As proof, here are 22 of the dumbest KOTC event names we could find on the Internet. (Not pictured: Buckeye Nuts, Nuclear Explosion, Knockout Nightmare. Actual event names. Seriously.)
* The trend was officially started in 1993 with Pancrase: Yes, We Are Hybrid Wrestlers 1-4. I guess the promotion was tired of curious locals asking them, “Say, are you guys hybrid wrestlers or something?”
** The final UFC event to carry a name was UFC 125: Resolution, on January 1st, 2011, but by that point, event names had almost completely fallen out of fashion in the UFC. There were only five UFC events that carried names in 2009-2010, including UFC 99: The Comeback and UFC 112: Invincible.
(Because there’s nothing that MMA fans love more than a good split-decision.)
(Moral Victory: Not like a *real* victory, but at least you did your best.)
(Anybody who’s ever put chili in the microwave for too long can relate to this one.)
Former King of the Cage multi-division champion Tony “Kryptonite” Lopez picked up his first win in his past five contests at a KOTC event yesterday, submitting Andenilson Clementino (yes, that’s his real name) with a rear-naked choke. And that is where the good news ends.
You see, it turns out that Clementino was “mad-dogging” Lopez’s wife backstage before their fight, and believe it or not, Lopez didn’t take too kindly to it. So after securing a rear-naked choke midway through the second round, Lopez decided to teach Clementino a lesson in respect the Babalu Sobral way, by refusing to release the choke even after his opponent had tapped and referee Mike Beltran intervened. Even worse, when he finally decided to let go of the choke, Lopez proceeded to finish things off with a completely unnecessary hammerfist to his downed opponent before walking away.
Not since Mike Kyle vs. Brian Olsen have we seen such a blatant disregard for both the unified rules of MMA and the safety of a fellow fighter, but don’t worry, because Lopez had his reasons, you guys. Or so he tells MMA Prime’s Aaron Tru in a post-fight video which we’ve thrown after the jump.
(Gifs courtesy of @GrabakaHitman.)
File this one under your all-time scumbag moves.
Former King of the Cage multi-division champion Tony “Kryptonite” Lopez picked up his first win in his past five contests at a KOTC event yesterday, submitting Andenilson Clementino (yes, that’s his real name) with a rear-naked choke. And that is where the good news ends.
You see, it turns out that Clementino was “mad-dogging” Lopez’s wife backstage before their fight, and believe it or not, Lopez didn’t take too kindly to it. So after securing a rear-naked choke midway through the second round, Lopez decided to teach Clementino a lesson in respect the Babalu Sobral way, by refusing to release the choke even after his opponent had tapped and referee Mike Beltran intervened. Even worse, when he finally decided to let go of the choke, Lopez proceeded to finish things off with a completely unnecessary hammerfist to his downed opponent before walking away.
Not since Mike Kyle vs. Brian Olsen have we seen such a blatant disregard for both the unified rules of MMA and the safety of a fellow fighter, but don’t worry, because Lopez had his reasons, you guys. Or so he tells MMA Prime’s Aaron Tru in a post-fight video which we’ve thrown after the jump.
“It’s a violent sport and I’m here to show the violent part of it.”
That’s all we’re willing to quote from what may be the most ridiculous defense for a cheap shot in combat sports history.
As Tru mentioned, Lopez has already been indefinitely suspended by the California State Athletic Commission and is likely to receive several hefty fines for his reprehensible act in the near future. But perhaps the craziest thing to come out of this story was that everyone else involved in the fight, from the ringside announcers to the referee, all but refused to acknowledge what had just happened in the moments afterward. Twitter user Fight_Ghost was liveblogging the event and described the bewildering scene:
It’s safe to say that the book should be thrown at Lopez for his intentional and straight evil act of retribution. Thankfully, word has it that CSAC Executive Director Andy Foster was actually at the event when this disgraceful behavior was carried out, so expect Lopez to potentially receive a lifetime ban from fighting in the state of California. That still seems like it would be letting him off easy.
We will update you on the severity of his punishment when details are made available.
Before Tank Abbott re-enters the UFC and takes the heavyweight strap back from these pussy-ass point-fighters, his latest comeback will begin with a tune-up fight against guyliner-clad palooka Ruben “Warpath” Villareal, who has lost eight of his last ten fights. The match will go down April 13th at King of the Cage: Fighting Legends, at Gold Country Casino in Oroville, California.
According to a KOTC press release published last week, Tank Abbott is “the world’s most famous cage fighter” (!!!), and his fight against Warpath will be for the King of the Cage Superfight title, whatever the hell that means. And of course, Abbott’s second-career as a novelist also gets a plug:
“[Abbott] recently took a few years off to write a 300,000 word trilogy about the origins of cage fighting entitled “Befor There Were Rules” with the first novel, “Bar Brawler”, now available for purchase as a paperback or digital download from Amazon.com.”
