MMA Video of the Day: “Risky Attacks Gone Wrong” Is a Glorious Lowlight Reel of Buffoonery

(Props: Youtube user TheMontageKing via r/MMA)

“To be the greatest, you must take chances. To be remembered, you have to risk it all. But this does not always go as planned.”

So begins “Risky Attacks Gone Wrong” — a highlight video (of sorts) which pays tribute to those rare moments in MMA where a fighter’s reach exceeds his grasp, so to speak. Because stepping into the cage takes a fairly high level of confidence, and the fighters featured in this video were riding high on a wave of it until the moment that everything fell apart.

Featuring everything from Chael Sonnen’s spinning backfail at UFC 148 to Andrei Arlovski‘s infamous flying knee against Fedor Emelianenko (as well as my personal favorite, Matt “I’ve Made a Huge Mistake” Lawrence), “Risky Attacks Gone Wrong” is a goddamn glory to behold and a surefire way to brighten up your Monday afternoon. For in the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”

J. Jones


(Props: Youtube user TheMontageKing via r/MMA)

“To be the greatest, you must take chances. To be remembered, you have to risk it all. But this does not always go as planned.”

So begins ”Risky Attacks Gone Wrong” — a highlight video (of sorts) which pays tribute to those rare moments in MMA where a fighter’s reach exceeds his grasp, so to speak. Because stepping into the cage takes a fairly high level of confidence, and the fighters featured in this video were riding high on a wave of it until the moment that everything fell apart.

Featuring everything from Chael Sonnen’s spinning backfail at UFC 148 to Andrei Arlovski‘s infamous flying knee against Fedor Emelianenko (as well as my personal favorite, Matt “I’ve Made a Huge Mistake” Lawrence), ”Risky Attacks Gone Wrong” is a goddamn glory to behold and a surefire way to brighten up your Monday afternoon. For in the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, “The greatest glory in living lies not in never falling, but in rising every time we fall.”

J. Jones

This Ronda Rousey ‘In Her Ass’ Card Could Have Been Designed Better…


(The MMA equivalent of the 1989 Billy Ripken Fleer card. / Props: Reddit)

Thanks to some hilariously poor design from the folks at Topps, this Ronda Rousey “In Her Ass” card is becoming a collector’s item. And yes, it’s a real thing. If you can snap one up on short notice, I’d say it’s a much better Christmas gift for the MMA fan in your life than a friggin’ lapel pin or a $65 pair of socks.


(The MMA equivalent of the 1989 Billy Ripken Fleer card. / Props: Reddit)

Thanks to some hilariously poor design from the folks at Topps, this Ronda Rousey “In Her Ass” card is becoming a collector’s item. And yes, it’s a real thing. If you can snap one up on short notice, I’d say it’s a much better Christmas gift for the MMA fan in your life than a friggin’ lapel pin or a $65 pair of socks.

CagePotato PSA: Please Stop Daring Your Opponents to Knock You Out, Bush League MMA Fighters of the World

(All praises be to MiddleEasy for the find.) 

Alright, you guys, this is the last time we’re going to explain this.

We understand that six months of sprawl training can fill you with a previously unimaginable sense of self-confidence. Hell, throw in a couple BJJ lessons and a month or so of P90X and most of us would probably feel damn near invincible. It’s understandable to a degree, for we are a fragile-minded species that are easily influenced and oft corrupted by our own power, no matter how fleeting it may be.

But as fragile as our minds truly are, our bodies usually pale in comparison (*cough* Kevin Ware *cough*). And in the MMA game, taking one’s body for granted is a surefire way to wind up on the wrong end of a knockout — an embarrassing moment made all the more embarrassing when it comes just moments after you dare your opponent to test your otherworldly chin strength. Just ask our winner for the Biggest MMA Fail of 2012 or the Diaz wannabe who got front-kicked into never-neverland what showboating leads to. Hint: It’s pain. Only pain.


(All praises be to MiddleEasy for the find.) 

Alright, you guys, this is the last time we’re going to explain this.

We understand that six months of sprawl training can fill you with a previously unimaginable sense of self-confidence. Hell, throw in a couple BJJ lessons and a month or so of P90X and most of us would probably feel damn near invincible. It’s understandable to a degree, for we are a fragile-minded species that are easily influenced and oft corrupted by our own power, no matter how fleeting it may be.

But as fragile as our minds truly are, our bodies usually pale in comparison (*cough* Kevin Ware *cough*). And in the MMA game, taking one’s body for granted is a surefire way to wind up on the wrong end of a knockout — an embarrassing moment made all the more embarrassing when it comes just moments after you dare your opponent to test your otherworldly chin strength. Just ask our winner for the Biggest MMA Fail of 2012 or the Diaz wannabe who got front-kicked into never-neverland what showboating leads to. Hint: It’s pain. Only pain.

As you can tell by his pathetic attempts to perform what we in the MMA world call a “kick,” the jackwagon featured above clearly falls into the category of “Six Month Sprawl Superstar.” And while it’s fitting that this guy would be so confident in his chin that he would charge face first into a punch with his hands down, the humor we can take away from his misfortune only masks the bigger picture: reckless endangerment.

The simple fact is that one of these crazy bastards are going to get themselves killed while attempting to show off during a fight, and when one of them inevitably does, our beloved sport will once again be put the ringer as a result. It’s pretty selfish, honestly, but who am I kidding? I’m talking to the guy who is so self-centered that he laughs at the notion of a mere mortal somehow possessing the strength to knock him out.

