Cristiano Marcello vs. Krazy Horse
One of the most infamous backstage battles of all-time occurred mostly on-camera back at the end-of-year PRIDE Shockwave 2005 event in Japan.
After earning a first round submission win over Ken Kaneko, Charles ‘Krazy Horse’ Bennett returned backstage, where he was sharing space with members of the notorious Chute Boxe team, and it wasn’t long before things turned sour between them.
Video footage shows Wanderlei Silva eyeballing Krazy Horse, who is sitting down watching the fights on TV, while BJJ ace Cristiano Marcello stands over him, clearly unhappy about something.
According to Krazy Horse, off-camera Marcello hit him twice, at which point he got up and rushed at him, executing a double-leg takedown.
For a while Bennett gets the better off him, staying on top and landing ground and pound, but Marcello bides his time and finds an opening to lock up a triangle choke that eventually renders him unconscious.
That’s where the video ends, but Krazy Horse would infamously claim afterwards that after he woke up he got back to his feet, told Silva that he wasn’t afraid of him and then knocked him out with a single punch before running out of the room.
Silva has denied this ever happened, but it’s since become a part of MMA folklore.
