I’ve said this before, but perhaps my favorite aspect of working at CagePotato is not the seemingly endless bankroll to sponsor stuff like this, the kick-ass company car (an ’84 Celica, red), or the mandated “Sexy Bikini Party Fridays” written into all our receptionists contracts. No, the cocaine mountains and rampant sexism are nice and all, but the real reason I come into the office two afternoons a month is you guys. Specifically, the insane fight videos you guys often pass along to us via our tips line.
Take this undiscovered gem of a scrap between Ibrahim El Sawy and Hashem Arkhagha that went down back in December 2012, which was passed along to us by CP reader Farzeen Mohmed. In the main event of an already exciting night of fights put on by Jordanian fight promotion Desert Force, El Sawy and Arkhagha took things to a WHOLE. NOTHA. LEVEL, exchanging near-knockouts and submission attempts with reckless abandon for two action-packed rounds. While the second doesn’t quite stack up to the first in terms of action, it does fit the very definition of a war of attrition. And hey, Yves Lavigne even shows up to ref this thing! SCORE.
Check out the full fight above, then join us after the jump for an equally, if not more riveting fight between a couple of unbreakable Aussies.
I’ve said this before, but perhaps my favorite aspect of working at CagePotato is not the seemingly endless bankroll to sponsor stuff like this, the kick-ass company car (an ’84 Celica, red), or the mandated “Sexy Bikini Party Fridays” written into all our receptionists contracts. No, the cocaine mountains and rampant sexism are nice and all, but the real reason I come into the office two afternoons a month is you guys. Specifically, the insane fight videos you guys often pass along to us via our tips line.
Take this undiscovered gem of a scrap between Ibrahim El Sawy and Hashem Arkhagha that went down back in December 2012, which was passed along to us by CP reader Farzeen Mohmed. In the main event of an already exciting night of fights put on by Jordanian fight promotion Desert Force, El Sawy and Arkhagha took things to a WHOLE. NOTHA. LEVEL, exchanging near-knockouts and submission attempts with reckless abandon for two action-packed rounds. While the second doesn’t quite stack up to the first in terms of action, it does fit the very definition of a war of attrition. And hey, Yves Lavigne even shows up to ref this thing! SCORE.
Check out the full fight above, then join us after the jump for an equally, if not more riveting fight between a couple of unbreakable Aussies.
I’ve been carrying the flag for the ref cam (and now the Google Glass cam) for years now and it utterly enrages me to know that we may never see it in the UFC. Despite countless protests outside Dana White’s office, a letter writing campaign that was nothing short of Dufresnean, and a third thing I can’t discuss until the lawsuit is settled, little progress has been made in the fight to bring the ref cam to the UFC.
But I guess we can all take solace in the fact that, the UFC’s stubbornness aside, promotions like Australian’s Valor are more than willing to satiate the MMA fan’s voyeuristic desires (ways MMA is Like Porn for a thousand, Alex). And when the fights are the kind of knockdown, drag out wars like the one that went down between Callan Potter and David Butt at Valor Fight 7 last Saturday, the ref cam only enhances one’s viewing experience. Close-ups of the action, a “dogma” aesthetic, and no Jon Anik shouting lines from the MMA Commentator’s handbook?
The art of the first-punch knockout is an oft underappreciated one, right up there with the opening bell diving heel hook. Most fighters don’t even get their bearings until the second round, yet crazy sons a bitches like Benjamin Pierre-Saint (I know, right?) up there are so dialed in on their opponents that they can literally end the fight before it begins. First-punch knockouts are more devastating yet simultaneously graceful than any footage of a lion attacking a gazelle you will ever see, so check out this prime example that went down at SHINE 2 last weekend and thank us later.
The art of the first-punch knockout is an oft underappreciated one, right up there with the opening bell diving heel hook. Most fighters don’t even get their bearings until the second round, yet crazy sons a bitches like Benjamin Pierre-Saint (I know, right?) up there are so dialed in on their opponents that they can literally end the fight before it begins. First-punch knockouts are more devastating yet simultaneously graceful than any footage of a lion attacking a gazelle you will ever see, so check out this prime example that went down at SHINE 2 last weekend and thank us later.
When an MMA fighter gets KO’d immediately after a glove-tap, it often means that his opponent was being a cheap dick about it. But in the lightning-fast knockout you see above, all blame should lay upon the victim. See, if you’re going to touch gloves before a fight, do it fast and then get out of the way. DON’T lumber forward with your feet flat and your chin out. And after you do your little fist-bump, for the love of God, get your damn hands up or you will be head-kicked into an embarrassing reverse somersault, like this idiot.
