5 times good guys tried to play the 'heel' in MMA

#4 Bibiano Fernandes, ONE's dominant MMA champ, shows his teeth

ONE Championship's Bibiano Fernandes

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.

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#3 Henry Cejudo, the king of cringe

Triple C is the heel persona Henry Cejudo decided to assume.

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: