Recently Conor McGregor played a game of “throw-bottle” (quite different from a game of “touch butt”) at the pre-UFC 202 press conference.
While coverage of Conor and Nate’s camp throwing stuff at each other has garnered quite a bit of mainstream coverage, it was hardly the most eventful scuffle between fighters or teams outside of the octagon.
Brawls
A few plastic water bottles getting thrown around is nothing to the Diaz brothers, who have been involved in more pre-fight or post-fight brawls than anyone else in history.
Here are the six top pre or post-fight brawls in MMA…
UFC color commentator Joe Rogan is a very interesting guy. Most will know him from his 20 years of calling fights for the biggest mixed martial arts promotion on the planet, but there’s much more to him.
Rogan started out his career as a stand up comic and actor. What a lot of people may not know is that he was also a Grand Champion in Tae Kwon Do. He won the lightweight championship at age 19 before challenging and beating the national middleweight and heavyweight champions.
Joe Rogan’s popularity
Rogan’s wide-spread popularity stems from both his time as a UFC commentator and podcast host. His show ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’ is listened to by millions of followers worldwide.
It’s also the interesting subjects and somewhat unique points of view Joe Rogan presents that make him fun to watch. But not everyone is a fan of Joe Rogan, in fact there’s one guy in particular who really isn’t keen.
Wesley Snipes
Yep, the Hollywood actor known for his roles in ‘Undisputed’ and the ‘Blade’ trilogy once had mad beef with Joe Rogan. At the time Snipes was down on his luck, facing tax evasion charges and not getting any calls for new movie roles.
You don’t want to be on the wrong end of a heated discussion with UFC commentator and TV host Joe Rogan. In this old, grainy video from circa 2004, Rogan is heard having a somewhat intelligent discussion about illegal immigrants in the United States by a crazy guy who just didn’t want to lose the debate.
With the entire conversation recorded, Rogan and the crazy guy try (and fail) to keep things civilized.
It’s All Fun And Games Until Someone Gets Choked Out
Rogan and the guy go back and forth on the ease or difficulty of illegally crossing the Mexican and US border. They constantly talk over each other and the guy starts laughing. Soon, contradiction turns into an argument and things escalate rather quickly.
“You’re a little crazy, you know that? That’s the problem with talking to you,” Rogan tells the guy. “You’re not really rational. You want to be right about all these things. You don’t listen to anybody’s opinion.”
Walk the walk
Rogan is not just a color commentator, he is also highly trained in various martial arts including Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, which he gets to put on full display in this clip.
As things begin to heat up, the crazy guy gives Rogan a little nudge on the shoulder — big mistake.
“Touch me again and I’m gonna choke you out on camera,” said Rogan.
Surprisingly, crazy guy goes and does it again.
See what happens next on the video on the next page…
Conor McGregor was initially booked for his rematch against Nate Diaz back at UFC 200, but his growing dislike of a fighter’s promotional duties caused him to impulsively announce his retirement on Twitter and the world instantly caught fire.
McGregor was on The MMA Hour recently, recounting the ordeal.
McGregor on Retiring
“Off I went to the gym, and then I came out of the gym and all of a sudden the thing is f*cking everywhere, like, oh sh*t,” said McGregor. “We were in Iceland, we were doing what we do, training and studying to whoop somebody’s ass. That’s it. I have access to a phone and my phone has access to millions upon millions upon millions of people.
“So, that was another crazy experience. This life is a roller coaster, there’s many ups and downs. But I mean, you’ve got to look at it like this: who doesn’t love a roller coaster? Who wants to be stuck on flat ground going through life?”
I have decided to retire young. Thanks for the cheese. Catch ya's later.
In a tweet heard ‘round the world, McGregor brought the entire MMA industry to a standstill. Suddenly, the highly-anticipated rematch with Diaz was off and UFC President Dana White had to make the tough decision to remove McGregor from the card.
Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier ended up getting the headliner, but even that fell through when Jones tested positive for banned substances and was forced to pull out. So in many ways, UFC 200 was a disaster.
McGregor however, with no remorse, reminded us that this world is his and we are all just merely spectators.
Gabi Garcia, who made headlines recently for stating she would be open to fighting a man if a promotion, namely Rizin, could arrange for such a fight to occur. Garcia and her camp made these statements out of frustration after not being able to find an opponent large and brave enough to get into the cage with the former world grappling champion.
Well, Rizin has found a woman large enough and brave enough to take on Gabi. Former women’s pro football player turned MMA fighter Destanie Yarbrough. For those of you hoping that this woman would turn out to be the daughter of former MMA “fighter” Emmanual Yarborough, unfortunately that is not the case.
Garcia first caught the attention of mixed martial arts fans when she appeared on season 3 of the Ultimate Fighter Brazil as a grappling instructor for the team coached by Wanderlei Silva. Her unique and intimidating presence led many to wonder who this woman was.
On 9 occasions Gabi Garcia has won gold in the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu world championships, and has won gold twice in the +60kg division in Abu Dhabi. So in other words she is not just large, she knows how to use that mass.
Continue to watch video of both Gabi Garcia and Destanie Yarbrough fighting…
Many MMA fighters seem to view Hollywood as a place they can go when their fight career ends. Some fighters have had success and others have failed miserably in this endeavour.
Randy Couture for instance, has appeared in 19 feature films since beginning to act in 2005. Georges St. Pierre became the first former UFC champion to appear in a Marvel movie, when he appeared in 2014’s “Captain America: Winter Soldier”. GSP also appears in the recent remake of “Kickboxer”, along with several other MMA personalities. Rumours are that the straight-laced GSP caused a delay in shooting as he was unable to simulate smoking a cigarette for one of his scenes. Whether or not that scene will remain in the movie is as of yet unknown.
