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As of late, the pro wrestling term 'heel' has been thrown around a lot in MMA and combat sports. The word, in pro wrestling lexicon, generally means 'the bad guy'. It's that one character who is not afraid of being booed or jeered by the crowd. Popular MMA fighters like Conor McGregor, Chael Sonnen and, more recently, Colby Covington have been labeled as such over the years.
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Whether it's to sell a fight, stay relevant or simply be themselves, the heels have always drawn a lot of attention from fans. With the advent of social media today, drawing attention and stirring the pot has never been easier.
Our list discusses fighters who seemingly took the 'heel' route either to increase the hype behind their fight, express disdain for their opponents or manipulate the storyline going into a bout. Despite their obvious fighting pedigree, they fully embraced the role of a heel and garnered a lot of recognition and notoriety in doing so. That being said, let's get on with the list.
#5. Brock Lesnar, pro wrestling heel turned MMA heel
There's no better way to start this list than with someone who was an actual pro wrestling heel in the WWE. Brock Lesnar, with his size, physique, and scowling facial expression, can effectively intimidate anyone with just his presence.
His frightening aura, brutish style, and feats of incredible strength allowed him to have an excellent run as a heel in pro wrestling. Outside of his heel character however, people have noted that Lesnar is a really cool guy in real life. Just check out these videos from ESPN, where the former WWE champion pranked a couple of ESPN employees:
Lesnar left pro wrestling in 2004 to venture out into other sports like football and ultimately MMA. In his UFC debut, the NCAA Division 1 wrestling champion was pitted against former UFC champion Frank Mir at UFC 81. Despite early success, Lesnar was caught in a kneebar by Mir, forcing him to tap.
The second fight between the heavyweight duo was as one-sided as any bout can get. Lesnar exacted his revenge in devastating fashion at UFC 100 as he clobbered the Brazilian jiu jitsu ace to earn a TKO victory and deliver an iconic post-fight celebration and interview.
It was at this point where we saw heel Lesnar on full display. He egged the crowd on to boo louder as he berated his fallen foe. Seriously, it was like pro wrestling all over again. Only that Lesnar's heel persona in MMA seemed more rooted in real animosity. Here's a clip by Youtube user Kurtz Prometheus that shows Lesnar's heel work in its magnificent glory:
#4 Bibiano Fernandes, ONE's dominant MMA champ, shows his teeth
ONE Championship is an MMA organization not known for its trash-talking heels. The Singapore-based promotion prides itself in enforcing the code of 'Bushido' upon its fighters.
Enter John 'Hands of Stone' Lineker, a former UFC fighter bringing his power to the Asian market. After three wins, Lineker got a title shot against ONE bantamweight king Bibiano 'The Flash' Fernandes. That's when the trash-talking began.
Fernandes, known for his calm demeanor and sportsmanship, came out shooting scathing verbal attacks at Lineker. It was nothing like what we've seen from the champ previously. The MMA grappling wizard recently spoke to SCMP about his opponent:
"F*ck John Lineker. If you want to fight me, you want to get the belt, come, let’s do this but in a good way. That’s the way we do it, like if we fight in the street, no problem."
Watch his scathing interview here:
Whether it is rooted in pure bad blood or generating hype behind a fight, this is definitely out of character for the Brazilian MMA champ. It'll be interesting to see if he keeps this antihero-like persona going into future fights. Could it just be beef directed towards Lineker? Only time will tell.
#3 Henry Cejudo, the king of cringe
When Henry 'The Messenger' Cejudo entered the UFC in 2014, he had the demeanor of a golden child. With an Olympic gold medal in wrestling under his belt, Cejudo certainly had the confidence of a future MMA champion.
'The Messenger', however, was largely respectful of his opponents. He even sang MMA GOAT Demetrious Johnson's praises after finally beating him for the strap:
"I defeated a guy that I - there's a bit of admiration for. A guy that's done a lot for the Flyweight division. And now I have that 'X' on my back."
It wasn't until Cejudo faced the then-bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw in a champion vs. champion match-up that he seemingly developed a character. He started wearing ridiculous outfits, bringing out props at pre-fight face-offs and talking way more trash than usual.
In adopting this new persona, his social media presence blew up tremendously.
Although he's retired now, Cejudo occasionally takes shots at fighters and current UFC champions like Alexander Volkanovski and Petr Yan. Many believe that 'Triple C' isn't done with MMA just yet as he continues to make a case for potentially fighting for the featherweight belt in his pursuit of triple-champ status. Just look at what Cejudo had to say about the reigning Aussie champ in this Instagram post:
#2 Chael Sonnen, the original MMA bad guy
One of the greatest trash-talkers in MMA history wasn't always the heel he's known for being. Before his 2nd stint in the UFC in 2009, Chael Sonnen didn't have a 'Bad Guy' persona just yet. Check out this UFC 98 post-fight presser video by Youtube user Steve Cofield to see Chael being outwardly nice (skip to 4:40):
Sonnen fought three times in the UFC between 2005 and 2006, winning once and losing twice before being released by the promotion. It wasn't until his return to the UFC in 2009 that we started seeing a glimpse of what he would become. He manufactured trash-talk so inventive and unique that he was able to talk his way into fights and opportunities that he might not have received previously.
After the famed callout of then-champion Anderson Silva, heel Chael Sonnen was in full bloom. Thanks to his incredible ability to blend humor, bravado and originality, the build-up to UFC 117 was off the charts. The fight was also an instant classic.
Sonnen arguably wrote the blueprint on how to be the bad guy in MMA. His achievement in self-promotion inspired other fighters like Conor McGregor and Colby Covington.
Check out his trash talk highlight reel in this ESPN video:
#1 The Colby Covington show
Here's the curious case of Colby 'Chaos' Covington. Let's start by showing you this UFC 187 post-fight interview with Covington with MMAnytt:
If you compare this video to his most recent interview building up towards UFC 268, you'd think he's a different person entirely. So what caused the change from nice guy to absolute heel?
There were many rumors surrounding this transformation. Whether it was to save his job or get work in pro wrestling, something switched in the welterweight contender's mind going into his bout against Damian Maia in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Covington took aim at the Brazilian crowd in attendance following a dominant victory. He insulted the audience in his post-fight interview and hasn't looked back since.
Regardless of the reason, this 180 degree turn definitely propelled the undeniably skilled welterweight into mainstream media. From trash talk, cheap suits, MAGA hats, megaphones, political affiliations and everything in-between, Covington has become the most divisive fighter in the sport of MMA today.
