99 Facts for the Diehard MMA Fan, Part 2

For 20 years UGer ix3623 spoke with fighters and gathered facts, with an eye towards publishing an ebook of no-filler MMA facts to sell on Amazon. Unfortunately, he was told by an Attorney friend that books like these, where you make money and talk about other people, even if they are fact, can get you sued. Since he doesn’t want to be sued, he is posting everything he was going to put in the book here for the UG, for free!

Last week the UG Blog published 99 facts for the diehard MMA fan, Part 1.

This is Part 2…

100. Ron Van Clief on his role in the UFC : I was a co-producer and production coordinator, getting the fight coordinators together, and restructuring the event and making it more comedic, more entertaining, telegenic. I brought in the bad guys like Tank Abbott, I started the ‘Superfight’ concept, Van Clief said. And then I left. I got tired of way it was going. One time, I saw Tank Abbott beat up Pat Smith in an elevator with his three bodyguard goons. It was horrible what they did to him. Of course, the UFC didn’t want any police involved. I got disheartened over that. I went to court, I faced John McCain, and he called me a pit bull. I represented the UFC in all those cases to get events going.

101. Loretta Hunt, author of the book “Let’s Get It On”, claims that Big John McCarthy is responsible for the naming the sport “Mixed Martial Arts”

I think people might be surprised to hear … John actually named the sport ‘Mixed Martial Arts,’ Hunt explained. It was called ‘No Holds Barred’ or ‘Ultimate Fighting’ back in the early days. Himself and Jeff Blatnick – a former commentator for the UFC – came up with the ‘Mixed Martial Arts’ name, but it was John’s phrase. And Jeff Blatnick is the one who pushed it on the pay-per-views until people really started picking it up.

102. Mac Danzig used to be a sponsored professional skateboarder.

103. Tito Ortiz’s real name is Christopher Jacob Ortiz. Tito was a nickname that his father used to call him.

104. Nate Quarry was a zombie in the video game Left 4 Dead 2:

105. Prior to “Cro Cop” Mirko Filipovic’s nickname was “Tiger.”

106. The 2000 PRIDE Grand Prix was the first to feature live American commentary. Bas Rutten and Stephen Quadros added commentary to the earlier events after they already happened.

107. At the pre-fight staredown between Quinton Jackson and Igor Vovchanchyn at PRIDE 22, Rampage gave Igor a note allegedly from his mother that said, “Please don’t hurt my son.”

108. Lyoto Machida was the runner-up in the 2000 Brazilian Sumo Championships. He became Brazilian Champion twice, and placed second in the South American Championships.

109. Bruce Buffer once fought Frank Trigg in an elevator as Dana White looked on:

110. At UFC 36, Matt Hughes fought Shooto’s former MW (167 lb) Champ, Sakurai, because the current Champ, Anderson Silva, was having Visa problems. Silva went on to sign with Pride FC.

111. At Vale Tudo Japan ’97, Enson Inoue was DQ’d against Frank Shamrock because his brother Egan ran into the ring.

112. Rorion Gracie was the fight scene coordinator for Lethal Weapon 1.

113. Matt The Law Lindland got his nickname because in the finals of the 2000 United States Olympic trials, Lindland lost to Keith Sieracki, who Lindland had accused of tripping him. After appealing, an arbitrator ordered a rematch for Lindland and Sieracki, in which Lindland won 8-0. They still gave the slot to Sieracki, and Lindland sued the Olympic Committee.

114. Urijah Faber was in a radio station commercial when he was a kid:

115. Prior to his UFC 7 loss to Remco Pardoel, Pressure point stylist Ryan Parker spent months and months discussing the intricacies of his style and how he could use Chi to win a fight. The application video he sent to the UFC promoters featured him enduring strikes to his groin and throat without exhibiting pain.

116. The Lions Den fighter who had initially sent in an application for UFC 1 was Ken Shamrock’s student Scott Bessac. The UFC wanted Ken Shamrock instead. Scott eventually got into the UFC two years later after accumulating a 3-4-0 record in Pancrase.

117. Nail trimming became standard pre-fight before every UFC event after Trent Jenkins cut Jason DeLucia’s face with his toenail in UFC 1.

118. Euclides Pereira is probably the greatest fighter that you have never heard of. He has over 350 documented professional vale tudo fights and zero losses. He is the only man to defeat Carlson Gracie. He also holds wins over Ivan Gomez, Waldemar Santana (who has defeated Helio Gracie), and Zulu (when he was in his 40s)

119. Gary Goodridge has defeated arm wrestling legend John Brzenk on more than one occasion. This is a great feat considering Brzenk is considered the Michael Jordan of arm wrestling.

