Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) is a tough sport, with its fair share of challenges. However, the challenges that life throws at you, can at times be much tougher to deal with than the challenges of the sport itself.
MMA fighters are some of the toughest athletes on the planet, however, they are not infallible. They go through several ups and downs inside and outside the cage.
At times, it’s the struggles outside the cage that can really tear them down. Regardless of whether these fighters bring such problems onto themselves, or unknowingly run into them; it is a cold, hard fact that these issues break them down- mentally, physically as well as spiritually.
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There have been several examples of popular Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) fighters falling prey to their personal demons outside the Octagon. A few examples of such notable UFC stars are as follows:
#5 Jon Jones
Jon Jones is the former UFC Light Heavyweight (LHW/205 pound) champion and the former interim UFC LHW champion.
His MMA foundation is in wrestling, however, he possesses a well-rounded MMA game, including a vast array of Muay Thai-based strikes coupled with a vaunted Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) game.
He is well known for keeping opponents at the end of his strikes, making good utilisation of the significant reach advantage that he enjoys over most of his opponents in the LHW division. An important criticism of Jones’ fighting style is his constant utilisation of eye pokes that are illegal in MMA.
Besides, he also utilises his infamous oblique kicks to his opponents’ kneecaps, thereby attempting to hyper-extend their knees; in order to defeat them.
The oblique kick, although legal, is considered by many MMA practitioners as a dishonourable move. As far as the eye poke strategy is concerned, Jones has gotten away with it for far too long inside the Octagon.
However, with the implementation of the modified MMA rules in 2017, referees are now allowed to take severe action against fighters who extend their fingers, repeatedly, toward their opponents’ eyes in an attempt to land an eye poke. As of yet, Jones hasn’t completed under the new MMA rules.
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Jones has been embroiled in several controversies outside the Octagon as well. In May of 2012, Jones was involved in a DUI incident when he rammed his Bentley Continental GT into a pole in New York.
He was bailed out by his mother and later pleaded guilty to the DUI charges. On April 2014, Jones was accused of hurling homophobic slurs at a Swedish MMA fan, an incident after which Jones claimed that his phone was stolen and that his account was hacked.
On April 27th 2015, Jones was involved in a highly publicized hit-and-run case in his adopted hometown of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Jones rammed his rented SUV into an oncoming vehicle at an Albuquerque traffic junction.
The vehicle was driven by a pregnant woman who suffered a broken arm due to the collision. Meanwhile, Jones fled the scene but came back minutes later to allegedly grab a bag full of cash and some other valuables; leaving behind a marijuana pipe with marijuana inside of it.
On September 29th 2015, Jones pleaded guilty to leaving the scene of the crime. He was then sentenced to 18 months of supervised probation. On July 8th 2016, a urine sample from Jones’ out-of-competition drug test tested positive for two banned substances.
The substances, clomiphene and letrozole were on the World Anti-Doping Agency’s banned substances list, and were described as ‘hormone and metabolic modulators’.
Now, as if all of this isn’t enough, Jones also has the wonderful habit, of ‘trolling’ and mocking people (fans, in particular) on social media. He then goes on to delete whatever offensive content he directs towards his fans on social media.
For Jones, moving forward, hypocrisy seems to be his biggest issue. With all his run-ins with the law now behind him; the biggest enemy that Jones faces, is himself. He claims to be a good, role-model Christian boy; however, his actions seem to contradict his claims.
Furthermore, this contrast isn’t a one-time thing either. Jon Jones is a walking contradiction - a true representation of everything that is right and wrong with today’s youth.
#4 BJ Penn
B.J. Penn is a former UFC Lightweight (LW/155 pound) and former UFC Welterweight (WW/170 pound) world champion. Penn, who belongs to a rich and influential family based out of Hawaii, got into MMA not for the money but to simply test his martial arts skills.
Penn started off as a BJJ savant but moved on to knocking people out with his high-risk style of boxing in the pocket. Penn, in the early stages of his career, displayed good as well as bad showings of sportsmanship in MMA.
He often came off as cocky and disrespectful towards his opponents, especially during the height of his popularity in his sagas against Matt Hughes and Georges St. Pierre. Penn has not been criticised much for his fight tactics inside the Octagon, however, outside the cage, it’s a whole different story.
B.J. Penn has an infamous reputation of getting into street fights with everyone, right from total strangers to his close friends. One of the most notable examples of this anti-social behaviour on Penn’s part is his parking lot brawl that left his friend with a fractured left eye socket.