If you’ll notice, the guy on the left doesn’t initiate the tap, but he’s courteous enough to oblige when dipshit over there dangles his arm out like an overcooked noodle. Guy On The Left sees an opportunity, and snatches it with a front-leg roundhouse to the face. The impact is loud, and it is awesome. The only disappointing part is that the shirtless guy still looked like he was ready to bang some more. Ah well. Let this be a lesson to the rest of you aspiring fighters: After the ref starts the fight, “Wait, bro, I wasn’t ready” isn’t really a valid excuse.
When an MMA fighter gets KO’d immediately after a glove-tap, it often means that his opponent was being a cheap dick about it. But in the lightning-fast knockout you see above, all blame should lay upon the victim. See, if you’re going to touch gloves before a fight, do it fast and then get out of the way. DON’T lumber forward with your feet flat and your chin out. And after you do your little fist-bump, for the love of God, get your damn hands up or you will be head-kicked into an embarrassing reverse somersault, like this idiot.
If you’ll notice, the guy on the left doesn’t initiate the tap, but he’s courteous enough to oblige when dipshit over there dangles his arm out like an overcooked noodle. Guy On The Left sees an opportunity, and snatches it with a front-leg roundhouse to the face. The impact is loud, and it is awesome. The only disappointing part is that the shirtless guy still looked like he was ready to bang some more. Ah well. Let this be a lesson to the rest of you aspiring fighters: After the ref starts the fight, “Wait, bro, I wasn’t ready” isn’t really a valid excuse.
As we mentioned last week in our profile of Muay Thai coach Said Hatim, Andrei Arlovski competed in his homeland of Belarus on Friday night, taking on German journeyman Andreas Kraniotakes in the headliner of Fight Nights: Battle on Nyamiha. Arlovski appeared loose and in control throughout the fight, which ended in the second round with a big right hand from The Pitbull and some follow-up shots on the ground. You can watch the fight above, which we’ve cued up to the TKO finish.
The match gave Arlovski his second straight win, and his fourth victory in his last five appearances. Hatim won his fight as well, stopping Artem Kazersky by second-round TKO. We’ll update this post if video of that match pops up on the Internet.
As we mentioned last week in our profile of Muay Thai coach Said Hatim, Andrei Arlovski competed in his homeland of Belarus on Friday night, taking on German journeyman Andreas Kraniotakes in the headliner of Fight Nights: Battle on Nyamiha. Arlovski appeared loose and in control throughout the fight, which ended in the second round with a big right hand from The Pitbull and some follow-up shots on the ground. You can watch the fight above, which we’ve cued up to the TKO finish.
The match gave Arlovski his second straight win, and his fourth victory in his last five appearances. Hatim won his fight as well, stopping Artem Kazersky by second-round TKO. We’ll update this post if video of that match pops up on the Internet.
Despite the enthusiastic and supportive Fort Campbell crowd, last night’s Fight for the Troops 3 event began with some bitter defeats for the handful of UFC fighters with military backgrounds. Army Staff Sgt./TUF 16 winner Colton Smith kicked off the main card by tapping to a rear-naked choke from TUF 15 winner Michael Chiesa — which earned Chiesa a $50,000 Submission of the Night bonus — while former Marine Liz Carmouche ate her second UFC defeat in a decision loss to Alexis Davis.
Luckily, Tim Kennedy saved the operation. The Special Forces vet fed off the energy in the room and tagged Rafael Natal with a long left hook that put the Brazilian’s lights out near the end of round 1, and won Kennedy a $50,000 Knockout of the Night bump. As he explained after the fight:
“I had to wait for the crowd to stop cheering because I was afraid to emotionally commit to something and not do it for the right reasons,” he said. “They’re screaming, ‘Ranger up! Ranger up!’ And I want to start throwing overhands and blitz the guy. I was waiting for them to stop, and they didn’t stop. Then they started cheering ‘U-S-A!,’ and ‘Kennedy!,’ and I was like, ‘For the love of God.’
“It had a negative effect on me because I was waiting and apprehensive. If there was any amount of pressure that could be put on a single fighter for a fight, I can’t think of a situation that would be more stressful than this.”
By the way, Kennedy tore his quad in the last week of training camp, but as he told Ariel Helwani later, “There’s no way you’re getting me off this card. They would have had to shoot me. If they had to roll me up with a wheelchair, I would have got in that cage, I didn’t care.”
Check out video of Kennedy’s knockout above, check out full results from the fight card right here, and follow us after the jump for lots more UFC Fight for the Troops 3 video highlights…
Despite the enthusiastic and supportive Fort Campbell crowd, last night’s Fight for the Troops 3 event began with some bitter defeats for the handful of UFC fighters with military backgrounds. Army Staff Sgt./TUF 16 winner Colton Smith kicked off the main card by tapping to a rear-naked choke from TUF 15 winner Michael Chiesa — which earned Chiesa a $50,000 Submission of the Night bonus — while former Marine Liz Carmouche ate her second UFC defeat in a decision loss to Alexis Davis.