120. Matt Serra on how he got his nickname “The Terror” – I got that in high school, one of my buddies came up with it cause it rhymes with Serra. Guy was a real genius, I guess… haha. But its cool, it’s a little bit different then some of the other ones a lot of people use… not too many Terrors out there.

121. Ken Shamrock on how he got his nickname “The World’s Most Dangerous Man” – They had this special they came out with, and I’m not sure if it was NBC or ABC, im not sure which one it was, and they were listing the world’s most dangerous places, animals, things, people, food, and at that time, I was the world champion, back when it was no holds barred, basic bare knuckles, no rules, I was the guy, and so people looked at that as you know this dude is dangerous, dude’s gotta be the world’s most dangerous man, he goes in there and fights with no rules, and that’s how I got that name because they did a special on me and it was pretty good too because they didn’t show the brutal side of the fighting they showed more of who I really was behind the fighting.

122. Georges St. Pierre on how he got his nickname “Rush” – I got the nickname Rush because early in my career many of my fights wouldn’t make it past the first round. A TKO promoter at the time told me I was like a rush of adrenaline.

123. Frank Trigg got his nickname “Twinkle Toes” because he painted his toenails. Trigg – I was fighting in Japan when a woman in the audience picked me out and said, ‘I like the fighter with the twinkle toes’. My manager heard it and that was the end of it.

124. David Loiseau on how he got his nickname “The Crow” : L’oiseau in French means a bird and because I am black, kids at school used to call me Crow – a black bird.

125. Robbie Lawler on how he got his nickname “Ruthless” – “Dana White called me one day and told me I needed a nickname and suggested Ruthless. So I said, Yeah, whatever. Pick what you want. So it wasn’t a big deal to me. It was more of a UFC marketing thing. It could have been anything.

126. Chuck on how he got the nickname “The Iceman” -My pulse rate rarely goes up or down, no matter how tens or relaxed the situation. In fact, that’s how I got my nickname: the Iceman. Hackleman gave it to me around my third kickboxing match. We were hanging out in the locker room before the fight, and he noticed that I wasn’t breaking a sweat or shaking out my arms to release some of the jitters and didn’t have any other nervous tics. He told me he had been in countless pro fights and was anxious before every one of them. Meanwhile, I looked as if I were going for a stroll in the park. He thought I had ice in my veins.”

127. Jon Koppenhaver, now under arrest for the beating of his then girlfriend adult film actress Christy Mac, got his nickname “War Machine” from Phil Baroni “due to his bio-mechanical tattoos and his original sparring style which he says at first he “couldn’t go light only hard.” Koppenhaver ended up legally changing his name to “War Machine” due to copyright claims much like the Ultimate Warrior did as a way to continue to use the name. War Machine : SO in case you didn’t notice in my last fight the UFC did NOT use my nickname when I fought. Turns out some gay ass wrestling federation threatened to sue them because they recently named one of their wrestlers The War Machine Rhino and trademarked the name. Too fuckin’ bad that I have been using this name for 6 years, have it tatted on my body and it is what my fans yell out when I’m fighting. If you know my personality then you know damn well I am not gonna let some faggot ass, FAKE wrestler steal MY name. SO 6 weeks ago I filed a change of name request and today I had court to make my name officially WAR MACHINE.

128. Michael Bisping on how he got his nickname “The Count” – My old manager told the ring announcer to introduce me as The Count. I said no at first, but I’m actually a Count in Poland (grandfather was a Polish Count). It embarrasses me a little bit. I made the mistake of telling someone at school and I was subsequently made fun of.

129. Randy Couture on how he got the nickname “The Natural” – Joe Gold called me that after I beat Vitor Belfort the first time because I kind of adapted to his style and beat him standing up, which nobody expected. He said I naturally adapted to his style. He asked me if it was okay to call me the Natural and I said ‘I’ve been called a lot worse’.” Randy has also been called “Captain America”, a nickname given to him by Joe Rogan.

130. Gary Goodridge on how he got the nickname “Big Daddy” – Well you know something I was going around to my friends before I went in the first UFC saying, well everyone’s got to have a nickname, give me a nickname. So, I asked friends, what can I use, what can I use? Must have been about twenty different friends and everybody got together and finally a friend of mine named Coleber Rhodes came up with “Big Pimp Daddy”. And that day I was reading a story about, I forget the player’s name, but the “Big Daddy” football player, so I dropped the pimp and took the “Big Daddy”.

131. Quinton Jackson on how he got his nickname “Rampage” – “My cousins gave it to me when I was 8 years old, They used to get me spun up on purpose and watch me rampage around the house destroying things and getting into fights. I would even hyperventilate and have to breathe into a paper bag to calm down.