His friend, Kuuipo Mokiao, informed the authorities that he had stopped Penn from picking a fight with another group of persons outside the bar that they were drinking in. Penn then turned on his friend.
Penn punched him all of a sudden and then struck him with a knee to the head. This lead to Mokiao’s hospitalisation in the emergency room of the Maui Memorial Medical Center. Besides this, in 2007, Penn pleaded no contest to assaulting a Honolulu police officer.
Penn was also involved in a large fight outside Waikiki’s Zanzabar nightclub in 2005.
Most recently, Penn’s former employee and close confidante Pedro Carrasco accused him of having assaulted his girlfriend in Hawaii. The victim filed a complaint in February of 2016, the alleged assault had taken place in the year 2015.
Investigations in that matter are still underway. Considering the list of complaints against Penn, it comes as a surprise that Penn, almost always, claims to be the victim. He does so even in cases where he, clearly, is in the wrong.
#3 Tim Sylvia
Tim Sylvia has a karate background but was more of a grapple-boxer throughout his MMA career. He trained in karate as a kid and wrestled through high school. His fighting style was odd, and usually, he would tower over most of his opponents and outmuscle them to victories.
Although his fighting style has been criticised for being rudimentary, his in-fight tactics have been fairly clean and he also reached the sport’s pinnacle by winning the UFC Heavyweight (HW/265 pound) championship.
This brings us to Sylvia’s fallacies. Sylvia was stripped of his UFC belt when he tested positive for the banned substance Stanozolol. He was handed a six-month suspension and was also fined $10,000 by the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC).
Sylvia confessed to using steroids in order to shed excess weight. Furthermore, he offered no attempts to prove his innocence. Following this, Sylvia’s career hit a downward trajectory, with him ending up being indisciplined with his eating and training habits.
His erratic lifestyle eventually caught up with him; as a result of which Sylvia ended his career with several brutal losses. Sylvia’s lack of discipline outside the cage and careless approach to martial arts training destroyed what could have been an amazing career.
Besides, Sylvia has shown no remorse for endangering the life of his opponents who entered the cage to fight him as clean PED-free fighters.
As of now, Sylvia is retired from the sport of MMA. Although Sylvia may have not faltered much as compared to other MMA failures, especially as far as run-ins with the law are concerned, Sylvia must serve as a cautionary tale to aspiring-fighters.
A lazy approach to training coupled with an erratic lifestyle will not get you anywhere in the sport of MMA. Sylvia started off strong but let go of his initial discipline and work-ethic. That, coupled with his steroid usage, cost him dearly in his career.
#2 Thiago Silva
Thiago Silva is a former top contender, who competed in the UFC’s 205-pound division. He was on the brink of title contention when he faced Lyoto Machida in a battle of prospects and got knocked out by the ‘Dragon’.
Machida would go on to win UFC LHW gold, while Silva would falter, both professionally as well as personally. Silva has trained his overall MMA game since he was a teenager. He has respectable BJJ skills and good Muay Thai.
However, owing to several issues in his personal life, his professional MMA career has been on a downward trajectory, as of late.
On February 6, 2014, at his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Center in Oakland Park, Florida, Silva threatened Pablo Popovitch and his estranged wife Thaysa. Thaysa and Popovitch were in a relationship at the time.
One day prior, Thaysa had called the cops on Thiago for violating a temporary protection order.
He was charged with aggravated battery and non-violently resisting an officer; the charges were later reduced to aggravated assault by a Broward County judge, who also deemed Silva a flight risk and denied him a bond.
Following the arrest, UFC President Dana White said that Silva will "never fight in the UFC again". Later in the day, Silva was released from his UFC contract. On September 4, 2014, a Florida judge dropped all criminal charges against Silva.
The day after the criminal charges were dropped on September 4, Silva was re-signed by the UFC. However, on September 19, the UFC released a statement on their website stating that Silva had been terminated from his UFC contract.
Silva discipline and hatred for the life of crime and poverty in the Brazilian ‘favelas’ enabled him to rise to become an elite fighter in the UFC. However, his life choices after acquiring money and fame have brought him at a crossroads in his life today.
An important lesson that young fighters can learn from Thiago Silva’s downfall; is that irrespective of the heights of success that one reaches in the fight game, one should never stray away from the discipline and work ethic required in order to step inside an MMA cage or ring.
