'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,/9j/2wBDAAYEBQYFBAYGBQYHBwYIChAKCgkJChQODwwQFxQYGBcUFhYaHSUfGhsjHBYWICwgIyYnKSopGR8tMC0oMCUoKSj/2wBDAQcHBwoIChMKChMoGhYaKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCgoKCj/wgARCAAHAAoDASIAAhEBAxEB/8QAFQABAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAABQf/2gAIAQEAAAAAlJ//xAAUAQEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD/9oACAECEAAAAC//xAAUAQEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD/9oACAEDEAAAAH//xAAgEAACAgIBBQEAAAAAAAAAAAACAwEEBREABhMhMlGR/9oACAEBAAE/AKN/CL6btJzdao7KOMEIbCCHtSstsJsj77Ehjx84Fy0YCS2VgCY2IxWHUR+c/8QAFxEBAAMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQAREv/aAAgBAgEBPwBclz//xAAXEQADAQAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAQIR/9oACAEDAQE/AJhU8P/Z'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Fighter nicknames have been around the UFC since practically day one – remember Don ‘The Predator’ Frye, or Mark ‘The Hammer’ Coleman? – and they remain part and parcel of an MMA fighter’s overall package to this day.
Gaining a nickname is somewhat of a must for a budding UFC fighter, and often the nickname can transcend the fighter’s given the name – think ‘Rampage’ Jackson or ‘Shogun’ Rua. And there have been some great ones over the years that totally fit their given fighter – Diego ‘Nightmare’ Sanchez, ‘The Notorious’ Conor McGregor, and so forth.
Unfortunately, some nicknames aren’t as cool as those ones. Some of them sound clunky, don’t make any sense, are overly forced, are bizarre or just plain silly. Here are 5 of the worst nicknames in UFC history.
#1: Logan Clark – ‘The Pink Pounder’
The likelihood is that most UFC fans won’t have heard of Logan Clark. It’s understandable, as the Minnesota-based fighter made just one appearance in the Octagon way back in 2006, defeating the equally forgettable Steve Byrnes at the UFC’s first Fight for the Troops show before being packed off to the WEC, sister promotion to the UFC at the time.
Quite why Clark was sent to the WEC after winning in his UFC debut is anyone’s guess, but it wouldn’t outright surprise me if the decision had something to do with Clark’s questionable nickname – ‘The Pink Pounder’.
It’s true, the word ‘pound’ is used plenty in MMA – the term ‘ground-and-pound’ to describe strikes on the ground is particularly common – but of course, it’s a word that has another pretty obvious meaning too, and that meaning becomes ever more clear when you add the prefix ‘pink’ to it as a nickname.
Was Clark masquerading as a porn star on the side of his gig as an MMA fighter? That doesn’t appear to have been the case, but for sporting such a questionable nickname, ‘The Pink Pounder’ definitely deserves a spot on this list.
#2 Danny Mitchell – ‘The Cheesecake Assassin’
Doncaster, England’s Danny Mitchell didn’t last in the UFC long – he lost two fights in 2014 before being unceremoniously cut by the promotion – but his terrible nickname will live long in the memory. ‘The Cheesecake Assassin’ is incredibly ridiculous for a number of different reasons.
Firstly, there are literally countless numbers of ‘assassins’ in the UFC and in MMA in general to the point where it might be the most over-used nickname in the sport. Off the top of my head, the UFC has been home to the Silent Assassin, the Young Assassin, the Babyface Assassin, the Alaskan Assassin and the Soul Assassin over the years.
But ‘The Cheesecake Assassin’? Really? At least ‘The Soul Assassin’ sounds badass, as does ‘The Silent Assassin’, and the other Assassins make smart use of their home countries even if they sound a little cringeworthy. Cheesecake, on the other hand, makes you think of a fattening dessert – hardly the kind of food suited to a serious athlete. Not that ‘The Protein Shake Assassin’ would be any better, really!
#3 Steve Montgomery – ‘The Creepy Weasel’
Taking a nickname that’s animal-based is almost as common in MMA as calling yourself some kind of assassin, but thankfully due to the sheer amount of badass creatures to pick from, most of the time they come across as cool. Think ‘The Boa Constrictor’ Alexei Oleinik, or Rustam ‘Tiger’ Khabilov, for instance.
However, some animals are hardly suited to being fighter nicknames. Anthony ‘The Hippo’ Perosh and Nick ‘The Goat’ Thompson were bad enough, but the absolute worst animal-based nickname in UFC history has to be ‘The Creepy Weasel’ Steve Montgomery.
A competitor on the 21st season of The Ultimate Fighter, quite why Montgomery chose to be named after the weasel – a sneaky, untrustworthy animal and a term that’s usually considered an insult is anyone’s guess. Why he’d want to be called a Creepy Weasel is an even deeper mystery.
Perhaps the nickname was in reference to the sleazy-looking mullet he sported during his UFC tenure? Who knows really. Unfortunately for Montgomery, we only got to hear Bruce Buffer announce this hilariously silly nickname twice before his UFC run came to an end in late 2015.
#4 Corey Anderson – ‘Beastin’ 25/8’
A TUF winner and current rising star at 205lbs, Corey Anderson now sports the better-sounding nickname of ‘Overtime’ – most likely either a reference to the hard work he undoubtedly puts in during his training sessions, or to his excellent cardio – but rewind a couple of years and he was definitely a contender for worst nickname in UFC history.
Anderson was inexplicably nicknamed ‘Beastin’ 25/8’, which conjures up so many questions that it’s hard to know exactly where to start. Did he own a time machine which allowed him to experience a world of 25 hours per day and 8 days per week? Had his management team simply made a mistype when sending a biography to the UFC?
More importantly, what exactly is ‘beastin’ anyway? UrbanDictionary.com defines the term as “the act of being a beast; being very good at something” which I guess would work – but it also claims the term can mean “making a big deal out of nothing” which obviously wouldn’t be any good.
Either way, it was a nickname that required way too much thinking for your average MMA fan. ‘Overtime’ might be a little dull but at least it makes more sense!
#5 Hector Lombard – ‘Showeather’
He’s likely gone from the UFC now after going on a six-fight losing streak that cemented his position as one of the biggest busts in promotional history, but former Bellator champion Hector Lombard more than deserves a place on this list for committing one of the biggest no-no’s in MMA when it comes to nicknames – deciding to change it up.
Okay, so some fighters can get away with it; Diego Sanchez went from being ‘The Nightmare’ to ‘The Dream’ and it worked largely because it’s Diego and everything he does is a bit eccentric, and Rory MacDonald went from ‘The Waterboy’ to ‘Ares’ to ‘The Red King’ and everyone nodded their heads as each one was an improvement.
Lombard, on the other hand, went from being ‘Shango’ – a pretty cool reference to a Caribbean deity that represents thunder and lightning – to outright calling himself ‘Lightning’ during his Bellator career and early UFC run, and that was fine. After all, Hector ‘Lightning’ Lombard definitely rolls off the tongue.
But why he chose to switch his nickname to ‘Showeather’ – a word that doesn’t even make sense, let alone fit him as a nickname – in 2014 is absolutely baffling. Worse still, Lombard even posted a cringe-worthy announcement about the change on his Facebook page – claiming he “wanted his new identity to satisfy his growth and perseverance as a professional athlete”.
It didn’t quite work out like that, though. Not only did he take a massive downgrade in nicknames – but as ‘Showeather’, he’s never actually won a UFC fight.