132. Anthony Johnson on how he got his nickname “Rumble” – I was in Big Bear training for a four man tournament. I was riding down the mountain after my training camp and I was like, I’ve got to figure out a nickname for me, one that sticks out. I was like, they’ve got a Shogun, they’ve got a Wanderlei, they’ve got a Rampage, a Cabbage, you know? I wanted to start calling myself the Southern Rambo because I’m originally from Georgia. But I was like, that sounds kind of corny. When I was little I used to always say, ‘Let’s get ready to rumble,’ before a football game and stuff. The name ‘Rumble’ has sort of been stuck with me. I liked it; (it) was something different. So I stuck with it,

133. Matt Hughes talking about the Tito Ortiz / Lee Murray incident in which he claims Murray knocked Tito out (as it was told to him by Pat Miletich):

“So it’s four o’clock in the morning and they had everybody leave the club, right? Well, the UFC had bussed us all over there but they didn’t have a bus to take us back. It’s down to Mark,me [Pat Miletich], Tony Fryklund, Chuck Liddell, Tito [Ortiz] and Lee Murray. Lee Murray’s crew was still there, Tito’s crew was also still there. I walked out the back door to go in the alley. Tito’s buddy jumped on my back. He jumped on my back and acted like he had me in a choke hold, just messing around, you know? Then I felt him get ripped off of me. I turned around and Tony Fryklund had HIM in a chokehold, and was really choking him. The guy looked like a mouse that just got trapped in a mousetrap; his eyes were popping out and obviously he wasn’t breathing. Tony thought he was actually attacking me –that’s the only reason he did it. So I turned round and told Tony to let him go, and Tony let him go. Then Tito’s buddy turned around and basically said ‘what the f*** are you doing?’ to Tony. Well, when he said that, one of Lee Murray’s buddies, that one guy who kind of took care of us all week long, thought this guy was actually trying to fight us, so he ran out of the crowd and cracked this kid with a right hand and knocked him out cold…. The entire alley erupted into a huge brawl. I was just standing there, and there were bodies flying all over the place. I was confused how it all happened, because it happened so fast. I was standing there with my mouth open like ‘what the hell is going on?’ I looked over and Chuck Liddell was with his back against the wall, knocking people out that were trying to go after him. Then I looked over and there’s Tito directly past me, taking his coat off, going after Lee Murray, and Lee Murray’s backing up the alley taking his jacket off. Both their jackets come off, and Tito throws a left hook at Lee Murray and misses, and right as he missed, Lee Murray counters with, like, a five-punch combo, landed right on the chin, and knocked Tito out. OUT. Tito fell face-first down to the ground, and then Lee Murray stomped him on the face a couple of times with his boots.”

134. Pro Wrestler Scott Bam Bam Bigelow had 1 mma fight under his belt which was a loss by rear naked choke against Kimo Leopoldo. According to a shoot interview, Bam Bam went into the fight thinking it was going to be a work only to find out that it would be a legit match right before it happened.

135. Urijah Faber talks about how he was almost killed in Bali following an altercation in a bar –

“It was intense, A crazy story,” said Faber. “About two or three times I thought I was going to die.”

Faber was challenged by a local tough guy and, after being unable to talk the man down, took the dispute to the parking lot. A broken collarbone for his opponent ended that battle but suddenly he was rushed by a gang wieldingbrass knuckles, bottles and a hammer.

The fight continued back in the club and through the streets as Faber ran for his life. He eventually found refuge in a cab, only to have the gang try to drag him out. Faber, covered in the blood, and the driver eventually escaped.

“I ran I fought, I ran I fought. They kept coming,” he said. “Five different occasions I got into it with groups of people.”

The incident left its mark – “If I shaved my head, I’ve got about six different spots on my head that had to be stitched up.”

But it has served a couple of other purposes. He is thankful he made it through the ordeal. And he knows he is a survivor.

“I’ve never been scared to fight and I’ve never been scared to compete. Being faced with something like that doesn’t hurt the competitive side of me at all, knowing I’m going to be OK.”

Video of Faber recounting the entire story (story starts at 1:55 into the video) :

136. According to Matt Hughes, Tim Sylvia used to wear the UFC belt everywhere he went after he won it. Hughes said he even wore it to the supermarket.

Tim Sylvia: “I’ve had sex before with the belt on. That was back in the Ricco Rodriguez days. The night I won the belt I had a sexual experience with the belt on, but hey, I was 25 years old and it was the biggest thing that ever had happened to me in my life. The girl was like, ‘Hey, are you going to take that thing off?’ and I said ‘No, I’m not. I’m wearing it and if you have a problem with it, then I’m leaving.’ I hate to say it, but if I do win the belt again, then this time it’s never coming off. I’m going to wear it a lot more.”

