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

Knockout of the Day: Diaz-Wannabe Gets Front-Kicked Into Never-Neverland

(Props: TuffNUffTV via MiddleEasy)

Rule #63 of MMA showboating: Don’t extend your arms in a Diaz-salute during a fight unless you’re absolutely, positively sure that your opponent lacks the power to knock you out; otherwise you could potentially look like a fool when your opponent leaves you sleeping. (Rule #63b: This rule counts double if you have a stupid fucking haircut.)

The wonderful knockout above comes to us from Sunday’s Tuff N Uff show in Las Vegas, where Shai Lindsey tried to be a cage-gangster, but instead fell prey to a very slick switch-front-kick right to the chin from Carlo Junio. Since this knockout happened at the very end of round 2, an inept referee might have woken Lindsey up and given him a chance to get his revenge in round 3. Luckily, the ref on that night was consummate professional Mike “Am I Hallucinating That Mustache?” Beltran, who handles his business properly.


(Props: TuffNUffTV via MiddleEasy)

Rule #63 of MMA showboating: Don’t extend your arms in a Diaz-salute during a fight unless you’re absolutely, positively sure that your opponent lacks the power to knock you out; otherwise you could potentially look like a fool when your opponent leaves you sleeping. (Rule #63b: This rule counts double if you have a stupid fucking haircut.)

The wonderful knockout above comes to us from Sunday’s Tuff N Uff show in Las Vegas, where Shai Lindsey tried to be a cage-gangster, but instead fell prey to a very slick switch-front-kick right to the chin from Carlo Junio. Since this knockout happened at the very end of round 2, an inept referee might have woken Lindsey up and given him a chance to get his revenge in round 3. Luckily, the ref on that night was consummate professional Mike “Am I Hallucinating That Mustache?” Beltran, who handles his business properly.

Bad Idea of the Day: Edgar Garcia Encourages Jacob Ortiz to Knock Him The F*ck Out

(Video props: YouTube.com/BFCLUB)

If our past pleas to him are any indication, God pretty much lets this MMA stuff sort itself out without much interference. That’s not to say that The Fates don’t follow the sport, and they had front row seats for the prelims at last night’s Bellator 55 event.

If there’s ever a good time to showboat, it’s when you’re pretty much dominating your opponent. From that standpoint, Edgar Garcia‘s timing was impeccable. With the sounds of the opening bell still reverberating through the air, Jacob Ortiz was crouched low and looking for the takedown, but with his first few attempts stuffed before they even really got started, he had little option but to duke it out with the former UFC competitor and look for an opening. And so Ortiz circled away throughout the first round with awkward footwork and hands down around his waist, getting tagged in the exchanges and eating a score of brutal leg kicks. When he did finally get to uncork a big right to Garcia’s jaw, his opponent seemed unfazed, tapping his own chin and inviting more blows. As Garcia would soon learn, Karma doesn’t care for such bravado.


(Video props: YouTube.com/BFCLUB)

If our past pleas to him are any indication, God pretty much lets this MMA stuff sort itself out without much interference.  That’s not to say that The Fates don’t follow the sport, and they had front row seats for the prelims at last night’s Bellator 55 event.

If there’s ever a good time to showboat, it’s when you’re pretty much dominating your opponent. From that standpoint, Edgar Garcia‘s timing was impeccable. With the sounds of the opening bell still reverberating through the air, Jacob Ortiz was crouched low and looking for the takedown, but with his first few attempts stuffed before they even really got started, he had little option but to duke it out with the former UFC competitor and look for an opening. And so Ortiz circled away throughout the first round with awkward footwork and hands down around his waist, getting tagged in the exchanges and eating a score of brutal leg kicks. When he did finally get to uncork a big right to Garcia’s jaw, his opponent seemed unfazed, tapping his own chin and inviting more blows. As Garcia would soon learn, Karma doesn’t care for such bravado.

After absorbing a few more solid leg kicks, Ortiz lunged in with a massive overhand right, connecting squarely on Garcia’s jaw. Whatever power may have been lacking in his earlier punch was clearly being saved for this one, as Garcia dropped face first to the canvas. Ortiz managed to rattle off a couple of follow-up shots for good measure before being dispatched by the referee. Not that further proof was needed, but this solidifies the theory that taunting your opponent before knocking him out is awesome for you, while taunting your opponent before getting knocked out is awesome for us.

Previously:

Joe Warren serves Joe Soto some humble pie

Takeo Shiina doesn’t care for Jung Hyun Lee’s antics