Quentin “Rampage” Jackson has also appeared in numerous movies, not the least of which was 2010’s “A-Team”. While the A-Team’s reviews were mixed, many thought Jackson did a good job in the film.
This list is not for those mentioned above however, as they have all been quite successful in their acting projects. This list is for the MMA fighters who became really terrible actors.
Here are 6 MMA fighters who became terrible actors…
The hype behind Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz has been on full speed ahead this week. After the promotion released the full ‘Bad Blood’ promo earlier this week, fans were once again baying for blood.
The entertaining rivalry started at UFC 196. Diaz stepped in on just 11 days notice to submit McGregor in March, and it’s been chaos ever since. ‘The Notorious’ was handed his first loss in a blaze of bloody violence.
Don’t Believe The Hype?
Nate Diaz certainly did not believe the hype. There was more money being spent on Conor McGregor’s promotion than most fighters make during an entire career. Playing the role of ultimate spoiler, Diaz became a massively famous anti-hero after the win.
Taking out the promotion’s golden boy on less than two weeks notice was impressive enough. Add in the instant classic post-fight interview with Joe Rogan, and you can see why the UFC wanted the immediate rematch.
Was The Beef Over?
Of course the rivalry never died, that wouldn’t be good for business. That said, Diaz and McGregor had been rather quiet over the last month. There’s been plenty of interviews and promo videos, but the hatred seemed to have simmered down.
Until the crazy UFC 202 pre-fight press conference…
Continue to page 2 for the chaotic UFC 202 press conference brawl…
UFC featherweight champion Conor McGregor is the king of self promotion. Even before he got the title from Jose Aldo at UFC 194, ‘The Notorious’ was big news. The brash Irishman’s sharp wit and brazen attitude is quite polarising though.
Some love him, some hate him, but one fact is constant; He brings tons of attention to mixed martial arts. That said, there are many purists who believe the attention he brings is negative on the most part.
Rubbing Shoulders With Stars
Ahead of a massive rematch against Nate Diaz at UFC 202, McGregor has been branching out. Staged feuds with Floyd Mayweather saw the Irishman catapulted in to major news network headlines.
He’s also been hanging out with pop icons Rhianna, Jennifer Lopez and Justin Timberlake. Undoubtedly the biggest star in mixed martial arts today, McGregor is also rapidly becoming a huge celebrity himself.
Pay Attention
You’d think McGregor’s attention would be firmly on Nate Diaz at this stage. Diaz handed ‘The Notorious’ his first professional loss at UFC 196, and now they’re set to fight again on August 20.
So what’s with McGregor’s latest comments about Cristiano Ronaldo?
When you’re at the top, everyone wants a piece of the action. For the amount of smack talk Conor McGregor dishes out on a daily basis, getting called out is just another day at the office.
Newly minted UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez has expressed his intent to fight the winner of this coming weekend’s UFC 202’s main event showdown between McGregor and Nate Diaz.
McGregor however, took time out to remind media that he is the sport’s modern-day crutch and put both Alvarez and UFC welterweight champion Tyron Woodley on blast.
One thing McGregor knows how to do is talk. To him, it’s part of ways to break an opponent down.
“I came in and I brought it all. I broke every record and then began demanding everything,” said McGregor, reiterating his various achievements in the Octagon.
“I just feel they (Alvarez and Woodley) are bums. 95-percent of the game is bums.”
McGregor is coming from a place of self-confidence and he does have a point. He came from the bowels of the sport and launched straight to the top of it in just a few short years. In many respects, it does seem like he came completely out of nowhere.
Despite the UFC’s sometimes rocky relationship with “The Notorious”, there’s no denying his star quality and absolute talent.
The most anticipated fight of the year goes down this weekend at UFC 202
In an age of fallen champions, McGregor stands out as a man who doesn’t need a belt to be relevant to the sport. Whenever a star no longer requires hardware, that’s when he truly shines.
So when McGregor calls other fighters bums, you know where he’s coming from.
“I’ll leave them to it. I don’t even pay attention to it. Right now, here I am, couple days out from a big one,” said McGregor, whom UFC President Dana White says will return to the featherweight division following the bout with Diaz.
“I’ll talk about what’s next and who’s next and all those other guys talking after the fight.”
Phil Brooks, more popularly known by his WWE persona “CM Punk”, is scheduled to make his much-awaited mixed martial arts debut at UFC 203 which takes place September 10 at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio. He had signed with the UFC a while back, leaving professional wrestling for MMA, but it has taken a while for him to make it to the cage.
A lot has to do with preparation. Obviously professional wrestling is scripted (if you’re still not sure) and MMA is the real deal, so Brooks has definitely taken the switch very seriously. It takes years for fighters to hone their skills to a level substantial enough to compete at a certain level in the sport and Brooks has definitely put the time in.
Alistair Overeem isn’t the first to criticize CM Punk
But this hasn’t stopped criticism from being directed his way. Alistair Overeem, who challenges Stipe Miocic for the UFC heavyweight title on the same card, is the latest to criticize Brooks.
In a phone interview with Colin Cowherd, Brooks took the time out to offer his reaction to Overeem’s comments about his readiness for MMA. “I think he’s in for a hard time,” were Overeem’s words as Cowherd told Brooks.
Who’s got two thumbs and is going to get his ass kicked?
“I think Alistair’s in for a hard time. I think everybody is. I certainly think if you think you’re not in for a hard time, it’s probably when times are going to get the hardest,” said Brooks.
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