137. Tim Sylvia on losing control of his bowels in his fight against Assuerio Silva – “Not taking anything away from Assuerio, he’s a tough dude, obviously. I hit him a couple of times and couldn’t finish him. I was really sick for the fight. I got really sick Saturday and had problems holding my innards. When I was warming up, I had a few problems, and I actually had a few problems in the ring when I was fighting.I don’t know what it was. It got really cold when we were outside working out and stuff, going back and forth from the room. I caught something, and I just couldn’t hold in my number twos… If you look at the fight you’ll see that when my shorts came down, you’ll see the wet mark in my underwear.”

Kevin Randleman has admitted to having the same thing happen to him during his fight against Renato “Babalu” Sobral.

In a fight between Fred MItchell and Kyle Wethey, Mitchell kneed Wethey so hard that Wethey shat himself . The fight ended in a disqualification as a result. As the fight prolonged, Mitchell said the smell continued to worsen. Eventually, he removed his mouth piece and expressed his concerns to the ring official. He s— himself, Mitchell said repeatedly.” Wethey was disqualified when he tried to use the situation to his advantage by trapping Mitchell’s head between his legs.

138. BJ Penn’s real name is Jay Dee Penn. His family called him baby Jay because all of his other brothers are also named Jay, hence the name BJ. The speed in which he achieved a jiu jitsu black belt plus the gold medal he managed to take home from the World Jiu Jitsu Championships in Rio de Janeiro earned him his nickname, The Prodigy.

139. Tim Sylvia’s original nickname was Grizzly Bear.

140. Wanderlei Silva’s original nickname was Mad Dog.

141. Rich Clementi got his nickname No Love after a messy divorce.

142. Ikuhisa Minowa got his nickname The Punk because of his love for Punk Rock music.

143. Rich Franklin got his nickname “Ace” because he resembles the actor Jim Carrey who played the character Ace Ventura.

144. Ken Shamrock’s birth name was Ken Wayne Kilpatrick. “At the age of 10, Shamrock was stabbed several times during a robbery and then placed in a juvenile hall. Shamrock, at the age of 13, was then kicked out of his home by his stepfather. Shamrock lived in cars as a result before being placed in a foster home. He bounced around between several group homes before being placed in Bob Shamrock’s Boys’ Home at age 14, in Susanville, California where he turned his life around. Bob Shamrock legally adopted Ken as his son, and Ken changed his last name from Kilpatrick to Shamrock in Bob’s honor. Ken Shamrock on his youth : I beat people up, I hurt people, I stabbed people and I got stabbed. I ended up getting myself into bad situations, and navigating through those times was very difficult when you don’t understand how.

145. Frank Shamrock’s birth name was Frank Alisio Juarez III. “Frank was placed in various foster homes, group homes, and crisis centers. He also had a few run-ins with law enforcement. Eventually he went to live with Bob Shamrock, who had taken in hundreds of troubled boys. Juarez went to live with Shamrock at his home in Susanville, California, and was officially adopted by Shamrock at the age of 21.”

146. Marcio Cruz got his nickname “Pé de Pano” by his friends at the Gracie Barra academy in Rio, It is the Portuguese version of the name of Woody Woodpecker’s horse, Sugar Foot.

147. In his native Portuguese language, Luis Cane’s nickname Banha translates to lard. It was given to him, because as a child he used to be fat. They gave me this nickname when I was more or less nine years old. As an adolescent I began training and stopped being fat, but even so the childhood nickname stayed and now I can not change it anymore, said Cane in the interview to the UFC.

148. Jeff Monson got his nickname “The Snowman” after his performance at the 1999 Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Wrestling World Championship. The Brazilian fighters at the tournament gave him the nickname because he came in as an unknown, but beat four Brazilians in a row to win the 88-98 kilogram weight class. As he went along in the tournament and continued to beat his opponents, they said he was like a snowball (white, compact, and rolling and getting bigger and stronger as the tournament went on).

149. Jeff Monson stripped naked in protest after a jiu jitsu match with Saulo Ribeiro at Abu Dhabi in Brazil. Monson : “The naked incident was at Abu Dhabi in Brazil after match with Saulo Ribeiro. I’ve heard the guy who caught the shorts when I tossed them framed them in his cafe.”

150. Monson was also involved in another incident after a jiu jitsu match he had with Pe De Pano when Pe de Pano tapped to a can opener because he knew that using that move as a attempt to submit was against the rules. Monson protested and said he wasn’t trying to submit Pe de Pano but to just get him to open his guard. When the ref awarded Pe de Pano the win, Monson attacked the ref.

