Generally speaking, most MMA fighters and martial artists are the LAST people you would ever see involved in an unsanctioned street fight outside of the gym or competition.
This is not only because they have nothing to prove, but also, they get all of their fighting done in the gym or in competition and don’t need the extra trouble or risk.
However, sometimes in MMA when there is a heated rivalry, tensions can sometimes boil over outside of competition as we see here in these following famous examples.
4) Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier
This is one of the best examples of tensions boiling over during a heated rivalry that resulted in a fistfight. At the press conference before the first time they were supposed to fight at UFC 178, Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier got a little too close for comfort and it got physical when Cormier put his hands on Jon and Jones responded by punching him followed by a skirmish on the ground.
Instead of Dana White being there to keep the fighters separated, the PR guy, Dave Scholler, took over Dana’s duties and didn’t do a good enough job maintaining the distance between the feuding combatants.
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Both Jones and Cormier were fined for this unfortunate situation.
3) Charles ‘Krazy Horse’ Bennett vs. Wanderlei Silva
This is one of the more interesting exchanges between two very colorful characters in MMA. What we first see in the video below is Bennett getting into it with one of Silva’s teammates, Cristiano Marcello, backstage at PRIDE Shockwave 2005. But, what also allegedly happened off-camera that night was that Bennett knocked out Wanderlei Silva in a backstage altercation and several people have since confirmed this.
If that’s what really happened, that would be an incredible feat as Silva is not only way bigger than Bennett, but also, was at the top of his game in 2005. The second, more recent part of the video hints that something definitely happened as Wanderlei is still clearly very upset over it.
2) Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. the Diaz Brothers
The Diaz Brothers have a history of getting involved in scuffles it seems and this instance from WSOF 22 is no different. Both squads were at the event in support of teammates and when both camps got a little too close, we see in the video below what happened.
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Allegedly, this wasn’t the only skirmish from that night between the two parties and another one occurred off-camera that resulted in the police getting involved.
1) Strikforce: Nashville brawl
As previously stated, the Diaz brothers have a habit of getting into scuffles and this instance happened on live network TV after Jake Shields beat Dan Henderson at Strikeforce: Nashville.
It was obviously a huge win for Shields, so it’s no wonder he and his camp got so upset when Jason ‘Mayhem’ Miller strolled in the cage during his post-fight interview and asked for a rematch.
Still, though, it is no reason to get physical and this wasn’t a good look for the sport or what MMA is supposed to be all about.
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As we see in the above video, Nick Diaz threw the first punch at Miller and a huge brawl followed, resulting in an absolute chaotic scene.