I think it’s really cool of KOTC to keep the misspelling of “Befor,” so as not to embarrass or confuse Tank. Anyway, there’s a little video profile on Tank after the jump hyping the 4/13 fight. Check it out if you want, but just keep in mind that his fascinating toupee is still in hiding.
Before Tank Abbott re-enters the UFC and takes the heavyweight strap back from these pussy-ass point-fighters, his latest comeback will begin with a tune-up fight against guyliner-clad palooka Ruben “Warpath” Villareal, who has lost eight of his last ten fights. The match will go down April 13th at King of the Cage: Fighting Legends, at Gold Country Casino in Oroville, California.
According to a KOTC press release published last week, Tank Abbott is “the world’s most famous cage fighter” (!!!), and his fight against Warpath will be for the King of the Cage Superfight title, whatever the hell that means. And of course, Abbott’s second-career as a novelist also gets a plug:
“[Abbott] recently took a few years off to write a 300,000 word trilogy about the origins of cage fighting entitled “Befor There Were Rules” with the first novel, “Bar Brawler”, now available for purchase as a paperback or digital download from Amazon.com.”
I think it’s really cool of KOTC to keep the misspelling of “Befor,” so as not to embarrass or confuse Tank. Anyway, there’s a little video profile on Tank after the jump hyping the 4/13 fight. Check it out if you want, but just keep in mind that his fascinating toupee is still in hiding.
Continuing the trend of mind boggling losses to the MMA world, multiple reports have confirmed that veteran King of the Cage announcer and radio personality Christopher “Big Poppa” Schnake passed away Monday, just days after announcing for King of the Cage: Kingpin on Saturday night. The news was broken by Schnake’s close friend and business partner “Victory Jay”.
Reports say that “Big Poppa” pulled over at a rest stop on his drive home and passed away in his car. According to Jay, Schnake had mentioned that he needed to “get his diabetes under control” in a phone conversation shortly after collapsing mid show at “Kingpin”, but that his death was shocking nonetheless.
Continuing the trend of mind boggling losses to the MMA world, multiple reports have confirmed that veteran King of the Cage announcer and radio personality Christopher “Big Poppa” Schnake passed away Monday, just days after announcing for King of the Cage: Kingpin on Saturday night. The news was broken by Schnake’s close friend and business partner “Victory Jay”.
Reports say that “Big Poppa” pulled over at a rest stop on his drive home and passed away in his car. According to Jay, Schnake had mentioned that he needed to “get his diabetes under control” in a phone conversation shortly after collapsing mid show at “Kingpin”, but that his death was shocking nonetheless.
Besides being the energetic voice behind the King of the Cage promotion, Schnake was also an entrepreneur, who along with Jay started Cagetix, an online Ticketmaster-type business that more efficiently allowed fans of local and upstart MMA shows access to tickets. Cagetix even went as far as to provide a portion of the ticket sales to struggling fighters in return for generating traffic for the site. Our thoughts and prayers go out to his friends and family.
If you’re curious, this is how we look without a shirt. Just take our word for it. PicProps: FiveKnuckles
We had a bit of a “WTF?” moment as we perused the card for this weekend’s Strikeforce Challengers card, and not because we fell for “Fedor is on the card!!” again. No, we were a little confused to see that an intriguing welterweight matchup between world-tourist Jason High and KOTC-standout Quinn Mulhern was relegated to the preliminaries of a Challengers card, which is sort of like Cam Newton and A.J. Green playing catch in the parking lot outside a Kansas City Command game. (To our international readers: sorry, we hope you followed that.)
If you’re curious, this is how we look without a shirt. Just take our word for it. PicProps: FiveKnuckles
We had a bit of a “WTF?” moment as we perused the card for this weekend’s Strikeforce Challengers card, and not because we fell for “Fedor is on the card!!” again. No, we were a little confused to see that an intriguing welterweight matchup between world-tourist Jason High and KOTC-standout Quinn Mulhern was relegated to the preliminaries of a Challengers card, which is sort of like Cam Newton and A.J. Green playing catch in the parking lot outside a Kansas City Command game. (To our international readers: sorry, we hope you followed that.)
High has a four-fight streak going since his UFC debut last year, where he dropped a decision to Charlie Brenneman (and was subsequently dropped himself). The KC Bandit’s latest was a quick win over local favorite Rudy Bears via choke at Titan FC in January:
Quinn Mulhern has been paying his dues as a King of the Cage welterweight, where he’s piled up fifteen wins (ten via sub) to claim the 170 pound title, and unify that strap with the KOTC Canadian welterweight crown. He dropped a TKO loss to Michael Guymon in October of 2009, then bounced back with a TKO win over Rich Clementi. Since then, Mulhern has been taking care of business, RNC-ing fools on the reg, like so:
