Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) comprises fights involving a high-level display of skills and Fight-IQ by its combatants. The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) being the world’s top MMA promotion boasts of having several such elite fighters on its roster.
The UFC competitors are some of the best athletes on the planet- physically, mentally as well as spiritually. However, they are nothing but human and none of us are perfect. Each and every one of us have been through embarrassing situations at different junctures of our life, some caused by the circumstances, whereas others caused by our own stupidity.
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No worries folks! Our beloved UFC fighters are just like us.
That said, a select few UFC fighters take the cake for their terrible in-fight decisions and resultant displays of sheer stupidity on the biggest stage of MMA competition. A few such hilarious goof-ups and unnecessary stunts have been described in our list-
#5 Miesha ’Cupcake’ ‘Takedown’ Tate
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Miesha Tate (19-7) is a former UFC Women’s Bantamweight (BW/135 pound) champion. Tate’s MMA base is wrestling and she relies primarily on her grappling to outwork her opponents. Tate has developed serviceable striking over the course of her career.
On the other hand, ‘Rowdy’ Ronda Rousey (12-2) is a former long-time UFC BW champion. Rousey’s MMA base is Judo. She is the first American woman to medal in ‘Olympic Judo’. Apart from earning a bronze medal in Judo, Rousey also holds the distinction of being one of the rare Judokas to successfully transition to the sport of MMA.
Rousey much like her arch-rival Tate, relies mainly on her grappling to take the fight to the mat and works for submissions (her trademark arm-bar in particular). Although Rousey has good raw punching power, her striking technique is rudimentary and her defensive foot-work is close to negligible.
Both Tate and Rousey have the terrible habit of walking face-first into their opponents’ strikes, something that both were criticized for after their pair of championship fights in Strikeforce and the UFC.
Rousey vs Tate 2 took place in December of 2013 at UFC 168. Although Tate lacked power in her striking as compared to Rousey, she made up for it with better foot-work and a crisp jab. Prior to her rematch against Tate, Rousey mainly relied on her opponents lunging with their strikes into mid-range after which Rousey would do her clinch-toss-tap judo routine and secure her trademark arm-bar.
Tate was the first serviceable striker that Rousey had faced up until that point in her career.
Now just when we thought Tate had a path to victory against the then-undefeated ‘Rowdy’ phenom, Tate made a critical error in the execution of her game-plan. Despite knowing that her takedowns worked against her in their first fight, Tate lunged in on Rousey looking for a single-leg, or at times hunting for a power-double leg takedown. Bad idea!
Rousey repeatedly tossed Tate to the mat. And it wasn’t just the takedown attempts, Tate also clinched with the judoka on several occasions throughout their fight that lasted 3 rounds. Tate’s corner, the UFC commentators, the fans in the arena and even Rousey’s corner were perplexed by this odd strategy by Tate.
If there ever was one fight that Tate shouldn’t have reverted back to her former moniker ‘Takedown’, it was this fight against Rousey. In many of her previous fights, Tate held her own in the stand-up with opponents who were far better strikers than Rousey; and despite being battered on the feet Tate wouldn’t telegraph her takedowns like she did against Rousey.
In spite of having success at keeping the feisty judoka at the end of her jab and out of Rousey’s preferred close-range, Tate inexplicably lunged into her opponent; who sent her flying through the air time-and-again.
In one of the most important fights of her career and the most important rivalries in MMA history, Tate gift-wrapped the fight and the UFC BW title to her nemesis Ronda Rousey. Always remember kids- Lunging in on a world-class Judoka is a bad strategy. Repeating that very mistake several times over the course of 3 rounds in an MMA fight is just plain stupid.
#4 The invisible groin-shot
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Frank Trigg (21-9) is an MMA veteran of several notable organizations such as the UFC, Rumble on the Rock, BAMMA, World Fighting Alliance and Pride Fighting Championships (Pride FC) among others. Trigg’s MMA base is judo and wrestling.
He was criticized for his rudimentary striking and unsportsmanlike behavior during his run as a top contender particularly in the UFC. On the other hand, Matt Hughes (45-9) is a former 2-time UFC Welterweight (WW/170 pound) champion with multiple title-defenses to his name.