Look, we know it looks cool/intimidating when Nick Diaz effortlessly absorbs his opponents best shots whilst throwing Stockton Heybuddies all the while, but none of you are Nick Diaz. If you were, you would certainly be too caught up in some good old fashioned nunchucking to own a computer and therefore read this plea.

You want to show off how much of a badass you are? Try finishing your opponent then celebrating. There’s a much smaller window for failure there. In the meantime, we beg you impressionable MMA fighters out there to please spend a little less time thinking you’re God and a little more keeping your hands up. For our sake and yours.

J. Jones

MMA Fail of the Year Candidate: “Ultimate Armbar Defense” Instructor Chokes Himself Out


Damn it, Jon. Thumb UP! Props: The Phantom Knee

We’re not even one week into 2013, yet we already have a strong candidate for CagePotato.com’s coveted MMA Fail of the Year at the year-ending Potato Awards. And yes, “coveted” is the right word here – with all of the ugly tattoos, terrible t-shirts, goofy haircuts and general jackassery in this great sport, it’s a legitimate honor to be recognized for failing harder than everyone else around you. Last year, the award went to a guy who dared his opponent to knock him out seconds before getting knocked out. Following in his footsteps, this instructor is so confident that he has discovered the “ultimate” way to defend against an armbar that you should really be expecting his demise well before it plays out.

This guy’s “Ultimate Armbar Defense” isn’t exactly scientific; it involves grabbing your own gi collar and holding on for dear life. Don’t ask me how a jiu-jitsu purple belt didn’t realize that he was setting himself up for a textbook gi choke, but he didn’t, and the inevitable happens by the end of the video. My favorite part of the video is the very end, when he wakes up, remembers where he is, puffs his chest out and looks into the camera with manly, Ronda Rousey-esque confidence.


Damn it, Jon. Thumb UP! Props: The Phantom Knee

We’re not even one week into 2013, yet we already have a strong candidate for CagePotato.com’s coveted MMA Fail of the Year at the year-ending Potato Awards. And yes, “coveted” is the right word here – with all of the ugly tattoosterrible t-shirts, goofy haircuts and general jackassery in this great sport, it’s a legitimate honor to be recognized for failing harder than everyone else around you. Last year, the award went to a guy who dared his opponent to knock him out seconds before getting knocked out. Following in his footsteps, this instructor is so confident that he has discovered the “ultimate” way to defend against an armbar that you should really be expecting his demise well before it plays out.

This guy’s ”Ultimate Armbar Defense” isn’t exactly scientific; it involves grabbing your own gi collar and holding on for dear life. Don’t ask me how a jiu-jitsu purple belt didn’t realize that he was setting himself up for a textbook gi choke, but he didn’t, and the inevitable happens by the end of the video. My favorite part of the video is the very end, when he wakes up, remembers where he is, puffs his chest out and looks into the camera with manly, Ronda Rousey-esque confidence.


Props: MiddleEasy

It’s sort-of brilliant – your opponent can’t kick your ass if you kick your own ass first, and even though you’d lose a grappling match if you choked yourself out to defend against an armbar, at least your opponent didn’t technically beat you. As long as you didn’t have an incompetent referee, you’d lose well before your opponent realizes you’re asleep and armbars you out of principle.

The bar has been set high in 2013, Taters. I don’t recommend trying to defeat this guy at his own game, but for those about to fail, I salute you.

@SethFalvo

Gallery: The 29 Most Awkward GIFs in MMA History


(That look in Chuck’s eyes — we know it well. / Full gallery is after the jump.)

Since our 25 Most Awkward Photos in MMA History gallery was such a big success, and because we could all use some stupid fun on a Friday afternoon, we decided to put together a GIF-based sequel. Enjoy the uncomfortable hilarity, and if we left out any of your favorites, please post some links in the comments section. Have a great weekend, Potato Nation!

Since our 25 Most Awkward Photos in MMA History gallery was such a big success, and because we could all use some stupid fun on a Friday afternoon, we decided to put together a GIF-based sequel. Enjoy the uncomfortable hilarity, and if we left out any of your favorites, please post some links in the comments section. Have a great weekend, Potato Nation!

MMA Fail of the Year Candidate: Dude Knocks Self Out While Attempting Flying Kick

(Props: TheQuebecMMA via MiddleEasy)

This video comes to us from Empire Fight League 4 in Montreal on Saturday, in which a back-and-forth amateur scrap between Jeremie Capony and Dan Lariviere ended suddenly — and ridiculously — in the second round. Watch as Lariviere attempts the kind of flying switch-kick that would have made him a viral Internet superstar if it connected. Oh, if only. Capony sees it coming and slides out of the way, leaving Lariviere to drop to the mat and land on his arm and shoulder, which somehow knocks him out. Either that, or chi knockouts are real, and this is the no-touch-KO equivalent of Fedor vs. Arlovski.


(Props: TheQuebecMMA via MiddleEasy)

This video comes to us from Empire Fight League 4 in Montreal on Saturday, in which a back-and-forth amateur scrap between Jeremie Capony and Dan Lariviere ended suddenly — and ridiculously — in the second round. Watch as Lariviere attempts the kind of flying switch-kick that would have made him a viral Internet superstar if it connected. Oh, if only. Capony sees it coming and slides out of the way, leaving Lariviere to drop to the mat and land on his arm and shoulder, which somehow knocks him out. Either that, or chi knockouts are real, and this is the no-touch-KO equivalent of Fedor vs. Arlovski.