Jeff Monson vs. Pe De Pano Cruzby mma-tv

151. Matt Brown on how he got his nickname “The Immortal”: “I came really close to dying,” Brown said. “I [overdosed] on heroin. … They said I was clinically dead for over a minute.” Brown believes his recreational drug use came from feelings of being trapped in a small town outside of Dayton, Ohio. “I was in that mindset that there was nothing else to do,” Brown said. “I could get drunk everyday and I’ll still be (stuck) here, or I could go to college and I’ll still be (stuck) here.” “[Overdosing] was one of the best things to happen to me. When that happened it woke me up and I was like, ‘Man, I got to do something.'” Brown’s near-death experiences from drugs and street fights led to his friends dubbing him with his eventual fighter nickname: “The Immortal.” “My friends were like, ‘Man, you are [expletive] immortal, huh?” Brown said. “And I thought, ‘If I could beat all of that stuff, I could beat anything.'”

152.

Big John McCarthy on thinking that the Oleg Taktorov vs Anthony Macias fight at UFC 6 was fixed : During the semifinal match between Oleg Taktarov and Anthony Macias, I believe I saw my first fixed fight in the UFC. Both fighters had the same manager, Buddy Albin, so I think it was decided backstage that Macias would throw the match so Oleg could advance to the finals and face Tank [Abbott] as fresh as possible. The fight went a little too smoothly for my tastes when Macias shot in and nearly fell into the guillotine choke, which he tapped out to in twelve seconds.

Note: the fight was actually 9 seconds not 12.

153. Big John McCarthy on thinking that the Don Frye vs Mark Hall fight at Ultimate Ultimate 96 was fixed : Unfortunately, this night was the second time I felt I was refereeing a fixed bout. In the semifinals, Don Frye and Mark Hall met in a rematch of their UFC 10 bout. In their first encounter Frye had beaten the piss out of Hall, who’d refused to give up. Here, though, Frye ankle-locked Hall to advance to the finals without breaking a sweat. The fight struck me as odd. Frye, a bread-and-butter wrestler and swing-for-the-fences puncher, had never won a fight by leg lock, and Hall practically fell into the submission. I also knew both fighters were managed by the same guy.

McCarthy goes on to talk about rumors that Hall had thrown the fight. This circulated for months until Hall finally came out and admitted it and said Frye had offered to pay him. Hall said he came forward only after Frye failed to pay up. Frye denied the accusations.

154.

Boxer Jerry Bell was the first known fighter to compete in MMA with HIV. He was later banned from fighting after failing to expose this information (in fear that he would not be allowed to fight).

On October 17, 1995, the World Combat Championship hosted its first and only MMA event in Charlotte, North Carolina. The promotion was essentially just an early UFC pay-per-view knockoff, but featured some great talent for the time. Among the fighters in the tournament were Renzo Gracie, Olympic Judo bronze medalist Ben Spijkers, Shooto champion Erik Paulson, and IBF cruiserweight boxing champion James Warring. Little did anyone suspect, however, that the most dangerous man on the card that night was an unheralded alternate fighting in the first match of the preliminaries. His name was Jerry Bell, and he could’ve potentially contaminated every single competitor who fought in the cage that evening.

Hailing from Columbia, South Carolina, Bell got his start in combat sports fighting in Toughman contests all across his home state. The semi-professional Toughman competitions typically feature boxers with little or no training going up against other local brawlers in a debris-strewn ring for the accolades of their beer swilling friends. Bell achieved some notable success in this circuit, becoming a three time champion of South Carolina and also fighting in the national Toughman tournament. He would go on to prepare for his legitimate professional boxing debut under the tutelage of local trainer Billy Stanick, who claimed the young heavyweight possessed tremendous athleticism and heart.

Before he was to turn pro, however, Bell decided to embark on a little side venture by competing in the bareknuckle, no-holds-barred World Combat Championship. As required, he received an HIV test before fighting but evaded his doctors calls following the examination. Bell, who by his own admission both was promiscuous and didn’t believe in contraceptives (douchebag), was nervous what the results would reveal. The repeated calls would not deter him from proceeding with his plans to step into the cage.

Like the UFC events of the same era, the World Combat Championship emphasized style vs. style contests, even going so far as dividing the tournament bracket into Strikers and Grapplers divisions. Bell, being a preliminary fighter, would not be a part of the main draw and would instead face another combatant for a chance to be an alternate. His opponent, Phil Benedict, was a short but heavily muscled NCAA wrestler who could bench press 400 lbs. Despite the opposition and being a pure striker, Bell gave a relatively good account of himself, opening up a cut on Benedict’s nose with a straight right cross in the first few seconds of the fight. He wound up on top of his stocky opponent after Benedict failed with a throw, but would quickly be reversed and submitted with a choke just half a minute into the bout. Benedict would end up losing to Renzo Gracie in the semi-finals of the main draw later that night. Bell would go on to make his professional boxing debut the following year, defeating his opponent by knockout in the first round. During this time, Bell would continue ignoring his doctor’s attempts to contact him and proceed with his daily training regimen as if everything was normal. Finally, TWO YEARS after receiving the test, Bell gave in and answered his doctor’s calls to have his worst fears confirmed: He was HIV positive. Shockingly, he kept this revelation hidden until 1998 while he progressed with his boxing career. When he finally decided to quit, Bell had amassed a 9-0-0 record with every single one of his victories coming by way of knockout in the first or second round.