Hughes’ MMA foundation is wrestling characterized by his signature top-control and vaunted ground-and-pound and submission skills. As far as the Hughes-Trigg rivalry is concerned, with both fighters being primarily grapplers with rudimentary stand-up skills, the exchanges on the feet never promised to be pretty.
Hughes beat Trigg by way of a standing rear-naked choke at UFC 45 in November of 2003, defending his UFC WW title in the process. They would go on to meet at UFC 52 in April of 2005 with Hughes’ title on the line.
The stand-up exchanges were sloppy and the biggest strike of the fight was a blatant illegal-knee by Triggs to Hughes’ groin. The referee for the fight Mario Yamasaki had a clear view of the aforementioned groin-shot that Triggs landed whilst Hughes’ was up against the fence.
Yamasaki hesitated and Triggs went on to unleash non-stop volleys of strikes on his hurt opponent. Hughes even went to the extent of holding his hands to his groin thereby signaling the illegal strike to Yamasaki, but Yamasaki wasn’t having any of it.
Trigg being the gentleman that he is went on to unleash the best striking combinations of his career on Hughes; stunning him and getting the fight to the mat. Trigg took Hughes’ back and locked on the same submission that Hughes submitted him with in their previous meeting, albeit this time it was on the ground.
In spite of this comedy of errors, Hughes miraculously escaped the tight rear-naked choke. He then proceeded to lift Trigg, carry him all the way across the Octagon and slam him on to the mat. The fight ended with Hughes taking Trigg’s back and sinking in a rear-naked choke, submitting him once again.
From Triggs’ bad sportsmanship to Yamasaki’s hesitation and bad officiating, the entire fight felt like a comedic-sequence gone wrong.
To this date, Frank Triggs is mocked for his embarrassing showing in the aforementioned title-rematch. By his blatant disregard for the rules and cheap-tactics, Triggs not only hurt his own legacy but became a laughing stock in the MMA community.
What’s crazier is that despite employing the now infamous ‘Invisible Groin Shot’, Triggs still couldn’t get the job done against the UFC legend Hughes. Furthermore, Triggs showed no remorse for his actions and went on to outright deny any wrong-doings on his part.
The TV replays clearly showed that everyone involved in the title-matchup right from the referee to the fans to Frank Trigg himself, clearly knew that the knee was both illegal and obviously intentional. Nevertheless, Trigg staying true to his nature went on to make an even bigger mess of what was an already messy situation.
Trigg embarrassed himself in one of the biggest fights in UFC history against the man he hated the most. That must hurt!
#3 ’Stockton bad boy’ ‘Mary Jane’ Nick Diaz
Nick Diaz (26-9-2) is a former Strikeforce WW champion and one of the most controversial personalities in MMA history. He trained in karate, aikido, wrestling and sambo in his youth. Diaz’s MMA base is boxing and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ).
Nick and his younger brother Nate Diaz are known for their mind-games and trash-talking abilities that they routinely employ to throw their opponents off their game. Despite having bad takedown defense, Nick’s grappling credentials are unquestionable with several submission victories on his resume.
He is no slouch in the striking department either, holding knockout wins over dangerous strikers such as Robbie Lawler and Paul Daley. On the other hand, Anderson ‘The Spider’ Silva (33-8-1) is a former long-time UFC Middleweight (MW/185 pound) champion with a record 10 title-defenses to his name.
Silva started training in BJJ at a young age and then moved on to Taekwondo, Capoeira and subsequently Muay Thai in his youth. Silva is a lethal striker with some of the best head movement and foot-work in all of MMA. His striking accuracy is excellent as is his BJJ game. However, much like his UFC 183 opponent Nick Diaz Silva is infamous for his poor takedown defense.
Nick and Silva faced off at UFC 183 in January of 2015 in a MW matchup. This was Silva’s first fight after suffering a horrific leg-break in his championship rematch against his kryptonite Chris Weidman. Understandably Silva was tentative to open with up his trademark Muay Thai roundhouse kicks.