Furthermore, straying from the martial arts code and hurting one’s family and friends is not the way a true martial artist should ever conduct himself.
#1 Jason ‘Mayhem’ Miller
Jason ‘Mayhem’ Miller is one of the most controversial MMA fighters, in the history of our young sport. Miller is a veteran of the UFC, Strikeforce, WEC, as well as several other organisations. Miller’s martial arts base is Taekwondo, which he started training in at the age of 11.
Miller also has a strong wrestling base, having participated, extensively, in the amateur wrestling programs in high school. He also holds a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
He has decent striking, good grappling and possesses a well-rounded MMA game. However, ‘Mayhem’ as he is popularly known as, is more famous, or rather infamous, for his exploits outside the cage; rather than his martial arts skills and performances.
On April 17th 2010, Miller interrupted Jake Shields during Shields’ post-fight interview after his victory over Dan Henderson. Miller did not have the authorities’ approval to enter the Strikeforce cage during the event that was broadcasted on live television.
However, Miller forcefully entered the cage; and began demanding a rematch against Jake Shields. In response to this, Shields and Gilbert Melendez got into a bit of a push-and-shove situation with Miller, that ended with Stockton bad boy Nick Diaz, getting involved in the tiff.
Diaz threw a punch at Miller which, in turn, lead to an all-out brawl inside the Strikeforce cage; now infamous, as the ‘Nashville’ brawl. The entire entourage of the Cesar Gracie Jiu Jitsu camp including Nick Diaz, Nate Diaz, Gilbert Melendez, Jake Shields etc. attacked Miller while holding him down to the canvas.
This brawl was eventually broken up by the referees, members of Dan Henderson’s corner and the Strikeforce organisation’s security officials. Miller and the other participants in the brawl were given a three-month suspension and also fined amounts ranging from $5000-$7500.
In 2012, Miller was arrested after being found sleeping naked in a church. All charges were later dropped. He was then arrested on charges of domestic violence on August 11, 2013, and released on bail on August 12.
Again, no charges were filed. On August 22, 2013, he was arrested again on the same charge of domestic abuse. On August 26, the two charges were combined into one case with two felony counts of "corporal injury of spouse." Miller plead "Not Guilty" and his bail was reset at $100,000.
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On October 9, 2013, Miller was arrested and on October 10, he was booked for a misdemeanour Contempt of Court charge for violating a "Stay Away" order, by sending a Snapchat message to the party in question.
Miller was arrested on October 9, 2014, after a five-hour-long standoff with a SWAT team outside his Orange County, California home. Miller gave live updates over the five hours via Twitter. As outrageous as this sounds, this is indeed true.
In March 2015, Miller was arrested outside of a bar in Laguna Beach, California and was charged with simple misdemeanour battery and resisting arrest. Video footage showed Miller outside the bar, putting up a fight against officers.
On October 16, 2015, Miller was arrested yet again after allegedly assaulting police officers. On July 11, 2016, Miller was arrested by Costa Mesa, California police for injuring a security guard and spitting on a police officer at the Saddle Ranch Chop House restaurant.
No charges have been filed on that incident, as of yet.
As outlandish as these incidents sound, Miller has indeed been involved in all of them; in some way or another. Although it would be unreasonable to place all the blame of all these incidents on Miller; he does deserve flak for being the main instigator behind several of these happenings.
Miller, while being a talented, life-long martial artist, has proven time and again that he, himself, is his biggest enemy. Furthermore, Miller’s outlandish acts and unpredictable, manic behaviour pose an obvious threat to the well-being of strangers as well as his own family.
Regardless of one’s talents inside the Octagon, one cannot claim to be a true martial artist whilst behaving like a goon outside the cage.
As martial artists, it is the responsibility of the MMA fighters to stay true to the code of martial arts; and maintain a disciplined approach to life, even outside martial arts. The aforementioned MMA fighters have achieved many things in the UFC as well as other organisations that many people won’t even dream of.
They have given us some of the best MMA fights, classics inside the UFC Octagon as well as in DREAM, Strikeforce, etc. They are dedicated martial arts professionals who made it big in the UFC.
However, when it comes to life, I think it’s safe to say, that they have failed themselves, their family as well as the society; as a whole.
Like the saying goes: Every saint has a past and every sinner has a future. No one is perfect. However, what these current and former UFC fighters have done, is not only hurt people but also endanger their own lives as well as that of others.
That said, let’s hope that for the sake of their families that these aforementioned martial artists change their ways before it’s too late.
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