Cub Swanson tattoo gallery

Top UFC featherweight Cub Swanson is coming off a Fight of the Night winning unanimous decision over Jeremy Stephens last month. The bout saw his skills, and his unique ink, on full display.

Leighton Ginn interviewed Swanson for The Desert Sun about what his tattoos mean, starting with the ink he doesn’t have.

“I almost got a tattoo on the back of my head just to force myself to (fight) forever because I couldn’t get a real job,” Swanson told Ginn. “I’d like to put that pressure so I’d have to make it. I contemplated that very hard. I’m glad I didn’t do it.”

FRONT

“I knew I was going to be on TV someday with the fighting. I was confident in that,” said Swanson. “Not a lot of people have come from here and done big things. If they do, they don’t really claim it. A lot of people who are famous that live here, they aren’t from here. It was important for me to show I grew up here and I did something with my life.”

“I thought the palm trees were cool and no one had them. You see them a lot now,” Swanson said.

“I didn’t want to have conflicting tattoos. My chest and stomach was what people are going to see when I fight. So Cal, they’ll see that first and they’ll say, ‘What’s up with the palm trees?’ That will narrow it down.”

BACK

Swanson’s back is dominated by a cross over art work inspired by dark French illustrator Gustave Doré. It reflects Swanson’s personal battle between good and evil.

Swanson’s Swedish-American father died when he just months old, and his Mexican-American mother was unable to care for he and his siblings, who were adopted by a distant relative. At 14 his adoptive parents divorced, and Swanson moved back in with his birth mother. Swanson began to associate with gangs, and eventually spent time in juvenile hall.

At 19 he started BJJ and then MMA, which he has cited as a key factor in turning his life around.

“I was raised in the church, so it has meaning to me,” said Swanson. “I believe in having balance in life. Doing good things in my every day life and then being extra mean when I fight is my balance.”

FIRST TATTOO

“It was cool, I was happy with it. But I don’t like it now,” said Swanson. “It doesn’t mean anything to me. But I didn’t know what to get. Afterwards, you learn to get something with meaning to it, so you won’t regret it.”

THE RIGHT LEG OF DEATH

“We were drinking at the bar (during his first trip to Sweden) and the tattoo guy said we can go right now,” said Swanson. “It was midnight, so we took a taxi to his place,” Swanson said.

“That was the only one (done after midnight). It was the only sketchy one. I mean, it wasn’t sketchy, it was spur of the moment,” Swanson said.

“Eventually on my foot, I wanted to put ‘rest in pieces.'”

LEFT FOREARM

In 2011, during training, Swanson suffered a broken jaw, caved-in cheekbone, and shattered eye socket. Surgeons inserted metal plates into his face and wired his jaw shut. Family members begged him to never fight again.

Swanson hasn’t lost since, with a remarkable six-fight win streak. And he got a tattoo to remember why he endures the pain.

It reads, “Victory is reserved for people who are willing to pay the price.”

Swanson explains.

“People try to fight or want to be famous,” he said. “They don’t do it because they want to be the best. When I started, I got $200 to fight in Tijuana. I did it because I wanted to test my martial arts. I feel like when you do that, (shows his forearm) this is what happen.

“It reminds me that I paid the price and I’m willing to do what it takes.”

Swanson isn’t worried about the ink fading as he gets old. He’ll just keep his shirt on.

“When I get old, I won’t be showing off tattoos,” said Swanson. “I won’t have the body for it. I’m just not going to be rocking my shirt off when I’m old.”

Swanson is far from the only person in the MMA world with a lot of ink that makes you look twice.

It would be a little different if a fighter got a fighter’s face tattoo. But lots of non fighters do.

Kimbo Slive alone has inspired a creek of bad ink. The below text is factually incorrect.

Kimbo is of course not the sole fighter that someone has chosen to have permanently on their body.

This follows a fan in South Africa who recently got Rousey tattooed on his leg.

Others are not content with fighters, but opt to get a tattoo for their most beloved promotion.

TapouT of course is the inspiration for countless tattoos.

It is not all bad, however. A number of fighters boast some remarkable ink.

Bas Rutten: “The one on my right hand means Ki that means energy, life energy. Force. The one on my other hand means Shao that means a long life. I put the first one on my hand, after this tattoo I never lost a fight anymore in my life. So I think, Wait a minute This tattoo works, so I was always really afraid to die, I think maybe a plane is going to crash or something, so lets give myself a long life, so I put this tattoo on, which means a long life.”

GSP: “The tattoo on my chest means that there are two sides to me. I can be very rude and I can be very nice. I like to be rude when I fight.”

Jake Shields wears his heart on his sleeve:

Joe Rogan: The tattoo depicts Hogan’s Spirit Molecule trip where he hallucinated and saw an Alien Thai Buddha made out of energy telling him not to give into astonishment. If you look at the molecule in the center of the tattoo it’s the DMT (Dimethyltryptamine) molecule pictured on Wiki.

Babalu: The ink and the fighter are both truly tribal:

Gilbert Yvel‘s tattoos could make someone’s worst of list too, but he wears the names of everyone he has knocked out, which is memorable. Not sure if the list includes the ref or not.

Chris Leben: Yep, that is a head in the samurai’s hand.

Genki Sudo: “The bird on my back is my design, inspired by the ground pattern on the Nezka, Peru. The left arm’s symbol is the symbol of life for one of the Native American tribes. The letters under that one are Hindu letters meaning “Everything is gonna be alright”. The right arm tattoo is a graphic of four Chinese characters meaning “Genki Nyorai” – my own creation of a Budda.”

Alessio Sakara: SPQR I have on my body! Sakara says, referencing the ‘Senatus Populusque Romanus’ tattoo on his forearm that marks him as solider for the Roman Empire. I like Roman history very much, and Greek history. I read a lot of books. (My favorite period) varies a lot. I like Julius Caesar and Marcus Aurelius. Everything in Rome, every period is good for me. I like the Spartan culture too, very much … It is because my name Sakara is an old name in the Roman Empire, in the south. For this I put the nickname Legionarus, which means a soldier in the Roman Empire. I am a soldier for Rome now — I fight around the world, I fight for Rome and for Italy.

Aleksander Emelianenko: If the purpose of his ink is to be intimidating, it is very effective.

Ivan Salaverry: Yes, that is something like human cockfighting. Still one of the coolest tattoos in the sport:

Wanderlei Silva: It’s Wanderlei Silva

Enson Inoue: Samurai

Thiago Silva: A warrior joint locking a demon.

Brandon Vera: inked in the Filipino writing system called Alibata. Clockwise, it reads mundo (earth), hangin (wind), apoy (fire) and tubig (water).

Dan Hardy: Fighters like tats and Punk Rockers like tats, and Hardy showcases the best of both.

Ben Henderson: Reportedly took 18 hours