Nick on his part didn’t care. He didn’t care that he was facing the man widely regarded as the best MMA fighter in the world, nor did he care that he was standing flat-footed in front of one of the most lethal strikers in MMA. Nick did what a Diaz bro would do, that is constantly berate his opponent; verbally as well as with bodily gestures, so to speak.
In the 1st round of his high-profile fight against one of the greatest of all time, Nick Diaz lay down on the mat. Now mind you he did this on his own accord, not after being hurt or stunned by his opponent. There he was, with his legs flat on the mat daring a legend with excellent BJJ to enter his guard.
Silva refused to engage with Nick on the ground after which the fight resumed on the feet. Silva began measuring distance with his strikes and Nick simply stood in front of him, goading him to engage. As if lying down as though he were on a beach wasn’t enough for Diaz, he turned his back to Silva and adjusted his shorts out of his rear.
UFC 183 was one of those rare high-level MMA fights that had turned into a circus rather than a martial arts contest. Diaz clowned Silva on multiple occasions throughout the fight, but in the process allowed Silva to get into his groove and find his rhythm. Silva started to loosen up and find Diaz’s face from different angles. He attacked Diaz to the body as well as the legs and turned Nick’s legs ten shades of purple. By the time the 5th round ended and with it the fight, Silva had turned Nick’s face into a Jackson-Pollock painting courtesy of several elbows and punches. Nick allowed Silva to establish his rhythm and fight at his pace.
He clowned his opponent in what was one of the biggest fights of his MMA career and basically handed the victory to the ‘Spider’. It was later revealed that Silva had tested positive for steroids and Diaz had failed a post-fight drug test for marijuana metabolites. In layman’s terms, Nick Diaz was ‘high’ in one of the most important fights of his career. This was the third time Nick had failed an in-competition drug test for marijuana.
This third strike resulted in an unprecedented 5-year ban and a $165,000 fine for Nick. However, MMA fans cited Silva’s drug test failure and rallied for Nick. They filed a petition in the White House after which he was handed a reduced sentence of 18 months and $100,000. All for the love of Mary Jane. Never change Nick, never!
#2 ‘Semtex’ gets checkmated by Koscheck
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Paul ‘Semtex’ Daley (39-14-2) is a British striking specialist and MMA veteran of notable organizations such as the UFC, Strikeforce, Bellator and many others. Daley started training karate at the age of 8, and then transitioned to training in Muay Thai. He started training for MMA at the age of 18.
Daley is primarily a stand-up fighter with decent grappling skills. Most of his MMA losses stem from being out-grappled by his opponents. On the other hand, Josh Koscheck (17-10) is a life-long wrestler trained in the art since the age of 5. His MMA base is without a doubt, wrestling, however he developed decent stand-up skills in his time at the American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) in San Jose, Calif.
Paul Daley fought Josh Koscheck at UFC 113 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in a 170 pound title eliminator matchup. Koscheck was able to effectively disengage from the striking exchanges on the feet, as he used his superior wrestling and ground-and-pound to outpoint the British striker.
There was a lot of bad blood in the lead-up to this fight and the two fighters had to be separated after the final bell. Daley went on to punch Koscheck well after they had been separated and while Koscheck had his back turned to him.
In the post-fight press conference, UFC president Dana White declared that Paul Daley will never fight for the UFC; and to this day, Daley hasn’t been allowed to enter the Octagon as a competitor.
Now it’s important to note at the time of their fight, Koscheck was well-known for being a trash-talker and instigator as evidenced not only by his fights but also on his appearance as a contestant on The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) reality show.
Daley fell for Koscheck’s mind-games. Regardless of what happens before, during or after the fight, fighters aren’t allowed to physically engage their opponents or anyone else inside the Octagon apart from their scheduled fight. The fight was over, Daley struck Koscheck and the UFC struck Daley out of its roster once and for all.
Koscheck went on to have several memorable bouts in the world’s top MMA promotion, whereas Daley still has to dabble around looking for fights in smaller MMA promotions. ‘Semtex’ was once regarded as the next big MMA star to come out of Britain alongside Michael Bisping, however a single moment of madness cut-short what could have been an entertaining UFC career.