Despite the fact that his MMA career lasted all but thirty-three seconds, Jerry Bell’s fight with Phil Benedict in the WCC is of profound historical significance to the sport. Bell’s bizarre and tragic personal saga, abetted by his own recklessly irresponsible decision making, is tough to stomach considering he did possess a substantial amount of raw talent by most accounts. The most recent information available on him states he’s currently serving a fifteen year sentence for first-degree burglary. His story sheds some light on the dangerous early conditions of MMA, considering he was allowed to fight with a lethal contagious disease. Even today, the procedures and regulations of the sport need to be reevaluated time and time again, especially the notoriously inconsistent oversight of the amateur venues. As Jerry Bell’s story indicates, the repercussions for carelessness by both fighters and promoters can be devastating.

His one and only mma fight:

155. At UFC 3, Steve Jennum was supposed to fight Ken Shamrock in the semi finals. They could not find Jennum so Felix Mitchell took the spot and fought Shamrock instead. When Shamrock could no longer continue to fight Harold Howard, Jennum, who they finally found, took the spot and ended up winning the entire tournament by beating Howard and only fighting once that night.

156. At UFC 9, there was a rule enforced by politicians banning close-fisted strikes to the head under “pain of arrest”. “While the UFC and referee John McCarthy looked the other way when infractions were made in the undercard, Shamrock and Severn didn’t take any risks, and the fight was 20 minutes of circling. The fight, which was one of the most anticipated of the time, was therefore dubbed “The Detroit Dance.”

157. During Ultimate Japan, the only reason Sakuraba faced Silveira again that night was because Tank Abbott hurt his hand against Yoji Anjoh and could not continue to face Silveira in the finals. Because of how controversial and unruly the japanese audience were about the bad stoppage, they decided to make the Sakuraba vs Silveira fight the finals instead of putting in an alternate to face Silveira. Tra Telligman, who defeated Brad Kohler in an alternate fight earlier in the tournament, would have most likely been the one to face Conan Silveira in the finals if the Sakuraba/Silveira 1 fight wasn’t a bad stoppage.

158.

“After a fight between Nick Diaz and Joe Riggs which saw the latter’s arm raised in victory, a fight broke out between the two men at the hospital later in the night.”

for the entire story, you can view this video..explained through audio and animated videography by the great lookoutawhale:

159. While on Celebrity Rehab, Ricco Rodriguez made a confession in which he said that he was “driving with his girlfriend, high, when he slammed into an 18-wheeler and then smashed into a wall. With his license already supended for a DUI, he dragged the body of his girlfriend — who he thought was dead — and put her in the driver’s seat. The cops came and fell for the switcheroo; the girlfriend, however, turned out to be alive. During the episode, his girlfriend came to visit and Ricco told her how one of the staff members didn’t think that story was very funny. Everybody laughs when we tell the story, he said. That’s because all your friends are scumbags, his girlfriend said.

160.

Kimbo Slice, whom became popular from the backyard fight videos he was in that were posted on youtube, had a protege named Ray who began making fight videos of his own that were also released on youtube. In numerous videos, Ray, like Kimbo, demolished all his opponents in fights..That was until one fighter came along and beat him. Twice. The fighter who beat him went on to fight in mma and is now currently fighting in the UFC. That fighter is Jorge Masvidal. videos below :

first encounter :

the rematch :

Jorge Masvidal on his fights against Ray:

“Did you earn any money for your streetfights against Kimbo’s protégé Ray, the brawls which helped you rise to prominence online?

Nah man. I just did them. I just went out there to fight and compete. I was having some trouble getting some fights. I never realized [the backyard fights] would get me so much exposure, because I’d been involved in tons of previous streetfights. Kimbo was already famous by that time.

How did Kimbo know to get in contact with you to organise the brawls? Are you still in contact with Kimbo and do you have a good rapport with him?

Well, Kimbo and me trained at the same gym, and Kimbo’s manager Mike Imber contacted me offering me the scrap so I accepted gladly. That was that. I bump into Kimbo at local MMA shows in Miami, and I get on really well with him. He’s a tremendous dude. We both come from a similar fighting background so we have similar mindsets.

There’s something perversely compelling about watching fights unfold in an uncontrolled environment. This phenomenon is proven by the stats: Your fight vs Ray has 660,000 YouTube views. The highest amount of views for one of your professional fights is 71,000 vs Yves Edwards. The biggest irony being that the latter actually showcases a knockout.

That shows exactly what it is. I’ve achieved so many more accomplishments in MMA than beating up Ray in a streetfight, and people don’t even know about it. People don’t know I beat Yves and other top guys. But everybody has their own opinion.

161.

“Brian Stann was accused of sexual assault as described in the book All American by Steve Eubanks. After he and a dozen other Marines celebrated they all crashed at his rental house. A female Marine asked to share his bedroom but eventually felt uncomfortable and went to sleep in another room. Brian swears nothing happened but she saw things differently. Everyone else in the house noted that the next day they all ate breakfast together and watched football. The female Marine was described as “friendly, chatty, and having a good time.” This was a case where he felt certain activities were consensual and she claimed they were forced. Brian told American Thinker, “I felt my life, career, and reputation was in limbo. It doesn’t matter whether you’re innocent the allegations alone are like a scarlet letter.”

Approximately nine months later his court martial convened. He was found not guilty, in part, because the accuser had made similar false accusations in the past, and had threatened to take public action if charges were not filed. It was determined that she had invented the story. In fact, during the trial she was asked pointed questions in which it became obvious she had lied. Brian is frustrated that “my life was put on hold while the other party was allowed to move on. She never got punished for falsely accusing me. I did not trust women for a very long time. It was all about politics and emotions.”

162.

In 2004, Matt Riddle won the NY State Highschool wrestling championships at 189 pounds. That year Jon Jones placed 3rd.

Jon Jones won 1st place the following year.

163. Lyoto Machida on how he got his nickname “The Dragon” : My name Lyoto comes from the meaning of Dragon in Japanese”

164. Alexander Gustafsson was given his nickname “The Mauler” by mma coach August Wallen : It was natural to give him something related to striking, if Alex doesn’t knock people out directly he just mauls them down over a round –I thought it was fitting. A maul (noun) is a special hammer/sledge to split wood, to maul (verb) is either to split wood with a maul or to injure someone badly by beating. says Wallen. The veteran fighter and respected coach gave Gustafsson the nickname back in 2006, after meeting the Swede whom he immediately recognized due to his natural talent and great killer instinct.

165. Matt Wiman’s nickname “Handsome” was given to him by his friends when they overheard his mother call him a handsome pup.

166. Nick Thompson got his nickname “The Goat” after being knocked out with some regularity during training, so his teammates named him after the fainting goat, a species of goat that will faint if startled. Nick got better but the nickname stuck.

167. Renato Sobral nickname “Babalu” comes from a brand of bubblegum that he used to chew (Bubbaloo).

168. Dustion Hazelett on how he got his nickname “McLovin” : The way I came about having the nickname was a couple of days before I fought (Jonathan) Goulet, we were staying at the Palms because that’s where I fought him at. And they have a movie theater there, and this was when Superbad was still in theaters. Myself, Jorge Gurgel and my other cornerman went to the movies to watch Superbad and when we were walking out, I was quoting McLovin lines. I was like, “McLovin’ is sweet. I might have to change that to my nickname.” And Jorge was like, “Ha! You can’t go back on that!” So he called Bruce Buffer and had him put it on my card that day. That’s kind of how I got the nickname. But then everyone knew me as McLovin’ right then from that point on, so I was like “I’ll just stick with it.

169. Demetrious Johnson on how he got the nickname Mighty Mouse : We were training, I’m the smallest guy in the gym, and there’s a lot of big guys. I’m just going after them like it ain’t nothing, Mighty Mouse is short in stature, I have big ears — my ears stick out and my structure is compact. The nickname ‘Mighty Mouse’ just landed with me, it just stuck and everybody seems to like it.

170. Ian McCall on how he got the nickname “Uncle Creepy : I hate nicknames. Nicknames are stupid, especially people who give themselves nicknames. One night I was trying to teach my friend’s son to skateboard … and then he said ‘Uncle Creepy’ in front of everyone. Everyone noticed and it stuck.

171. Chan Sung Jung was given his nickname “The Korean Zombie by his training partners at Korean Top Team because of his move-forward-at-all-costs philosophy.

172. The biggest weight difference in a UFC fight between 2 fighters competing against each other was 416 pounds when Keith Hackney fought Emmanuel Yarbrough.

173. The biggest age difference in a UFC fight between 2 fighters competing against each other was between Royce Gracie and Ron Van Clief at UFC 5 where there was a 24 year age difference.