Luckily, Tim Kennedy saved the operation. The Special Forces vet fed off the energy in the room and tagged Rafael Natal with a long left hook that put the Brazilian’s lights out near the end of round 1, and won Kennedy a $50,000 Knockout of the Night bump. As he explained after the fight:
“I had to wait for the crowd to stop cheering because I was afraid to emotionally commit to something and not do it for the right reasons,” he said. “They’re screaming, ‘Ranger up! Ranger up!’ And I want to start throwing overhands and blitz the guy. I was waiting for them to stop, and they didn’t stop. Then they started cheering ‘U-S-A!,’ and ‘Kennedy!,’ and I was like, ‘For the love of God.’
“It had a negative effect on me because I was waiting and apprehensive. If there was any amount of pressure that could be put on a single fighter for a fight, I can’t think of a situation that would be more stressful than this.”
By the way, Kennedy tore his quad in the last week of training camp, but as he told Ariel Helwani later, “There’s no way you’re getting me off this card. They would have had to shoot me. If they had to roll me up with a wheelchair, I would have got in that cage, I didn’t care.”
Check out video of Kennedy’s knockout above, check out full results from the fight card right here, and follow us after the jump for lots more UFC Fight for the Troops 3 video highlights…
(Tim Kennedy bum-rushes Rogan and Goldie’s event recap in hilarious fashion. And please, Mike, stop trying to make “The Sniper” happen. It’s not happening.)
(Cuban middleweight Yoel Romero’s just-as-nasty KO of Ronny Markes, also from the main card.)
(Rustam Khabilov shows he’s more than just “that suplex guy,” landing a sweet spinning heel kick to Jorge Masvidal’s neck. Somehow Masvidal recovered and fought on, but Khabilov still won the fight by unanimous decision, pushing his UFC record to 3-0. Both men earned $50,000 Fight of the Night bonuses for their efforts.)
At the UFC 165 post-fight presser last month, UFC president Dana White showered praise upon UFC interim bantamweight champion Renan Barao, calling him one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the sport and remarking that the media hadn’t given enough credit to his eight-year, 32-fight undefeated streak, which has remained pristine since May 2005.
Barao has only tasted defeat once, and it was in the first fight of his career. The fact that he’s rebounded with the longest current undefeated streak in mixed martial arts — despite the fact that his first loss could have ruined his confidence forever — is absolutely amazing to me, as many young would-be prospects have crashed and burned in their debuts, never to be heard of again.
It got me thinking: What other mixed martial artists lost their first fight but then went on to have great success? I expected to bang out a list of ten fighters, but once I started doing the research, it blew my mind that some of the best fighters to ever compete in the sport, and a number of currently top 10-ranked fighters, actually lost their very first fight.
And so, I compiled a list of the top 24 MMA fighters of all time who lost their first fight. The list is based on accomplishments in the sport, overall skill level, and potential. Enjoy, and if I somehow missed somebody notable, please leave a comment below and explain why he or she should be included.
On July 26, 1996, at the age of 19 years old, Travis Fulton fought Dave Strasser in his MMA debut at Gladiators 1 in Davenport, Iowa, losing the fight via first-round submission. He then went on to win 249 fights, the most wins in mixed martial arts history. Fulton also holds the record for most fights (309) and most knockout wins (91) in MMA history.
Mind = blown.
Was Fulton a can crusher? Yes, yes he was. Or, should I say, yes he is, as he beat some nobody in his native Iowa just this past March. But you don’t win 249 MMA fights by accident, and Fulton deserves a place on this list based on volume alone.
(Renan Barao: Started from the bottom, now he here. / Photo via Getty)
At the UFC 165 post-fight presser last month, UFC president Dana White showered praise upon UFC interim bantamweight champion Renan Barao, calling him one of the best pound-for-pound fighters in the sport and remarking that the media hadn’t given enough credit to his eight-year, 32-fight undefeated streak, which has remained pristine since May 2005.
Barao has only tasted defeat once, and it was in the first fight of his career. The fact that he’s rebounded with the longest current undefeated streak in mixed martial arts — despite the fact that his first loss could have ruined his confidence forever — is absolutely amazing to me, as many young would-be prospects have crashed and burned in their debuts, never to be heard of again.
It got me thinking: What other mixed martial artists lost their first fight but then went on to have great success? I expected to bang out a list of ten fighters, but once I started doing the research, it blew my mind that some of the best fighters to ever compete in the sport, and a number of currently top 10-ranked fighters, actually lost their very first fight.
And so, I compiled a list of the top 24 MMA fighters of all time who lost their first fight. The list is based on accomplishments in the sport, overall skill level, and potential. Enjoy, and if I somehow missed somebody notable, please leave a comment below and explain why he or she should be included.