#1 Alistair ’ The Reem’ ’ Ubereem’ ’Horse-meat’ ‘The Running Man’ Overeem
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Alistair ‘The Reem’ Overeem (41-15-1 MMA; 10-4 Kick-boxing) is a Dutch kick-boxer and MMA fighter who has held world titles in notable organizations such as Strikeforce, DREAM and K-1. He is a veteran of several MMA and kick-boxing fights and although he started training in judo at a young age, he is widely known for his Dutch-style Muay Thai striking game.
Overeem is one of the most well-rounded Heavyweight (HW/265 pound) fighters in the world. He has excellent grappling and is known for his usage of the guillotine choke, or as his fans to refer to it- ‘The Guilloreem choke’. Stipe Miocic (16-2) is the current UFC HW champion with an MMA base of boxing and wrestling.
Miocic also holds the distinction of winning the Golden Gloves Championship as well as the NCAA Div-1 championship in Cleveland, whilst going on to win his UFC world title. Miocic is extremely well-rounded, carries knockout power in both hands and also possesses good BJJ and excellent wrestling skills.
Overeem faced Miocic at UFC 203 in Cleveland, Ohio in September of 2016 for Miocic’s UFC HW strap. The fight didn’t make it past the 1st round and was one of the strangest fights not only in the UFC but in all of MMA. Overeem, who has a habit of freezing up after eating a few good shots to the dome, was wary of Miocic’s knockout power.
He came into the fight with a long-range striking strategy that involved constant switching of stances. However, Overeem added yet another maneuver to his unorthodox strategy and that involved breaking his fighting stance and running away from his opponent.
Now it’s essential to understand that disengaging from one’s opponent and re-setting is not uncommon in fights. However, what Overeem did was the complete opposite of what a decent striking coach would teach his students. Overeem literally ran around the Octagon in an attempt to avoid Miocic’s strikes.
And as if breaking his stance and running away wasn’t enough, Overeem doubled down on this ill-advised maneuver by completely turning his back to Miocic whilst running away. Overeem managed to catch Miocic with a big left hand in an early exchange and attempted an ill-fated guillotine. Miocic snuck out of the guillotine and Overeem was on his bike once again. Miocic would feint and Overeem would be off like a deer when it spots a tiger.
The strange and unintentionally funny cat-and-mouse chase sequences had Miocic’s hometown crowd on their feet. As Overeem’s jogging sequences became more and more predictable, Miocic started trapping him against the fence and timing him by doubling up on left hooks. Nevertheless, Overeem didn’t abandon his weird running-man game-plan, which in turn resulted in Miocic shoving him to the ground. A few ground-and-pound strikes later Overeem was left on the mat, taking a nap while Miocic climbed the cage and waved in acknowledgement to his hometown fans.
What makes Overeem’s strategy odd is that he is in fact one of the best kick-boxers of this era. His fights against Badr Hari, Tyrone Spong and several others are evidence of his excellent stand-up fighting skills. Even a halfway-decent striker would know that turning his back to his opponent and running away whilst breaking the fighting-stance, is flat-out insane.
Why a decorated striker like Overeem chose to practice his power-walking skills in a HW title fight is a mystery. He jogged around in front of an athletic monster like Miocic, as though he were out in the park on just another lazy morning walk.
‘Running Man Overeem’ would go down as one of the mythical creatures of UFC and MMA history alongside other UFC myths such as ‘Sea-level Cain’, ‘Motivated B.J. Penn’, ‘Chuck with that look in his eyes’ and several others.
From terrible fight strategies to unnecessary clowning and showboating, the Octagon has seen it all. Be it Paul Daley’s strike of doom or Overeem running away on his wizard broom, their decisions backfired real soon.
Neither do Tate’s unnecessary takedown attempts make sense, nor does Nick Diaz’s inability to lay off the dope. From talented fighters like Diaz smoking their careers away, to dirty fighters like Trigg embarrassing themselves on an international stage. No one is immune to stupidity.
Not even our favorite UFC fighters.
Our list included a few popular former and current UFC fighters pulling off unnecessary stunts and inexplicable antics, inside the Octagon. I’d like you the reader, to chime in with examples of fighters that you think should’ve made the list.