174. The largest height difference in the UFC between 2 fighters competing against each other was 13 inches when Stefan Struve fought Pat Barry.

175. The shortest fighters in UFC history are Jessica Andrade, John Lineker, and Phil Johns who are 5 foot 2.

176. The tallest fighter in UFC history is Stefan Struve who is 7 feet tall.

177. The fighters with the longest reach in UFC history are Jon Jones and Stefan Struve. Both have a reach of 84.5.

178. The shortest reach in UFC history belongs to Antonio Banuelos and Issei Tamura Both have a reach of 63.

179. The oldest fighter to have ever fought in the UFC was Ron Van Clief at 51 years of age. The youngest to fight in the UFC was Dan Lauzon at age 18.

180. The first weight class title fight in the UFC was between Jerry Bohlander and Nick Sanzo at UFC 12 (Lightweight Tournament Title (under 200 pounds)

181. The first heavyweight fight in the UFC was between Justin Martin and Eric Martin at UFC 12 (200+ lbs.)

182. The first 205 lbs. fight in the UFC was between Matt Lindland and Ricardo Almeida at UFC 31.

183. The first 185 lbs. fight in the UFC was between Mark Hughes and Alex Stiebling at UFC 28.

184. The first 170 lbs. fight in the UFC was between Laverne Clark and Josh Stewart at UFC 16.

185. The first 155 lbs. fight in the UFC was between Jens Pulver and Joao Roque at UFC 26.

186. The first 145 lbs. fight in the UFC was between Pablo Garza and Fredson Paixao at TUF 12 Finale.

187. The first 135 lbs. fight in the UFC was between Nick Pace and Will Campuzano at TUF 12 Finale.

188. The first 125 lbs. fight in the UFC was between Ian McCall and Demetrious Johnson at UFC on FX 2.

189. The last fighter to wear shoes in the UFC was Mark Robinson at UFC 30.

190. The last bare knuckle fight in the UFC was between Randy Couture and Steven Graham at UFC 13.

191. The last legal headbutt in the UFC was between Mark Coleman and Maurice Smith at UFC 14.

192. The last fight without a time limit in the UFC was between Royce Gracie and Dan Severn at UFC 4.

193. The last legal groin shot in the UFC was between Kazuo Takahashi and Wallid Ismail at UFC 12.

194. The last fighter to wear a gi in the UFC was Frank Carraci (vs. Laverne Clark) at UFC 18.

195. The last legal knees to the head of a downed fighter in the UFC was between Mark Kerr and Moti Horenstein at UFC 14.

196. The last UFC event without weight classes was Ultimate Ultimate ‘96.

197. The last one-night tournament in the UFC was UFC 23: Ultimate Japan 2.

198. Frank Trigg was a contestant on the tv reality show “Kept” where Jerry Hall (model and former ex wife of Mick Jagger) searched for a kept man.

199. “In the case of a deadlock between members of Zuffa, LLC., the Fertitta brothers, … shall engage in a sport jujitsu match” of three five-minute rounds, which would be refereed by the current UFC president Dana White.”

http://empowerednews.net/ufc-owners-may-battle-each-other-in-a-jiu-jitsu-match/181408/

“If there was a legal dispute about the direction of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) business, it could be settled by a jiu-jitsu match between brothers and co-owners, Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta.

Lorenzo confirmed in Las Vegas recently the existence oft he clause in their ownership contract that says a jiu-jitsu match will be the way to settle a dispute. UFC, whose business is worth more than $2 billion, is the foremost provider of mixed-martial arts, considered by many as the fastest growing sport in the world today.

When the brothers were starting out with 50-50 ownership stakes, their attorneys told them they need some kind of dispute resolution. If you guys don’t agree to something, there’s got to be a way to resolve it, Lorenzo Ferititta quoted the lawyers as saying to them.

So what we decided to do is we’ll have three five-minute rounds of jiu-jitsu, sport jiu-jitsu, which is points-based, with UFC president Dana White as the referee. It hasn’t happened yet. We have a great relationship, we’re very different personalities but we always agree.

The Fertittas operate 18 Station Casinos, gambling facilities which have 22,000 poker machines, more than any other firm in Las Vegas. They bought the UFC for $2 million but incurred almost $50 million in debt later, and Lorenzo, who holds a master’s in finance degree from New York University, easily figured out this was not good for their bank balance.

There were plenty of sleepless nights, he said. But because of my passion as a fan for the sport, I wasn’t willing to quit, to tap out, referring to a fighter’s signal to quit during a match.

His steadfast faith in the sport, coupled with instituting safety measures, and building fighters as marketable brands, have brought UFC success not only in the U.S., but also in South America, Europe, and Australia.”

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TO BE CONTINUED