On July 26, 1996, at the age of 19 years old, Travis Fulton fought Dave Strasser in his MMA debut at Gladiators 1 in Davenport, Iowa, losing the fight via first-round submission. He then went on to win 249 fights, the most wins in mixed martial arts history. Fulton also holds the record for most fights (309) and most knockout wins (91) in MMA history.
Mind = blown.
Was Fulton a can crusher? Yes, yes he was. Or, should I say, yes he is, as he beat some nobody in his native Iowa just this past March. But you don’t win 249 MMA fights by accident, and Fulton deserves a place on this list based on volume alone.
Akihiro Gono was just 19 when the Japanese icon made his MMA debut in his home country against Yasunori Okuda in the first round of the Lumax Cup: Tournament of J’ 94, way back in April 1994. Like many of the fighters of the time, Gono wasn’t ready to defend submissions, and he tapped out to a first-round toe hold.
Gono may have lost the fight, but he would go on to have a very solid career that saw him compete in the UFC, PRIDE, Shooto, Pancrase, Sengoku, and finally Bellator, which would be his final stop.
In May 2012, after a solid 18-year run as a fan favorite, Gono fought for the last time against current Bellator lightweight champion Michael Chandler at Bellator 67, losing the fight via first-round KO.
Some will laugh that Minowaman is on this list, but he deserves to be after amassing a respectable 55-35-8 record during his cult-legendary career as a journeyman, where — like the great Fedor Emelianenko — he was notorious for fighting and beating larger opponents in the UFC, PRIDE, Dream and Pancrase, amongst other promotions.
However, he was also notorious for losing to some of them.
The first of his 35 losses came to Yuzo Tateishi via decision on March 30, 1996, at the Lumax Cup: Tournament of J ‘96 in Japan. It was the first of many career losses for Minowa, who started off his career 2-9-2 in his first 13 fights. To his credit though, he rebounded to eventually leave the sport with a winning record, and became a big star in PRIDE because he always put on exciting fights and feared no man.
The name “Minowaman” is always one that makes the hardcores’ hearts beat whenever anyone brings it up. Not bad for a guy who at first glance looked like he would contribute nothing in the sport.
(NOTE: The graphic in the video say his record was 3-1 but that tally likely referred to his amateur fights.)
Back on February 15, 1997 in – surprise, surprise – Iowa, a 24-year-old Shonie Carter got into his first professional MMA fight, the first of many for him.
It didn’t last long, however, as he was KO’ed by future five-time UFC vet Laverne Clark at Monte Cox’s Extreme Challenge 3, just nine seconds into the first round in what was the MMA debut of both men.
It became a classic KO in regional circuit MMA history.
Despite that early career loss, Carter then went on to have an unexpectedly awesome career where he attained 50 wins, including 26 by stoppage. He even made it to the Ultimate Fighting Championship and, in total, he fought six times in the UFC — one more than Clark, who knocked him out in that first battle.
One of those 26 aforementioned stoppage wins I mentioned — and one of the best KOs in UFC history — was his spinning back fist knockout of Matt Serra at UFC 31. Serra, who at the time was considered to be below Carter in the ranks, later defeated Georges St-Pierre at UFC 69 to win the UFC welterweight title. Carter, on the other hand, never quite made it to the top of the sport, to say the least, but at least he built a memorable persona as a stone-cold pimp.
Brian Ebersole’s first MMA bout took place on February 24, 2000 against Chris Albandia at TCC – Total Combat Challenge in Chicago. He lost the fight via decision.
He was just 18 years old.
However, despite the loss, Ebersole has gone on to have an awesome journeyman career that has seen him compile an excellent record of 50-15-1, 1 NC.
Ebersole finally made it to the UFC in 2012, upsetting Chris Lytle at UFC 127 and then winning three more in a row before a split decision loss to James Head at UFC 149 ended his win streak. He has sat out the past year with injuries.
But things are looking up for Ebersole, as he will finally make his return to the cage at UFC 167 against Rick Story. It’s a difficult matchup on paper, but it’s winnable. And even if he loses, the fans get to see the Hairrow — well hopefully, anyways — or at least one of those fancy cartwheel kicks. Make it happen, Brian.
On April 7, 2007, at UCW 7 in Winnipeg, Manitoba, two unknown Canadian women fought each other. One was Sarah Kaufman, who would later go on to win the Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champion and who will be making her UFC debut this Saturday at UFC 166, and the other was a 21-year-old Alexis Davis, who would eventually make it into the UFC as well.
On that night, Kaufman was the better woman, as she finished Davis via strikes in the third round. And Kaufman would demonstrate her superiority once again, defeating Davis via majority decision in March 2012 at Strikeforce: Tate vs. Rousey.
However, Davis looks to be on the rise, and she certainly showed her potential in defeating Rosi Sexton in her Octagon debut at UFC 161. If her and Kaufman ever meet for a trilogy match, it’s possible Davis might finally get a win over her rival.
